There has been a raft of signings and re-signings at Edinburgh in the past few weeks which is very welcome. I don’t expect many of us would have thought that we would get to keep all of Mata, Ritchie and Watson. So while there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth across the M8 at Scotstoun most Edinburgh supporters will be feeling justifiably smug right now.
However for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and the reaction in this case will be that some players will be leaving.
We already know about Duhan and Andrew Davidson but those exits have been equalised, at least in terms of numbers, by the recruitment of Glen Young and James Lang from Harlequins.
So, barring any other moves the squad will remain at 49 players. This is of course unlikely. I don’t believe we will have a bigger squad though. The economic realities of a post Covid world would preclude that. It is far more likely that we will see a reduction in numbers. Best case scenario is the status quo.
There are rumours of further signings. Notably scrum half Ben Vellacott , Loosehead Boan Venter and tighthead Luan De Bruin.
These may just be rumours but if there is any truth to them then if we accept that the squad size won’t increase then there will be departures.
Once upon a time I could have told you exactly who was out of contract this summer but the pool of players for whom we know their contract length is dwindling. By this time next year a piece such as this will be entirely guesswork.
Incidentally if the Glasgow coach, Danny Wilson, had stopped at saying, “it’s the players private business” when discussing the cloak of secrecy around contracts i’d have bought that but he felt that he had to throw in a second patently spurious reason. After that I was left wondering whether he was making it all up as he went along.
The players we know are definitely out of contract at the end of season 2020-2021 are as follows -
Mike Willemse
WP Nel
Simon Berghan
Murray McCallum
Fraser McKenzie
Nick Haining
Henry Pyrgos
Nic Groom
Darcy Graham
Eroni Sau
Then there is a second tranche of players who last signed deals in 2019 so if we consider that the average length of contract is 2 years the following may be out of contract at the end of the season. Where available I’ve included some perhaps tell tale language used at the time they penned their last deals.
Lewis Carmichael - looking forward to representing this city in the years to come. December 2019
Mesulame Kunavula - a long term deal. June 2019
George Taylor - I can’t wait to to continue to pull on the jersey in the years to come. December 2019
Chris Dean - December 2019
James Johnstone - December 2019
Luke Crosbie - A very important player for us in years to come. December 2019
Mark Bennett - an important player for us in seasons to come. December 2019
Anyone who signed in 2020 I have ignored with the exception of Andries Ferreira. He was declared to be on a 1 year deal at the outset. I don’t think that will be renewed.
For the remainder of this column I will concentrate on the first list, examine each player in it and make a guess/assessment of who might be staying, who might be leaving and why.
Willemse. In addition to the rumours mentioned above it would be a reasonable guess to think that Ewan Ashman might find there's a contact at Edinburgh for him. He is clearly rated by Scotland and Cockerill having been at Edinburgh on loan last season and is struggling for game time at Sale. However the recent injury to Stuart McInally has had, even at this stage, a knock on effect of promoting Dave Cherry all the way to the Scotland squad. This has left the club light in this department with only Willemse and Sam Kitchen, yet to play a game, as hookers in the main squad. The upshot of this is that the extent of Rambo’s injury and the possible recruitment of Ashman may play a big part in whether the South African hooker gets an extension. IN THE BALANCE.
The tightheads. WP Nel, Simon Berghan and Murray McCallum are all out of contract at season's end. If the rumours about De Bruin have any substance then you’d have to think that at least one of this trio will be leaving. For Nel it may be retirement but i’d hope to see him for one more season especially if that came without the distraction of the Scotland squad. McCallum is a popular member of the squad. When fit he has the ability to push on but has played so little rugby (for Edinburgh) over the past 3 seasons, 420 minutes in total, that you fear for his future. On balance though i’d say Berghan is the one who may move on. He seems to be in Townsend’s plans, even if it’s as back up to Zander Fagerson, so his value to Edinburgh, like that of Cecciarelli who resurrected his Italian career and was then let go, is limited by those call ups. He’s not a great scrummager and that is something that Cockerill places great stock in. ONE WILL GO.
McKenzie. Fraser will be 33 in March and now hasn’t played since Scarlets in February 2020. With the likes of youngsters Jamie Hodgson and Marshall Sykes getting a lot of game time in his absence, Glen Young incoming and Ben Toolis now bizarrely looking like he won't be in future Scotland squads then I’d say time may be up for Fraz. he has been a great servant to the club with 119 appearances and it will be a shame if he can’t say goodbye on the field in front of the fans if this comes to pass. GOING.
Haining. The big no. 8 had a great first season at Edinburgh but after starting in the opening couple of fixtures this season he picked up an injury and then seems to have fallen a little out of favour. Darryl Marfo anyone? With BBM re-signing and Magnus Bradbury and Ally Miller also available throughout the season (for the most part) You would be forgiven for thinking his coat could be on a shoogly nail. STAYING.
The scrum halves. Henry Pyrgos and Nic Groom are both out of contract. Most observers would consider them to be very similar in playing style. Henry will be 32 this year. Groom only a year younger. The rumour mill says that Ben Vellacott may be joining Edinburgh and if that comes to pass I would think that time is up for one or the other of Groom or Pyrgos. I keep hearing that Henry is struggling for fitness so retirement could beckon for him. ONE WILL GO.
Graham. It would seem almost inconceivable that Darcy wouldn’t be offered a new contract. He may have offers but I'd hope like Watson and Ritchie that he feels comfortable and valued here and will make the same decision they did. STAYING.
Sau. the powerhouse Fijian will be 31 in February. He seems settled in Edinburgh so I’d imagine he would want to stay. He has proven to be a pretty good back up this season along with Jamie Farndale. STAYING.
As i’ve said this is supposition based on assessment of performance and contract status. If you’ve got some other thoughts let's hear them.
Comments
Post a Comment