'My strengths': Sean Everitt makes case for Edinburgh contract extension

The South African feels one of his key strengths is his ability to bring through young talent and points to the emergence this season of Liam McConnell and Freddy Douglas as examples.

Both young back-rowers have been outstanding in recent weeks, earning man-of-the-match honours in the European wins over Toulon and Gloucester, respectively.

Only Douglas will play against Bath away on Friday as Edinburgh look to secure a place in the knockout stage of the Champions Cup, with McConnell one of a number of players being rested.

Everitt says he needs to manage the load of the young players as he looks to serve the interests of both Edinburgh and Scotland.

Nucifora pulling the strings

With David Nucifora now pulling the strings at Murrayfield as de facto performance director, there is a greater emphasis on improving the pipeline of talent into the national set-up and Everitt is fully signed up.

“There are a lot of things we’ve improved at the club and there are a lot of exciting things happening in the next couple of years,” said Everitt whose new deal ties him to Edinburgh until the end of the 2027-28 season, extending his stay in the capital to five years.

“You've already seen some of it with regards to the evolution of our squad. The youngsters coming through and us bringing through the next generation of Scottish players. That's really exciting for me.

“I see that as one of my strengths. And the last couple of weeks have been a really good example of that with Freddy Douglas and Liam McConnell getting man of the match in the Champions Cup. We've got a plan in place and it's great to be part of a plan that you had already started 12 months ago.”

Edinburgh finished seventh in the URC last season, qualifying for the play-offs for the first time in three years where they lost in the quarter-finals. They also reached the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup but are back in the elite Champions Cup this season after a three-year absence.

Dissenting voices on social media

Results this season have been mixed. They’ve won only three of eight in the URC and sit 10th in the table, albeit with a game in hand. The highlights of the campaign have come in Europe with the home wins over Toulon and Gloucester but there was also a heavy defeat in France against Castres, with a much changed Edinburgh side going down 33-0.

It was a result which went down badly with the club’s fanbase and it would be fair to say there were plenty of dissenting voices on social media when news of Everitt’s contract extension was announced.

“If you look at appointments historically, not everyone's going to be happy,” said Everitt. “Everyone would like to see change and hope that the situation at the club or the results would improve.

“I think the results on the field have been good over the last couple of years. You've got to look at us qualifying for the Champions Cup and where we're sitting on the log now [second place, a point behind Bath] in the Champions Cup.

“We've got to look at the evolution of our group over the last two years as well. Guys like Bill Mata moved on. We brought in Magnus Bradbury, who's become one of the best leaders I've worked with at the club. His performances have been really good. Blair Kinghorn moved off to France, Ali Price moved off to France, Jamie Ritchie moved off to France. So we've lost a lot of star players with the likes of Emiliano Boffelli [leaving] as well.

“We have replaced those players with local players. That's our aim. We want to build a team that is mainly Edinburgh born and bred, [or] with Edinburgh heritage.

“That's what we're trying to do here. That's what we have done. With that, it's not all plain sailing. I know that with my experience in doing this, it does take a bit of time. Some people don't want to wait that long, unfortunately. It's a process and it's for the betterment of Scottish Rugby as a whole.”

Edinburgh go into the Bath game knowing a win would see them qualify and secure a home tie in the last 16. Defeat would leave them sweating on the results of the other Pool 2 games which take place on Saturday: Munster v Castres and Gloucester v Toulon.

Edinburgh need a top four finish to reach the round of 16 but could end up fifth and drop into the Challenge Cup. It was surprising therefore to see Everitt rest not only McConnell for the game at the Rec but also Bradbury, Pierre Schoeman and Wes Goosen. The coach said he had to be mindful of the players’ welfare.

Tom Dodd and Ben Muncaster come into the back row to replace McConnell and Bradbury; James Whitcombe starts again at loosehead, with Mikey Jones providing cover on the bench and a fit-again Harry Paterson takes over from Goosen at full-back. Piers O’Conor slots in at centre for the injured Matt Currie and there is a debut for former Leicester Tigers winger Malelili Satala who plays in place of Duhan van der Merwe who was unable to shake off a calf injury.

Satala, 21, is the son of former Edinburgh player and Fijian international Apolosi ‘Apo’ Satala, and was born in the city while his father was playing for the club.

Bath v Edinburgh teams

Champions Cup, Pool 2 round 4, The Rec, Friday, 8pm:

Bath: 15. Tom de Glanville; 14. Joe Cokanasiga, 13. Ollie Lawrence, 12. Max Ojomoh, 11. Henry Arundell; 10. Finn Russell, 9. Ben Spencer (c); 1. Beno Obano, 2. Tom Dunn, 3. Thomas du Toit, 4. Quinn Roux, 5. Ross Molony, 6. Guy Pepper, 7. Sam Underhill, 8. Alfie Barbeary. Replacements: 16. Dan Frost, 17. Francois van Wyk, 18. Archie Griffin, 19. Ted Hill, 20. Miles Reid, 21. Tom Carr-Smith, 22. Santi Carreras, 23. Cameron Redpath.

Edinburgh: 15. Harry Paterson; 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Piers O'Conor, 12. James Lang, 11. Malelili Satala; 10. Ross Thompson, 9. Ben Vellacott (c); 1. James Whitcombe, 2. Ewan Ashman, 3. Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 4. Callum Hunter-Hill, 5. Glen Young, 6. Tom Dodd, 7. Freddy Douglas, 8. Ben Muncaster. Replacements: 16. Harri Morris, 17. Mikey Jones, 18. Paul Hill, 19. Euan McVie, 20. Connor Boyle, 21. Charlie Shiel, 22. Ben Healy, 23. Jack Brown.

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy).