DESPITE seeing two of his fellow coaches declared surplus to requirements after a season of unmitigated disaster, Neil Back, the man in charge of the Edinburgh forwards, has expressed interest in succeeding Michael Bradley as the head coach.

He believes the pain of this season, in which the team have so far won only four of 22 matches in all competitions, will produce its rewards when the young players they have been forced to blood gain experience. That, however, depends on keeping the core of the current squad together – a demand enhanced yesterday when Back was able to announce that Roddy Grant, the flanker who is a former club captain, had signed a deal to stay for another two seasons.

"I love what I do, I am really passionate about it and I do believe that we have a core of young players who are good at the moment and can be great in the future. I want to be part of building that," said Back.

"This year if you look away from the results, which I know is tough to do, there has been a lot of development and a lot of young players have had the opportunity to come through the development programme and the number of injuries we have had. That game time is invaluable. I hope that I can assist them to become a great team.