'Tricky': Returning Edinburgh star opens up on going from Finn Russell Scotland understudy to A-team rugby

A combination of injury, loss of form and rotten luck conspired to leave the stand-off on the sidelines for much of the campaign as the capital club reached the play-offs for the first time in three years.

He was back in the starting line-up on Saturday, playing his first full senior match in eight months, and although it wasn’t a winning return - Edinburgh lost 31-28 to Zebre - Healy was pleased to come through the test.

“Delighted to get 80 minutes under my belt,” he said. “Unfortunate with the result, but I’m delighted to be back out there.”

Healy joined from Munster ahead of the 2023-24 season and arrived at Edinburgh having played at the Rugby World Cup for Scotland. Everything seemed to be going well for the cultured 10 and his involvement with the national team continued during the 2024 Six Nations where he was back-up to Finn Russell.

Thrown a challenge you’re not prepared for

The arrival of Ross Thompson at Edinburgh last summer increased the competition at fly-half and Healy also struggled with a knee tendinopathy issue which caused him to miss matches. From being an ever-present, he ended up starting only four times for Edinburgh as Thompson took the reins.

Healy found himself in the A team, sent to play matches against the likes of Bath United. He also lost his place in the Scotland squad, turning out instead as a replacement for Scotland A against Chile last November.

“It was tricky,” he said of his second season. “You get thrown different challenges in your career that you won’t necessarily be prepared for, whether it be injury or form dipping or other players playing ahead of you, these types of things.

“Last season was probably a mixed bag. Touch wood, the first few seasons in my pro career I was pretty lucky with injury. So to have a few niggles last season did throw a new form of challenges at me, but I’m better for it now.”

The knee problem has been resolved which is a relief for Healy who hinted that he had tried to play through the pain rather than rest up.

“You’re a professional athlete, so trying to not play is the last thing you want to do, so sometimes you end up maybe pushing through things that you shouldn’t and you end up in a worse position,” he said. “I think we have all that edge and it’s part of being a professional athlete - if we didn’t have that we wouldn’t be here.”

Last weekend’s loss to Zebre in Parma was a disappointing start to the new campaign for Sean Everitt’s side but Healy dismissed the suggestion that it was a time for “soul-searching”.

Not the time for soul searching

“It’s round one of the season where we’ve had a really good pre-season,” he said. “This is my third year here, this is Sean’s third season and he really ran pre-season as I think he wanted to - this was probably his first full way of doing it how he sees the pre-season should go.

“It’s not the result we wanted, but I think we are in a good place, to be honest. We’re under no illusions. Realistically we need to get a win at home here against Ulster this weekend.

“But no, I wouldn’t put it down as soul-searching. It’s not good enough and we need to win this weekend, but at least we have two points to show for it.”