Grant Gilchrist: his pride at 200 Edinburgh landmark, why reaching semi would be best way to mark it

Grant Gilchrist will make his 200th appearance for Edinburgh this weekend but the long-serving forward is alert to the bigger picture around the Challenge Cup quarter-final against the Sharks in Durban.

Edinburgh co-captain Grant Gilchrist, centre, speaks to his team in the huddle after the EPCR Challenge Cup win over Aviron Bayonnais at Murrayfield. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

Having given 13 seasons’ unstinting service to the capital club Gilchrist deserves all the plaudits that will come this way as he joins a select band of double centurions. Only Allan Jacobsen (273), Chris Paterson (205) and WP Nel (201) have made more appearances than the second-row forward who followed Edinburgh as a kid in the Meadowbank days before going on to captain the club with distinction.

There have been peaks and troughs, with the Heineken Cup quarter-final win over Toulouse in his first season in front of over 37,000 at Murrayfield a particular high. Edinburgh return to the EPCR stage for this Saturday’s last-eight tie in South Africa and Gilchrist, at 33, remains as driven as ever. They are, he said, three games from glory and he doesn’t play down the transformative impact winning a first major trophy would have on Edinburgh.

“It would be huge,” he said. “It’s something I’ve said for the last 10, last 13, years. We don’t come here to be plucky quarter-finalists, semi-finalists. We want to win. We have grown as a club. Compared to when I first came in, the growth we’ve had over the last six or seven years…we’ve got a home now, we’ve got consistency. We’ve got a solid platform every year. It is about ‘can we take that next step?’ That next step is winning something.

A youthful Grant Gilchrist pictured in November 2011 during his first season with Edinburgh. He will make his 200th appearance for the club this weekend. (Picture: Alan Harvey/SNS)

“It would change everything if we won a trophy here. It would be enormous. It would mean we have a winning culture, a winning organisation. The fans would keep growing and growing. This place would keep growing. That is what we want to do over the next few years.”

The Sharks present a significant obstacle. They beat Edinburgh 23-13 in the United Rugby Championship a fortnight ago and it is expected to be hot and humid on Saturday afternoon at Kings Park where the hosts will field a pack peppered with Springbok World Cup winners like Ox Nche, Bongi Mbonambi and Eben Etzebeth.

“There’s no bigger challenge than going away to South Africa and I have never shied away from a challenge,” said Gilchrist. “This is what it’s all about for me – going to test yourself against a big, physical pack of forwards who are going to look to dominate us. We have to take the learnings from a couple of weeks ago and keep all the good stuff. There was lots to like in that performance, we just weren’t accurate enough. When we had the ball, we just weren’t able to put our game on them.

“This weekend we can’t take that hard work for granted - we need to do that again. We are going to have to go to dark places and scrap for absolutely everything. But then when we have the ball and are exiting and kicking, we have to be more accurate. When we do that, I believe we can win the game.

“But knock-out rugby is different. It’s not a league game. There’s no next week, for us or them. It was good to get a knockout win at the weekend [v Bayonne in the round of 16] and just get that feeling again of what it’s like. That changes the whole complexion of the game. We know if we stick in the game and we take our opportunities then the pressure starts to grow. There is no tomorrow for either team. You have to give everything to try to get to a European semi-final.”

Sean Everitt, the Edinburgh head coach, has promised to honour Gilchrist this week but the player himself was typically humble when quizzed about reaching the 200 games landmark and being mentioned alongside Jacobsen, Paterson and Nel, the latter having hit the double century as recently as last month.

“To get this many games for Edinburgh was not even a dream of mine,” said Stirling-born Gilchrist. “I desperately wanted to play for the club. I supported them as a youngster and used to come through and watch the games at Meadowbank. To play for the club once was a dream. To reach 100 games was so special but to reach 200 and be in the same conversation as those guys I grew up idolising is really special. I’m honoured to have played this many times for the club.

“I come into this place every day with a smile on my face because I love representing this club, I love preparing for games and I love taking the field and giving my all for the fans and for everybody through the years who has helped me. It means a lot and everything is focused on what would be a really special way to mark it – getting to a European semi-final.”

Gilchrist, who came through the ranks at Alloa RFC and Stirling County, signed a contract extension with Edinburgh before Christmas which ties him to the club until at least June 2025 and he feels there is plenty more he can still achieve.

“I’m not planning on retiring anytime soon,” he said. “I’ve never taken that final step. I’ve played in a couple of semi-finals and a few quarter-finals. There is a bit of regret from those games. I’d love to finish having had a year where we put it all together. It’s hard. In these knockout games, you’re playing top teams and you’ve got to be at your best. We are three wins away from silverware but it’s really important as well that you don’t lose sight of one game at a time. Every game is a final and I believe we are good enough. On our day if we get everything right, we can beat anyone. That’s got to be our attitude going forward in this competition and in the URC.”