Why Edinburgh Rugby have decided to stick rather than twist on captaincy as Sean Everitt outlines targets for the season

Given that Edinburgh were 10th in the United Rugby Championship last time around and failed to make the play-offs, it might be stretching a point to say ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it’ but head coach Sean Everitt is convinced that their lowly finish cannot be blamed on the team leadership.

What is clear is that more – much more – is expected of the squad this time around, with Everitt eyeing the top four and a place in the Challenge Cup final. The South African is embarking on his second season at the helm and feels the squad is in a better place than this time last year when their preparations were disrupted by the Rugby World Cup. He also believes that Gilchrist and Vellacott bring stability and sees no need to change “leadership which is working really well”.

“I think the club has gone through enough change over the last 12 months,” said Everitt. “As we know, they complement each other. When Gilco is on international duty or needs a bit of a break, Ben steps in and takes over. It is good to have two leaders in the group.

“At times Ben has been on the bench behind Ali Price, so if Gilco comes off early then it is good to have a captain to come on at scrum-half, who is in line with the team and the plan, so it has worked well for us and the team enjoys the leadership.”

For Gilchrist, it will be his fifth successive season as co-captain and his sixth in total. The second-row forward first held the role in 2016-17 alongside Stuart McInally. The job then went to Magnus Bradbury and Fraser McKenzie the following year before McInally flew solo as skipper for two seasons. Gilchrist and McInally then reprised their co-captaincy for 2020-21 and 2021-22, after which Gilchrist teamed up with Jamie Ritchie. He then paired up with Vellacott at the start of the 2023-24 campaign.

While last season ended in disappointing fashion for Edinburgh, Everitt was adamant that Gilchrist and Vellacott should not be held responsible.

“It wasn’t a lack of leadership which cost us our top eight position, that’s for sure,” said the coach. “If you were to speak to Gregor Townsend, he’ll tell you that Grant Gilchrist is probably one of the best captains Scotland have had, so we don’t question individuals when it is a team sport.”

Edinburgh have added to their coaching team over the summer with the appointment of Scott Mathie who will lead their attack and bolstered their squad with the signings of centres Mosese Tuipulotu and Matt Scott, prop Paul Hill, stand-off Ross Thompson, back-rower Bradbury and winger Ross McCann.

Everitt, who signed a new two-year contract in January, knows he needs to get more out of a squad which contains 26 full Scotland internationals and has told his players what he expects from them.

“We didn’t achieve our targets from last year, so for me we all know we are a team that can finish in the top eight, and we also know that we are a team that for the majority of last season sat in the top five,” he said.

“So, we have set our bar quite high. We would like to finish in the top four. We also feel that we can compete in the knock-out stage of the Challenge Cup, if not contest the final.

“The important thing is for us to prepare to win each week. In professional sport, I know it is difficult to go unbeaten every single week, but as long as you prepare to win every week you’ve got an opportunity.

“So, that’s our short-term goal, and we know that it is process, and if we get that right every week then we should end up where we want to be. We were a lot better last year in the number of wins that we got, but we want to look at the quality of our performances, that will get us through.”

Leinster at home is an extremely tough start and it doesn’t get any easier in rounds two and three when Edinburgh travel to South Africa to take on the Bulls and Lions before welcoming the Stormers to Hive Stadium.

“It’s a hell of a start but we know that regardless of who we play in this competition it is always going to be difficult,” said Everitt. “Like I’ve said before, we’ve got to be optimistic about the first four rounds of this competition, and if we come out on top which is what we plan to do then it makes good reading for the rest of the URC. So, that’s our challenge and we see it as a positive.”

Darcy Graham and Emiliano Boffelli, who both missed much of last year, came through the pre-season game against Gloucester unscathed and are in the frame to face Leinster. Luke Crosbie will miss out because of a nerve issue in his neck issue but is expected to return to training at the end of the month. Harry Paterson, the full-back, is going to be out for a couple more weeks as he recovers from a gashed foot sustained on the glass door of a sauna. “Unfortunately, the cut on his heel turned a bit nasty,” reported Everitt.

Other than that, there are no fresh injury concerns as Edinburgh prepare to welcome the four-time European champions to Hive Stadium.