AFTER years engaged in Edinburgh’s struggle for credibility the time could have been right for Hamish Watson to cash in on having established himself in the international team with a move to a glamour club, but instead the flanker found the new deal to stay more attractive than ever.

The extension of his contract was named among a tranche of signings earlier this week, partly because the club’s media advisers rightly anticipated that as they added further strength to their back-row weaponry, failing to include details of Watson’s deal might invite inaccurate speculation about his future.

When he returns from the World Cup next season, then, he will find himself involved in a selection battle that already sees John Barclay, Bill Mata, Jamie Ritchie, Magnus Bradbury and Luke Crosbie battling for inclusion and will now also have new Australian recruit Nick Haining joining that contest while the club has also recruited two of Mata’s fellow Fijians, Kalione Nasoko and Eroni ‘the sledgehammer’ Sau, as well as South African hooker Mike Willemse. While he had other offers, then, the real reward he is looking for, after all these difficult years, is the chance to compete for silverware with the club he joined as a teenager eight years ago.

“There were a few talks but I have a family here now and that played a huge part,” said the 27-year-old. “I’ve got a little baby, so to raise her in Edinburgh is something me and my fiancée wanted to do. It was a pretty easy decision in the end. You’d be silly not to talk to clubs and see what’s out there, but it was a pretty easy decision. I really want to try and win stuff with Edinburgh. I’ve signed for two years so if it takes two years or however many, will see what happens. I feel there is a lot of unfinished business here.”

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There have, of course, been false dawns before, but Watson shares in the view that there is something more meaningful happening this time.

“A few years ago we used to have these upwards waves and then it would stop, but this definitely does feel different,” he said. “We’re in the Champions Cup quarter-final, pushing for Pro14 play-offs in consecutive years (but now) we’ve managed to keep high-profile players so it really does feel that we’re going in the right direction.”

Clearly Mata’s rejection of big money offers from France, in turn helping attract his compatriots, was a major factor in that since, as Watson put it: “I’d rather have him on my team than play against him. He’s a great player to play with and has had a massive part in our success in Europe this year. He does very special things but he also does the basics really well. He’s a great player to have in the team and it was awesome to see him commit to Edinburgh. That’s pretty exciting for the fans to see us lock down players like that when French teams were supposedly after him for whatever money. It’s great to see him commit to the club and show that he’s loving it at Edinburgh.”

In this week that sees Edinburgh contest a Champions Cup quarter-final for only the third time ever and the second time at home, the most obvious comparison with previous situations is the last time that happened, when they registered what remains the only victory by a Scottish team in a knockout match in that competition, went on to come close to reaching the final, then saw their head coach Michael Bradley sacked the following season. Watson is one of the handful of current squad members who were on the books at that time but was not involved and is looking forward to being part of that sort of Murrayfield occasion with club rather than country.

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“I was pretty young back then. I was at the club but only 19,” he said. “It feels different because I’m more involved in it. I played a few games that year, but with Europe I was very much looking in from the outside. I was in training with the players, but I was looking at Europe more as a fan. I remember it as a really exciting experience for everyone and to get 40,000 at Murrayfield for a club game was very special. If we can get that again it will be amazing for the fans. I’ve never played in front of that many fans for Edinburgh, so it will be a huge game and we have to make sure we take our opportunity.”

Given the old truism that it is forwards that win matches, they can draw confidence from having a stronger pack than Scotland’s as well as having home advantage against Munster tomorrow.

“We’ve only lost one game here all season, against Cardiff when we were missing quite a lot of boys,” Watson noted. “I think we should definitely be confident. You don’t want to be overconfident going into these games, but I think we can be confident. We know how good a pack we’ve got. It’s going to be a very physical game. Looking at Leinster last weekend, this one will probably be pretty similar. It will probably be won up front. I’m not saying our backs won’t to have a say in how the game goes, but I think it will definitely come down to forward dominance and who can get the ascendancy there. If that is going well then maybe we can unleash some of her exciting backs, but up front is where the game will be won.”