'It’s exciting' - new Edinburgh coach lifts lid on what he has seen and the small tweaks required for success

New Edinburgh assistant coach Scott Mathie is convinced that fine tuning, not a radical upheaval, is required to get the team back into the URC play-offs this season.

The 41-year-old joined the coaching team last month as attack and backs coach, with the specific brief of restoring a cutting edge to a side that finished tenth last time out and claimed a try bonus point in just three games. But, speaking yesterday for the first time since his appointment, he insisted that a lot of ingredients for success remain in place at the Hive Stadium.

“They won 11 games, so there are a lot of things that are exciting moving forward - a lot of things we can build on,” Mathie said. “It’s exciting. These guys are creating opportunities, so it comes down to taking our chances and finishing these opportunities off. I would be more worried if we were not creating opportunities.

Coach Scott Mathie during an Edinburgh Rugby training session at the Hive Stadium, on September 05, 2024. (Photo by Ewan Bootman / SNS Group)

“There are a lot of players with exceptional qualities and talent. If we keep working on these skill sets and the speed at the breakdown, speed at the collision, those things will help us improve our finishing. Generating speed throughout the game is important - through the contact area, on the edges, when you carry. That is where the attack is at, and we have the players with speed, and it’s important we access that speed and ability.”

Born in Durban, the former scrum-half knows Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt - a fellow South African - from his time coaching back home. He won the USA’s Major League Rugby title with the New England Free Jacks both this year and last, but insisted that when Everitt asked him to move to Scotland he did not need a second invitation.

“Sean gave me a call to be involved with Edinburgh Rugby and you don’t turn down an opportunity like that. It’s a fantastic city, a great team with a lot of history, so I’m excited about the opportunity.

“The MLR is still a growing game, sprinkled with some special players. Here the standard is higher, the detail is higher. All these things are more precise, because you’re dealing with international quality guys.”