Squad 22/23

[The Feral Goat]

Jake Kerr (26) at Bristol, Robbie Smith (24) at Northampton and Isaac Miller (28) at London Irish are probably part of that missing generation of hooker in addition to Grant Stewart (28) who is now at Ayrshire Bulls after falling out of pro rugby and Cam Fenton (27) who also didn't get kept on at Edinburgh and is playing at Super 6 level too.

Thanks, i had forgotten about them! Stewart and Fenton were decent club squad players, kerr possibly the best of that group he may follow cherry's path and get more international recognition later in career.

[Pitfitter1105]

W.P. resigns for another year, maybe the best they’re offering at his age but good solid prop who always gives us his best.

[Croft_No.6]

Nel said: “I’m really happy to have signed a new deal with Edinburgh Rugby. It’s a club that means so much to me and the city is home for me and my family. We love it here and plan to continue life here after rugby.

“My body still feels great, which was a massive factor in signing a new deal. I still feel like I can make an impact at the top level, so I want to do continue doing that for another season with a club that has backed me for over a decade of my career.

He continued: “Next year will probably be my last in professional rugby. If I can bring success to the team while providing leadership and advice to the younger props in the squad, then I can’t think of a better way to go out.

“Rugby has given me so much in life. I might be one of the older guys but I’m still hugely competitive and know I can be one of the best in my position on any given day. It will be an honour to pull on the Edinburgh jersey for another season.”

[The Chiel]

What a great servant. And still Scotland's best scrummaging TH imo.

Having said that, it wouldn't surprise me to see him easing off substantially after the RWC.

[doedin]

After a dodgy start and falling out with a few refs, Nel has proven to be one of our best ever tightheads. It's a shame we didnt get as much as we should have seen of the Nel - Ford - Dickinson front row on the pitch due to injuries etc. Possibly at their prime our strongest ever front row?

[Tichtheid]

After a dodgy start and falling out with a few refs, Nel has proven to be one of our best ever tightheads. It's a shame we didnt get as much as we should have seen of the Nel - Ford - Dickinson front row on the pitch due to injuries etc. Possibly at their prime our strongest ever front row?

I think that is the best pro unit we've seen, I have a soft spot for Chunk and Schoeman is as good as any prop we've had.
I have high hopes for Ashman, Schoey has loads of years left, we need a strong tighthead coming through, but I'm not aware of anyone of that sort of calibre


Having said that, I would have loved to have seen a fully professional trio of David Sole, Kenny Milne and Iain "The Bear" Milne play for Edinburgh.

On WP, I'll never forget the expression on his face when he came on against the Sharks last season and laid their scrum to waste.

https://twitter.com/EdinburghRugby/stat ... 95040?s=20

[Tichtheid]

Rudi Brown is in the A side lineup for tomorrow.

I can't believe we are letting him go.

[JDCSR]

Rudi Brown is in the A side lineup for tomorrow.

I can't believe we are letting him go.

All 4 props are primarily tightheads so I think it's a case of anyone fit playing.

McCallum, Deans, Williams and Gamble. (I'm quietly starting to quite rate Williams as an aside).

Re. Brown leaving I think he must have something lined up. If he's just being let go that would beggar belief so I can only assume he's had an offer from an English side on more than we can offer a first year pro.

[robdinsdale]

Rudi Brown is in the A side lineup for tomorrow.

I can't believe we are letting him go.

All 4 props are primarily tightheads so I think it's a case of anyone fit playing.

McCallum, Deans, Williams and Gamble. (I'm quietly starting to quite rate Williams as an aside).

Re. Brown leaving I think he must have something lined up. If he's just being let go that would beggar belief so I can only assume he's had an offer from an English side on more than we can offer a first year pro.

Rumour has it that it was a surprise to Brown when he wasn't kept on. I don't understand it.

[dolf_lundgren]

Its really odd, looking at the squad it looks like we are short in the back row and back 3, so makes some of those released quite baffling, unless we have others to come in of a higher quality.

I dont think we want to be bringing in many more nonSQ players so its quite a small pool to work with. Brown, Blain and Hutchison I thought were all good young players who havent really let us down. We have brought in a lot worse than them over the years, even if they arent going to be world beaters, we have shown that we need solid players who are available to cover when the big names are away, I felt Blaine and Hutchison woudl do that, much as Hoyland and Dean did over the years.

Be interested to see who else comes in.

Im still a bit skeptical at 10, I know its not fashionable to question him but Healy is the third choice 10 at Munster and is being talked up as the messiah, we need to be careful not to expect too much of him. I still think Kinghorn will be first choice there or be neck and neck with Healy, its certainly not bringing in a 100% first choice 10. I hope he can develop into that though and he looks to have the tools to do so.

[Tichtheid]

re Brown, Liam McConnell is starting at 7 in the A side tonight. He's 18 years old, six four and seventeen stones

I see he started all our U20s games this year (I didn't have the time to watch them and seeing the results didn't make me want to catch up with the games)

McConnell is also captain of the A side.

I still don't understand the Brown move, it's not like you can have too many big ball-carrying backrows in your squad

[Friday Knight Lights]

re Brown, Liam McConnell is starting at 7 in the A side tonight. He's 18 years old, six four and seventeen stones

I see he started all our U20s games this year (I didn't have the time to watch them and seeing the results didn't make me want to catch up with the games)

McConnell is also captain of the A side.

I still don't understand the Brown move, it's not like you can have too many big ball-carrying backrows in your squad

I think the problem for Brown is he's not seen as a ball carrier - played lock for the Knights (and Edinburgh), then 7 for the 20s and from what I saw it's a wash but he had some nice touches.

I don't understand it either but I guess that's the only logic. We'll need to wait and see who we have in the academy next year. Could be they have big ball carriers at stage 3 next year they prefer to brown?

[JDCSR]

One thing I will say is that generally where you've seen people talking about Brown over the last couple years they're mainly saying that he's big rather than commenting on particular facets of his play and once you get to pro level everybody is pretty big.

That being said I thought he was a stand out of our under 20 side and either way he's still very big which is generally useful so I'm surprised.

Stats wise he made more metres than any of our other forwards in the under 20 six nations though his metres per carry isn't stand out and he didn't break many tackles suggesting he's maybe not the big ball carrier people think based off his size though still a huge contributor. He tackled frequently and at over a 90% success rate and he also contributed 3 turnovers. I thought he looked really good and in the same high workrate mould as a Crosbie or Fagerson.

[macdone]

Dobie has re signed with the weegies. A bit of a shame imo. 3 of the best 4 (incl Ben White) Scottish 9s across the M8.

[The Feral Goat]

Dobie has re signed with the weegies. A bit of a shame imo. 3 of the best 4 (incl Ben White) Scottish 9s across the M8.

Was only a 1 year deal (Same as we picked up Steele on), maybe he is waiting to see what Price does after the RWC year and will make a longer term decision either at GW or else where after that.

Interesting (not really) Rambos contract ran to November wonder if all that end in RWC year run later think other years contracts generally finish around June/July.