NICK HAINING may be only three competitive games into his Edinburgh Rugby career, but already he feels right at home.
The Australian flanker joined Edinburgh from English Premiership side, Bristol Bears, and admits it took no time at all for him, as well as the other new signings Edinburgh head coach, Richard Cockerill made over the summer to settle in.
“I’ve really enjoyed it so far. I’m staying in Stockbridge with the missus and we got to see some of the Fringe Festival as well. Everyone’s been very welcoming – the boys, all of the staff, everyone has been great. I settled in straight away,” he said.
“We all got together and had a few beers. It was good to get together and break the ice with everyone. Murray McCallum is usually in charge of organising things – he’s good at it.”
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Edinburgh have made a solid start to the Guinness Pro14 season, opening with two victories over Zebre and Cardiff before falling to a heavy defeat against champions, Leinster. Haining admits he is still getting used to his new team and their style of play but so far, he likes what he sees.
“It’s been good so far - I’ve been adapting and getting the game plan down and getting used to everything," he said.
"It’s subtle differences [compared to the Premiership]. Coming from Bristol, they were a very structured team and while we do have a structure here, Cockers encourages us to play an open style of rugby which suits us, I think we’ve shown some good stuff so far.”
Edinburgh take on Scarlets at Murrayfield on Saturday and with the Welsh undefeated so far this season, Haining knows he and his teammates will face a tough task if they are to grab the win. However, with this weekend’s game the first in a run of thirteen consecutive weekends of competitive matches in either the Pro14 or the European Challenge Cup, getting some momentum going would be invaluable.
“Looking at Scarlets’ last three games, they’ve been good and they’ll probably fancy their chances," the 29-year-old said.
"This will be a good marker for us. We’re quite happy with how things are going, we’ve had some good results – maybe not the Leinster one but we took some good learnings out of that."
Edinburgh’s squad has been decimated over the World Cup with so many of their players away on international duty but as soon as this weekend, some of those players who have been on Scotland duty will begin to be reintroduced.
The reappearance will make getting a spot in the Edinburgh starting line-up significantly more tricky for Haining but he admits he is excited at the prospect of learning from players such as Jamie Ritchie.
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“It’s been good to get some faces back, it’s freshened up the squad a bit,” he said.
“The back row is stacked, it’s going to be very competitive. It’s good for us – it pushes us and we should be in a good position when everyone gets back.
“It’s been a good World Cup. Obviously not the results Scotland wanted but he [Jamie Ritchie] has done really well so it’ll be massive to learn from him, and the other guys coming back as well.”
Meanwhile, construction is now underway on Edinburgh's new stadium. Club legends, Allan Jacobsen, Tim Visser and Andy Irvine were present as work began on the back pitches of BT Murrayfield, with the new 7800 capacity stadium due to be ready for season 2020/21.
"To get a stadium built at BT Murrayfield, is going to be great," said Jacobsen, who made 286 appearances for Edinburgh..
"It's not just brilliant for the players, but for the fans too. Just to have one home, that will have a tight, smaller atmosphere will be fantastic. I'm really looking forward to coming down to watch."
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