PETER Wright has never been one to agree with convention. So, when the Boroughmuir coach says that Edinburgh are maybe in a better position than Glasgow Warriors, it’s time to listen.

Edinburgh have had an excellent season according to the ex-Scotland and Lions prop. And things are only likely to get better next term he says with the improvement down to one man.

“They’ve had a huge upturn across the board this season, in terms of how they’ve played, the players they’ve recruited, and some of the results they have gained. There is a bit of fight and belief in that team,” says Wright the BBC Scotland summariser.

“You can congratulate the players and say they’ve done well and the strides they’ve made this season, but that all has to come back to the direction they are getting from the coach, Richard Cockerill. I’ve spoken to him a couple of times when I’ve been on air.

“Alan Solomons, who was at Edinburgh before him, was a hard task master. But there was no personality with the guy. It might be quite simplistic, but I have always equated coaches as to how I would look upon them if I was playing for them. And Cockerill comes across as a guy who knows his business, with a bit of humility and a bit of humour. But above all else, he has the discipline and the knowledge that would make you want to listen.

“I’d love to play for someone like that. There were not wholesale changes to the playing personnel – but there have been massive changes in how that personnel is playing. And that is down to what Cockerill has put in to the group of players. I don’t think he plays the games that some coaches try to play. He appears straight up and down – probably going back to his Tigers ways – so the players will get it straight, and to the point. And it is working.

“He was a player at the very highest level for club and country, so he has a grasp of what it takes – what you need to put in to get it out. And again, the results are there.”

They are indeed, and not just in terms of what appears on the Murrayfield scoreboard.

“For a season or two, I was very critical of the Edinburgh players, who seemed content at turning up, doing enough to justify getting a contract, and then just lapse in to bad ways and showing a basic lack of professionalism,” says Wright of the players inherited by the former Leicester Tigers man.

“But that simply isn’t tolerated now and you can see that the players are thriving in this new environment. There is real belief, both in terms of their performance, and their belief. Which can only be good for the Scottish game in general.

“When Edinburgh beat Glasgow after having had Simon Berghan sent off, and the result against Benetton away, these showed there was a bit of dog in the team that hadn’t been there before. Cockerill has them believing – believing, not just thinking – that even in adversity they can win matches.

“Couple that to the improvement in the players, and their standards, and Edinburgh are in a good place.

“Stuart McInally has just been world class, Chris Dean at centre, he’s suddenly grown up, and some of the international players, who might have looked like they were at Edinburgh just because they were Scottish, now look like international players week in, week out.

“They are more of a team than they were previously. And to do all that in a year – in fact less than a year – is a measure of the coaching and of how much the players are buying into that philosophy. The improvement has been that marked. And it can only get better going forward.”

Achieving and getting more out of the PRO14 and in Europe, according to Wright, is having a spin-off for the national team and Gregor Townsend.

He added: “Glasgow have dominated the national team in the last few years, but the Edinburgh lads are really significant players in that set-up now. All in all, Edinburgh are in a very good place.”