Why Matt Scott will tell it straight at Edinburgh after learning from the best at Leicester

How to turn Edinburgh into winners? It’s a vexed question that has stumped a succession of coaches in the near 30 years since rugby turned professional.

A squad packed full of internationals has regularly underachieved in the pro era and last season’s 10th place finish in the United Rugby Championship was thrown into sharp focus by Glasgow Warriors’ stunning success in the same competition.

Edinburgh have recruited half a dozen new players for next season and they took steps on Friday to also beef up their coaching team by appointing Scott Mathie as the club’s attack and backs coach. Mathie, previously in charge of New England Free Jacks whom he guided to back-to-back MLR titles, will work alongside Sean Everitt, the Edinburgh head coach.

Matt Scott is back at Edinburgh Rugby for a third stint. (Photo by Ross Parker / SNS Group)

The club is hoping to instil a winning mentality and three of the new playing recruits are also recent title winners. Paul Hill, the tighthead prop, was part of Northampton Saints’ Premiership-winning squad last season and Ross Thompson has moved along the M8 from Glasgow where he played his part in their URC success. Matt Scott, the club’s most recent signing, has returned to Edinburgh following four seasons with Leicester Tigers, the high point of which was helping them become English champions in 2021-22.

Given that the 40-times capped centre is about to embark on his third spell with the capital club, Scott is well qualified to assess what they need to take the next step and has already noticed big changes from his last spell at Edinburgh when he played under Richard Cockerill, the formidable former England hooker whose hardline approach wasn't to everyone's liking.

“It’s really different in terms of the culture,” said Scott, 33, who has signed a one-year deal. “I played under Cockers who ran a different regime. It’s moved forward, it’s progressed, I think, in a good way. They’ve obviously been trying to get better and create a better environment and I can definitely see that. All positive stuff, foundations to be a successful team.”

Scott’s first couple of years at Leicester coincided with the start of Steve Borthwick’s time as head coach and the good times quickly followed. Scott helped the Tigers reach the Challenge Cup final in his first season and was a key performer on their march to the Premiership a year later. It was a transformative experience for the centre who was surrounded by senior players whose standards rubbed off on those around them. Sharing a dressing room with the likes of Chris Ashton, George Ford and Richard Wigglesworth led to plenty of straight talking whenever standards threatened to drop.

Matt Scott after his final match for Leicester Tigers, against Exeter Chiefs on May 18. He helped the club win the Premiership in 2021-22. (Photo by Graham Chadwick/Getty Images)

“Leicester is a club that demands that you win and the attitude of the players and the staff, the demands we put on each other, to train every day like champions would train,” said Scott.

“I’m not saying Edinburgh have never trained hard but with a few little tweaks here and there, small things, attitude things… The guys have got brilliant attitudes here and we worked incredibly hard under Cockers. There have been different regimes here and the boys have always worked incredibly hard but maybe there are a couple of little mental things that can help get us over the line because looking at the team sheet, it’s a team packed with talent. But the game’s played on grass, it’s not played on paper, so we need to have a good pre-season where we get to know each other.

“I said that to the boys, ‘I want to get to know you all, what makes you tick’. Then we can get the most out of each other and trust each other and we demand everything from each other because we need an environment where we can be honest with each other and give direct feedback because we all want to get better.

“It’s nothing personal. In the best environments I’ve been in at Leicester we’ve been best mates off the field but we can properly tell each other straight at meetings and on the pitch and everyone’s fine.

“We had so many guys that were just winners. Richard Wigglesworth won multiple Premierships, Chris Ashton, Ben Youngs, Mike Brown, all these guys were winners and they knew the standards and knew when things weren’t going well then people had to be told straight.

“Hopefully, if I see something that’s not the standard of a championship team I’ll be happy to call that out to make everyone better.”

Scott is not the only new centre at Edinburgh. The signing of Mosese Tuipulotu from the Waratahs was one of the more eye-catching deals to be done for next season and Scott likes what he’s seen so far of Sione’s wee brother. “He’s a really nice kid, has a good attitude and wants to get better and is open to learning,” said Scott. While he’s happy to pass on advice to Tuipulotu and another young Edinburgh centre, Matt Currie, Scott has made it clear he’s returned north to make an impact on the pitch.

“First and foremost I want to play as many games as possible,” he said. “I still feel I’ve got a lot of good rugby left in me. I’ve got a lot of experience and feel a completely different player to the one that left Edinburgh in terms of the wisdom I can pass on. The people I’ve been around and the coaches I’ve been around have been amazing, I’ve been really lucky.

“I think I’ll help them most by driving competition and pushing them to get better because I think if I’m content not playing then that’s not going to help them much, whereas if I’m pushing them and keeping them out the team or vice-versa it’s going to create good competition for all of us.

“So all I’m really focused on is impressing the coaches in training and trying to get in the team, basically.”