Why Edinburgh had to strengthen at stand-off and what to expect from new centre Mosese Tuipulotu
Ben Healy started every game for Edinburgh in the United Rugby Championship and ended up as the league’s top points scorer. It was an impressive first campaign at the club for the cultured stand-off but his coach, Sean Everitt, is keen for him to share the burden next season.
It is why he has brought in Ross Thompson from Glasgow Warriors, one of six new Edinburgh signings ahead of the URC kick-off next month.
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Hide AdThompson, who won his fourth and fifth Scotland caps on the summer tour of North America, is returning to his home city after spending the entirety of his professional career at Glasgow whom he helped win the URC last season. The 25-year-old didn’t play as often as he would have liked under Franco Smith but he did force his way back into the team after injuries ruined his season in 2023-24. His last act in a Warriors jersey was to score a try in the URC quarter-final victory over the Stormers at Scotstoun and Everitt hopes having Thompson and Healy competing for the No 10 role can bring out the best in both men.


“There were areas that we identified within our squad where we needed depth,” explained the coach. “We were short in certain areas in the latter part of the season and we don’t want to get caught in those positions again.
“A guy like Ben Healy took a huge amount of load and played one of the highest totals of minutes in the competition. He did really well for us and ended up as top points scorer but it’s not ideal for a player to play week in week out like that, although it was good for his growth to get that game time. But that’s why we’ve brought in a guy like Ross Thompson. They can share the load because it’s important we look after the welfare of the players with the busy season that we have.”
In fact, Healy played the full 80 minutes in 16 of Edinburgh’s 18 URC games, only coming off near the end of the home win versus Zebre and the away defeat against Benetton that cost the capital club a place in the play-offs. With only young Cammy Scott as back-up, Edinburgh found themselves short at 10. Having released Jaco van der Walt last summer, they then allowed Charlie Savala to join Northampton Saints on loan. The sudden transfer of Blair Kinghorn to Toulouse left them without any senior back-up in the playmaker role and the arrival of Thompson makes sense for all parties, with Glasgow having signed Adam Hastings.
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Hide AdEveritt has also brought in centres Matt Scott from Leicester and Mosese Tuipulotu from the Waratahs in a bid to reinvigorate his backline. Edinburgh’s failings last season can be largely attributed to their lack of tries and subsequent poor haul of bonus points. With so many talented back-three players at the club the hope is that having more options at stand-off and centre will allow them to create more opportunities for the likes of Duhan van der Merwe, Emiliano Boffelli, Darcy Graham, Wes Goosen and new winger Ross McCann.


“In the midfield we’ve brought in Matt Scott for Chris Dean and we’re fortunate that we are able to replace experience with experience,” said Everitt “And we have Mosese Tuipulotu, a youngster coming in in a position where we don’t have many young players competing for spots, apart from Matt Currie. In our academy we only have really young centres like Findlay Thomson who has just signed, so we’ve created some depth there.
“We’ve also got Ross McCann coming in on the wing and that certainly helps us, with the departure of Jake Henry who we’ve released [to Coventry on loan] to get more game time and experience specifically because we’ve got the likes of Darcy Graham, Duhan van der Merwe, Wes Goosen and Boffelli. So it’s exciting times for us and we’re in a better position with the squad we’ve put together now from a depth position.”
Tuipulotu, the younger brother of Glasgow and Scotland centre Sione, is a particularly eye-catching signing but Everitt has cautioned against expecting too much too soon.
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Hide Ad“What we’ve got to remember is that he’s a youngster and coming to Scotland is a new experience for him,” said the coach. “He’s going to have to adapt to the style of play and also make himself comfortable and make Scotland his home.
“I presume it would have been a daunting move for him because he’s very close to his family back in Australia. Fortunately, he does have his brother not too far along the road.
“He’s a player who’s got a lot of potential and who’s got a lot of work to do on his game. Unfortunately, this year he hasn’t been exposed to the highest level of rugby that he would have liked to have been due to circumstances but we wouldn’t have brought a player here if we didn’t feel he had the necessary potential to play for Scotland.”
Everitt, who has also signed England international tighthead Paul Hill from Northampton, is embarking on his second season in charge and knows Edinburgh can’t afford to miss out on the play-offs for a third year in a row.
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Hide Ad“When I came in it was at a late stage and to get the team to win my focus was on sorting out the defence and the kicking game,” said Everitt. “The attack after Mike Blair had left was really good. This year we got five more wins but couldn’t get into the top eight. The competition to make it was tougher than any other competition in the world. Credit to the URC for making this maybe the premier competition in the world. We’ve got to make sure we can get up to the standard where we can compete and beat the best.”
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