Edinburgh Rugby target play-offs as five debutants named for season opener against Dragons

Stevie Lawrie revealed Edinburgh are driven to get back into the United Rugby Championship play-offs as they bid to bounce back from the disappointment of last season.

The team from Scotland’s capital lost 12 of their 18 league matches as they ended last term in 12th, five places below where they finished the previous year. But Edinburgh – who begin their new campaign away to Dragons on Saturday – are confident things will be better this time around.

“We need to make sure we’re back into those play-off spots, that’s really important,” said forwards coach Lawrie. “We’re realistic about our targets and where we’re growing from because last season was really disappointing. We need to make sure we’re in that business end at the end of the season.”

Edinburgh begin the season under new management, with South African Sean Everitt having arrived in the summer to take over after Mike Blair stepped away from his role as head coach earlier this year. Lawrie has been impressed with the way the former Sharks coach has gone about his business so far.

Scotland prop Javan Sebastian is one of five debutants for Edinburgh against Dragons.

“Sean’s come in and stamped his authority on the group pretty quickly,” said Lawrie. “He’s quite softly spoken but we’re in no uncertain terms about how he wants us to be as a group. He’s driving the resilience of the group and how hard they’re working. He’s been excellent.

“He comes with a lot of experience of a long time with the Sharks and that’s a bonus because he knows the South African teams in our league well. He’s brought a lot of knowledge and a really good understanding of how to run the organisation in a hard-working and resilient way.”

Edinburgh have named five debutants in their starting XV for the Dragons match, with stand-off Ben Healy and prop Javan Sebastian – who both represented Scotland at the World Cup this autumn – joined by Ross McCann, Cameron Neild and Tom Dodd. Scotland forwards Sam Skinner and Dave Cherry also start but Ewan Ashman, Grant Gilchrist, Blair Kinghorn, Viliame Mata, Duhan van der Merwe, WP Nel, Pierre Schoeman, Hamish Watson and Emiliano Boffelli are among a raft of internationals not included.

Darcy Graham and Jamie Ritchie are still recovering from the injuries that forced them off in Scotland’s defeat by Ireland a fortnight ago.

Ahead of the match-up in Newport, Everitt said: “There has definitely been a buzz about the squad this week. They are excited to get back onto the field and get the campaign started after such a long off-season programme. We’re delighted to see a number of players make their debut for the club. It’s always an honour pulling on the jersey for the first time, and it will be a special occasion for those representing the city tomorrow afternoon.

“The players said they are going to be a hard-working, resilient, physical and abrasive team - and that’s what we need to see on Saturday afternoon in Newport, because that’s what it’s going to take to win the game. Dragons possess a hugely talented squad and, like us, they’ll be eager to get their season off to the best possible start. We’re excited for the test and the squad will be ready to go come kick-off in Wales.”