HAMISH Watson, the Edinburgh flanker, is confident that his former team-mate Roddy Grant will make a successful transition to coaching. Grant, who was forced to retire through injury at the end of last year, was announced on Monday as the new forwards coach with London Scottish for the rest of the season. Watson revealed yesterday that the 28-year-old had been doing coaching work with Edinburgh for some time, and expressed the hope that Grant would be back with the club at some point.
“All the players are really sad about Roddy’s retirement, but we wish him all the best,” said Watson, who is just back from injury and is available for his team’s Challenge Cup match at home to Agen on Friday night. “He’s got the forwards coach job down there so that’s a really good move for him. Hopefully after that he’ll come back up here. I think he’ll do well down there.
“Last season when Omar [Mouneimne] left and we didn’t have a defence coach, Roddy was helping with the defence. It comes naturally to him and he was a good leader on the field. He knows what he’s doing, so I think he’ll be a pretty good coach.”
The departure of Grant, who was also a specialist openside like Watson, means there is one less competitor for the No 7 jersey - although, with John Hardie at the club, Watson knows he still faces a tough fight for game time. The same situation applies when it comes to Scotland, but, having just recovered from his knee injury, Watson knows he needs to concentrate on getting a run of games for Edinburgh before he can hope to add to the two caps he won last year.
“It’s been frustrating.I was on the bench a bit and then got injured, so it has been a bit stop-start for me. The Six Nations is obviously a long shot, but let’s forget about that for now. If I start this weekend and play well for Edinburgh, then hopefully play next week as well, try and start week in, week out for Edinburgh, and then let’s just go from there.
“I’m not going to lie. I’m not getting my hopes up. I’ve played ten games and my form has been quite good, but I’ve been injured for the last four weeks. It’s a bit of a long-shot - but if I play well this weekend, who knows?”
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