MATT Currie has signed his first senior contract as an Edinburgh player, while Mark Robertson is returning to his old team as head of strength and conditioning.
And, after a busy day at the DAM Health Stadium, Stuart McInally has been ruled out of Saturday’s Challenge Cup match at London Irish, with Southern Knights hooker Fraser Renwick joining as cover on a short-term deal.
Outside centre Currie, 20, has made five appearances so far for Edinburgh as an academy player and is highly regarded by head coach Mike Blair. He has had to wait patiently for his chance this season given the excellent form shown by Mark Bennett, who he says has been of considerable help to him since he joined the capital club.
“Mark has always been one I have looked up to,” Currie said after the announcement of his new deal, which runs for an unspecified period. “It's funny. It was a bit surreal when I first came in.
“I was playing alongside him and playing against him, but he has been great as my role model and my mentor at the club. He has really helped me.
“He’s in top, top form at the moment. It's just about learning from him. He has been great with me since I joined the club, helping me to analyse my game. And he pushes me to challenge myself and get better.”
The Edinburgh squad for the London Irish match will be announced tomorrow [Friday], and Currie should be on the bench if not in the starting line-up. He has had to wait patiently for another chance after making those handful of appearances last season, but is determined to make an impact if and when the chance presents itself.
“It was great getting those opportunities, but Mark has been playing phenomenally and has had a big impact,” he continued. “I know I need to wait for my opportunities. At the end of last season I got a few opportunities and hopefully this season I can get a few more. When they come, I just need to grab them with both hands.
“I’m really enjoying the environment at the club at the moment and I’m absolutely loving my rugby. I think Edinburgh is a great place for me to develop my game and it’s something I’m excited for moving forward - I can’t wait to get stuck into it.”
Meanwhile, Robertson, who played on the wing for Edinburgh between 2007 and 2011 before becoming a sevens specialist, is returning after three years as a member of Clermont Auvergne’s S&C department. He knows some members of the current squad well - he and Bennett both won Olympic silver medals in 2016 as part of the Team GB sevens squad - and has been an interested observer as they have thrived this season under Blair.
“It’s special to be joining a club that I have so many great memories from as a player,” he said. “I’ve watched from a distance as the club has gone from strength to strength on and off the pitch and I’m delighted to be part of its continued growth as a staff member.
“I’m excited to link up with an energetic and creative group of staff. It’s clear to see they’re creating a unique way of preparing the team and I’m looking forward to adding to this.
“The playing group has a great mix of experienced players playing at the top of their game and highly aspirational youngsters. They’ve already shown they can deliver at the highest level and it’s exciting to know they’ve not yet reached their potential. I can’t wait to get started.”
Edinburgh deregistered McInally from their squad to play London Irish as a result of the neck injury he sustained in the win against Cardiff last Saturday. He is, however, expected to play again in the next week or two, and so as things stand should be available to face England in the first match of the Six Nations Championship on 5 February. Although Renwick has been recruited as cover, Dave Cherry and Adam McBurney are expected to be the two hookers on duty against Irish in two days’ time.
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 here