Impressive Cox extends Edinburgh stay and targets progress in league

Sean Cox committed himself to a long-term stay at Edinburgh yesterday and immediately set his sights on the “must-win” RaboDirect PRO12 clash with bottom side Aironi at Murrayfield tomorrow night.

The English back-row/second-row has impressed many in the capital since he arrived from Sale Sharks in the summer.

One of those impressed has clearly been Edinburgh head coach Michael Bradley, as he has moved quickly to extend the 26-year-old’s current one-year deal until the summer of 2014.

However, far from basking in the news, Cox’s main focus is tomorrow night’s match and helping Edinburgh climb up the league table before the end of the year.

Italian outfit Aironi sit bottom of the pile but with their only victory having come against the Scots back in September and, with Edinburgh themselves third from bottom, it is by no means a home banker.

Cox, who played in the 25-19 loss in Viadana, said: “We know that Aironi are a difficult side to play against with a number of internationalists in their ranks.

“And, as we saw last weekend against Munster, games can change very quickly in this league and little things can turn matches around, so we will need to be at our best.

“We really need to start pushing up the table and as such that makes this one a must-win game. Hopefully we will have a big crowd behind us to cheer us on and the guys are confident at the minute.”

Cox started the first six matches of this current season and has been involved regularly in the second-row and back-row.

They are two positions of the Edinburgh team where there is real competition for places with the likes of Esteban Lozada, Steven Turnbull and the up-and-coming Grant Gilchrist also fighting it out for the number four and five jerseys. And Cox has competition for the number six jersey from the likes of David Denton, Stuart McInally, Netani Talei and the currently-injured Alan McDonald.

The former England age-grade cap said: “You always need competition for places at any professional squad and we have some really good players in our pool.

“I was glad to be able to start the first few matches of the season and show the coaches and the other guys what I can do and my aim now is to start as many matches as I can in the RaboDirect PRO12 and the Heineken Cup for the rest of the season.”

Never mind the rest of the season, Cox is likely to be utilised regularly in the coming weeks as Edinburgh face up to matches against Aironi, Cardiff (twice) and Glasgow Warriors before the turn of the year.

“The next few weeks really are crucial for us and everyone is focused and ready for the challenges ahead. We won’t be thinking of the Heineken Cup double header with Cardiff until after this weekend and after those two games we have a big local derby.

“I am delighted to be at Edinburgh for the long-term and I feel we have a bright future here.

“The young players really are coming on well under the coaching team, while we have built up a really good team spirit and the crowd that came to watch us against Racing Metro was the biggest we have had.

“I hope there is another big one tomorrow. There’s a clear statement of intent being made by the club by signing players early.

“It’s now down to the players to deliver their part of the club’s vision on the field.”

On the extension of Cox’s contract Edinburgh head coach Bradley said: “It’s fantastic news for us as a club that players like Sean want to stay with Edinburgh Rugby. He and others see a positive future for themselves and that they can reach their ambitions playing at this club.”

For the match against the Italians, which kicks-off at 7.30pm, Bradley will be without Jim Thompson and Andrew Kelly who suffered knee injuries in the away loss to Munster last Saturday night.

Youngsters Robin Hislop and Gregor Hunter are also out of the squad along with debutant Sep Visser and yellow-carded prop Jack Gilding.

Ten players – Geoff Cross, Nick De Luca, Dave Denton, Ross Ford, Grant Gilchrist, Allan Jacobsen, John Houston, Lee Jones, Chris Leck and Tim Visser – have been added to an extended 27-man squad.

With such key players returning it seems likely that Edin-burgh will be back to almost full-strength for the match, with Bradley saying: “We’ve spoken about how we owe Aironi one.

“We do not want to lose twice to them in the one season and obviously to achieve that we have to beat them on Friday night so there’s a lot of determination among the players to win this game and put the record straight.”