The reasons behind Edinburgh Rugby’s season of failure and what will be done to address the problems

Those were heady days for the capital side and that victory five days after Christmas lifted them up to fourth place in the United Rugby Championship as the season reached its halfway point. Sean Everitt had come in and steadied the ship after a desperately disappointing 2022-23 which had seen Edinburgh finish 12th. Everitt, who arrived last summer as ‘senior coach’, was promoted to head coach after the Glasgow win and given a two-year contract extension.

Fast forward five months and Edinburgh are coming to terms with their season ending prematurely for the second year running. Despite a player budget reckoned to be around £8 million per annum and a squad chock full of Scotland internationals, they ended up tenth in the URC, missing out on the top-eight place needed to qualify for the play-offs.

The 31-6 defeat they suffered at the hands of Benetton at the weekend punctured their hopes and the consequences will be felt beyond the current campaign. The lowly league finish means they also miss out on a place in next season’s Investec Champions Cup, the money-spinning elite European club competition, and will instead play in the Challenge Cup.

Years of underachievement

It will hardly be a novel experience; Edinburgh have been in the second-tier tournament seven times in the past 10 years, suggesting underachievement is endemic in Scotland’s capital city. Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the sport turning professional but Edinburgh have yet to lift major silverware in the pro era.

There have been close shaves: a Heineken Cup semi-final in 2012, a Challenge Cup final three years later and a narrow home defeat in the Pro14 semis in 2020, but the overall picture has been one of falling short when it matters most.

Saturday in Treviso was a case in point as Edinburgh saved their worst for last. It was their heaviest defeat of the campaign and the only time this season that they have failed to score a try. In what was a winner-takes-all encounter it was Benetton who rose to the occasion, scoring five tries to set-up a quarter-final against the Bulls.

The backlash came quickly on social media with many of the club’s supporters understandably dismayed by the manner of Edinburgh’s defeat at Stadio Monigo. “We’re going to go through some adversity now,” acknowledged Everitt afterwards, “we’re going to have to pick ourselves up and come back next season to go again.”

It was a tough one to take for the coach. There is no doubt he has made Edinburgh better even if they can be a tough watch at times. They won 11 of their 18 league games compared to six last season and 10 the year before that when Edinburgh finished seventh and reached the URC play-offs. A meagre haul of five bonus points meant that Everitt’s side went to Treviso on Saturday knowing a 12th win would almost certainly be required to reach the play-offs and they never looked close to achieving it. They struggled under the high ball, were careless in possession and offered little attacking threat at a venue they haven’t won at since 2017.

Treatment table

Back-three injuries have dogged Edinburgh all season and eventually caught up with them in Italy where James Lang, a centre, had to fill in at full-back and the inexperienced Jake Henry returned from injury to play on the wing. Any team would miss players of the calibre and experience of Darcy Graham, Emiliano Boffelli and Wes Goosen, and let’s not forget Edinburgh also lost Blair Kinghorn to Toulouse in mid-season and have been without the highly promising Harry Paterson since early March due to injuries.

Having said all that, Edinburgh supporters were entitled to expect a better performance from their team given they were able to field a forwar ds pack containing seven full Scotland internationals and Bill Mata. “In my eyes it’s a failure and we have to address it,” co-captain Grant Gilchrist said afterwards with typical candour.

It won’t be easy. Everitt is likely to have a reduced budget to work with next season as Murrayfield’s new hierarchy looks to tackle the £10 million black hole in its finances. John McGuigan, appointed Scottish Rugby chair last year, has warned that the two pro teams will have to “carry some of the pain” as he looks to make savings.

Hopes pinned on new centre

The squad will be refreshed and the club have already confirmed the signing of Mosese Tuipulotu, Magnus Bradbury and Ross Thompson. The hope is that Tuipulotu will provide midfield creativity and go-forward in the manner his older brother Sione has done with Glasgow and Scotland but the young centre is likely to need time to settle. Bradbury’s return after two years at Bristol Bears can compensate for the loss of Mata who is moving in the opposite direction and Thompson offers another option at stand-off where Ben Healy played almost every minute of every game and looked out of ideas against Benetton.

But more will be required. Most obviously, the retirement of WP Nel leaves a huge hole at tighthead and replacing the 61-times capped prop is likely to be expensive.

Everitt was appointed late last summer and inherited the squad. He deserves more time in the saddle and the chance to put his own imprint on the team. But he will also be expected to get more out of a group that includes senior internationals such as van der Merwe, Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson, Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman and Luke Crosbie. The return of Graham and Boffelli will add pace and creativity and Edinburgh need to find a way to involve van der Merwe more. The winger scored as many tries in one match for Scotland against England last season as he did in the whole of the URC campaign. The try against Glasgow was great but let's have a few more.