Edinburgh Rugby in bold URC claim as Darcy Graham and Emiliano Boffelli return to play schedule explained

Their inter-city rivals enjoyed a magnificent season in which they seemed to grow stronger with each passing week and they timed their run to perfection, winning play-off matches against the Stormers, Munster and the Bulls to clinch the title.

Everitt could be forgiven for allowing jealousy to cloud his focus, particularly after his own team fell to a disappointing 10th place finish. But the Edinburgh boss had nothing but praise for the Warriors’ achievement and believes his own team can take heart from their neighbours’ success.

“Yes, very much so and congratulations to Glasgow,” said Everitt who is about to embark on his second season in charge at the capital club. “I think what that’s done for us is given us belief that we are a team that can win the URC as well. I mean we did beat Glasgow in the 1872 Cup in the second game.

“There are areas of growth we need to do. I don’t believe that we’re far off. But Glasgow doing that for Scotland … we can look at Glasgow as an example of where we can be. They’ve set the tone now for Edinburgh Rugby.”

Glasgow, under Franco Smith, gave Scottish rugby a vital shot in the arm. Edinburgh’s failure to make the URC play-offs was a blow and Everitt has taken steps to remedy the situation by making six new signings. There is experience in the form of centre Matt Scott and No 8 Magnus Bradbury, both returning to the club after spells in England, as well as the recruitment of England international tighthead prop Paul Hill from Northampton Saints who will replace the retired WP Nel. There is also plenty of youthful vigour in the form of centre Mosese Tuipulotu, winger Ross McCann and stand-off Ross Thompson, the latter a member of Glasgow’s title-winning squad last season.

“We’ve looked at where we are short and have strengthened the squad in certain areas from a recruitment point of view,” said Everitt. “But we have also to strengthen certain areas of our game. Glasgow scored a lot of tries last season and it’s something we need to do as well if we want to compete in the play-offs. It’s all very well getting to the play-offs but you need to compete in the play-offs and you need an all-round game.”

It was something Glasgow excelled at and Edinburgh, who have finished 10th and 12th in their last two seasons, seem a long way short of scaling those heights but they can take some comfort from their Yuletide victory over the Warriors at Murrayfield. They won only two games fewer than Glasgow over the course of the regular season but struggled to pick up bonus points. Their haul of five was the second poorest in the league and points to a problem with try-scoring.

“There were a couple of games at the end but it was the bonus points that cost us,” acknowledged Everitt. “We said right from the start that we needed 12 wins to get through. If we’d got the 12th win we would have qualified but we didn’t and that was our own undoing.

“We got 11 wins and won far more games than the previous year [six] but from an all-round game perspective we need to get better.”

Edinburgh’s cause will be helped by the return from injury of Darcy Graham and Emiliano Boffelli, two world class talents who were sorely missed for most of the last campaign. Graham is back in full training and Boffelli is not far away and both should be available for the season opener against Leinster on September 20.

“It’s exciting for us that Darcy is fit and back into full training,” acknowledged Everitt. “He’s going to enjoy his first pre-season for a long time. Missing him last season was massive for us, a guy that played eight times the previous season and scored 12 tries. We know what we missed with Darcy.

“It’s great to have Darcy and Boff both back. They bring energy, experience, leadership and that X-factor that you need.

“[Boffelli] started running today and his return to play date is September 9 if he doesn’t have any setbacks. But it looks at this stage that we’ll have a full squad to select from going into the first game of the season against Leinster at home. So it’s exciting times for us.”