AFTER the disruption caused by the sudden resignation of the Edinburgh chief executive at the end of last season, partly brought on by unrest among the players, the Scottish Rugby Union have gone for a safe pair of hands with plenty of playing experience.

Jon Petrie has an impressive pedigree as a player with 45 matches for Scotland, including one as captain, and also 167 for Glasgow, who he joined from Colomiers in France, retiring only eight years ago in 2007. Since then he has spent a period with SSE, the energy company, in Perth where he was head of sponsorship when he moved back to rugby circles as commercial operations manager with the union.

Petrie now succeeds David Davies taking charge of Edinburgh. "We have a great opportunity to build on the team's success in reaching the first European Final for a Scottish professional team last season," he said after his appointment was announced. "I know there is a real desire to take the club forward and help ensure the players can give the fans plenty to cheer about in the seasons to come and I look forward to meeting many of the supporters in the coming months.”