DUNCAN WEIR believes joining Edinburgh Rugby is the best thing for him at this stage of his career - and he is adamant that the move along the M8 was his own choice.
The 25-year-old has been on Glasgow Warriors’ books since his teenage years, but yesterday the Scotland stand-off endured his first tough day of pre-season as an Edinburgh player ahead of 2016/17.
Many onlookers feel that Weir was advised to make the move east to the Warriors PRO12 rivals by the hierarchy within Scottish Rugby.
However, he states that he had options and could have stayed at Scotstoun or even moved down south had he wanted to.
“Being a Glasgow boy, I could have easily just stayed at Glasgow and kept putting pressure on Finn Russell for the starting jersey, but I felt this opportunity came at the right time and I’m looking forward to the new challenge,” Weir said.
“You also have to have these conversations with your agent [about possibly moving to the English Premiership], but I just felt that Edinburgh is the right place for me to develop and being close to home is important to me for family reasons.
“I never spoke to [Scotland head coach] Vern Cotter about the decision to move, but as an athlete you strive to play international sport so obviously it had an influence on the decision as I know I need to start more regularly for my club to try and push on with Scotland.”
Weir missed Scotland’s recent tour to Japan and although he admits he was frustrated at first to not be on the plane he feels some time off has done him the world of good.
He explained: “I think if I had jumped straight into things [after losing the PRO12 semi-final with Glasgow] I would have struggled mentally, but now I’m in a good place - I’ve recovered well, I’ve kept myself ticking over and I’m ready.
“My head is definitely screwed on and I can’t wait to hit the ground running with Edinburgh.
“Gradually over the last three years Edinburgh have got better and better and their start to last season’s campaign was fantastic which is a great sign of what is to come next for this team.
“I have had discussions with Alan Solomons and he has said he wants the backs to play an exciting type of game going forward and that is only going to excite you as a rugby player.
“Obviously in the past they have been very safe in their own half and kicked the ball to put pressure on the opposition which suits my game, so there is a good blend.
“I can play both styles and having learnt with a team like Glasgow, who like to throw the ball about a wee bit more than other teams in the league, hopefully I can help out here.”
When Weir’s move to the BT Murrayfield outfit was announced earlier this year it looked like a certainty that he would be the starting number 10 for them.
However, Welshman Jason Tovey impressed on loan from the Dragons towards the end of 2015/16 in that position and he has now signed permanently too.
“Jason did really well when he came in for the last six games of last season, but it’s always good to have competition because it helps you strive to be the best you can,” Weir said.
“There are no guarantees of starting, I’m fully aware of that and I’m looking forward to working hard to show the guys here who don’t me that I can do a job.
“As a player you want to keep developing and be able to show that you are adding aspects to your game and I think that here at Edinburgh we are going to have an exciting back division going forward.”
Meanwhile, Edinburgh have confirmed the signing of centre Sasa Tofilau, 21, on a one-year deal.
The Samoan-born centre, who played for Australia under-20, came to the attention of Edinburgh’s coaching staff while turning out for club side Kirkcaldy last term.
He said: “I’m really excited to be involved at the club and I’m grateful to the coaches for putting faith in me. Hopefully I can return the favour in the way I train and play.”
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