RODDY Grant has tended to base his playing style round skill and speed but, as he prepares for his first go at competitive captaincy in a year and a half, he insists that the direct approach favoured by Edinburgh's new coaches suits him just fine.
It is a style that will face its sternest test this evening when they visit Liberty Stadium in Swansea to face the Ospreys, with four of the opposition front five making their first starts since returning from representing the Lions. If that is not good enough to ensure victory for them, Grant could find himself directly up against Justin Tipuric, yet another who toured Australia.
It is no coincidence that so many of the frontline Lions forwards are up against them - only Ian Evans, the lock, did not make it into the Lions Test team, while Alun Wyn Jones captained the tourists in the final game - with the unashamedly physical approach adopted down under, the best exponents of that style in Wales were always likely to dominate.
"They will start with their big names but we have no fear about going there," said Grant. "We are going down to win and perform well, as both go hand in hand. I prefer that they put their best side out and we can go down there and get the win."
Grant, who has not led Edinburgh in a competitive game since the end of the season before last, when he had the dubious honour of taking charge six days before their Heineken Cup semi-final knowing that few who took part in that match were going to be heavily involved the following week, it is a chance to consign the old Edinburgh team of fancy, but soft, play to the past and demonstrate the new ruthless edge in the hardest arena of all.
"I enjoy that aspect of the game; defensively that is one area I would like to pride myself on," he said. "Carry-wise, I am not built like Dents [David Denton, the No.8] but, with that, you can link a bit more and provide quick ruck ball. The big emphasis is on the collisions and being a big physical side. We are slowly getting there but it is not a change that happens overnight. Alan Solomons [the head coach] is clear with his messages, knows what he is looking for and if you don't do it you are out of the team. It makes it a lot easier for us. He is very specific."
For Solomons too, this is going to be the biggest test so far of the style that he is trying to introduce, although he insists it will not be until the November break that anybody will be in a position to make any firm judgments. "There is a long way to go," he said. "They are a very strong side, consistently one of the top sides in the Pro12. It is a wonderful opportunity for the players to face such quality opposition and show what they are capable of."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article