Latest news with #SeanEveritt
The Herald Scotland
15-07-2025
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Edinburgh Rugby Investec Champions Cup matches confirmed
"Edinburgh will kick off their European journey with a massive home opener against French giants RC Toulon at Hive Stadium on Sunday 7 December, kick-off 5.30pm. This promises to be a spectacular start to the campaign, as Edinburgh look to lay down an early marker against one of European rugby's most decorated clubs. "Sean Everitt's men will then embark on their first away trip, facing Castres Olympique at Stade Pierre-Fabre on Sunday 14 December (kick-off 1pm GMT). This rematch follows encounters in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons, with Edinburgh notably securing a famous Investec Champions Cup away win against the French side in January 2023. "The new year will see the capital side return to Hive Stadium for a massive Friday night lights clash in Round 3, hosting Gloucester on Friday 9 January, kick-off 8pm. Edinburgh faced the Kingsholm outfit in both the 2023/24 and 2024/25 EPCR Challenge Cup campaigns, setting the stage for another compelling Anglo-Scottish encounter. European rugby: locked in 🔒 Your @ChampionsCup fixtures are here and it's going to be epic! Don't miss it ➡️ — Edinburgh Rugby (@EdinburghRugby) July 15, 2025 "Edinburgh will conclude their European pool stage fixtures with a highly anticipated Friday night clash away to Bath at The Rec on Friday 9 January, kick-off 8pm. "This fixture is a rematch of last season's thrilling EPCR Challenge Cup semi-final, where Bath emerged victorious 24-39 in a captivating encounter at a capacity Hive Stadium, adding an extra layer of intrigue to this contest against the reigning Gallagher Premiership and EPCR Challenge Cup Champions. "The best way to secure your place at two monumental European nights at Hive Stadium against RC Toulon and Gloucester is with a 2025/26 season ticket! With limited places available, supporters are encouraged to secure their season ticket TODAY and be part of two huge can't-miss fixtures."
BBC News
30-06-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
'This has always been home' - Hunter-Hill returns to Edinburgh
Callum Hunter-Hill's return to Edinburgh will bring "further physicality to the pack", says head coach Sean 28-year-old lock has penned a two-year deal after departing last season's Champions Cup finalists Northampton his return, Hunter-Hill, who spent two seasons at Edinburgh between 2017 and 2019, said: "I'm absolutely buzzing and very grateful to be back at Edinburgh. It's a club that means a huge amount to me. "Edinburgh's always been home and I'm proud to be part of it again. There's a brilliant group there. Having watched from afar, especially last season, the team is so well poised to make an even bigger step forward next head coach Everitt added: "We're thrilled to welcome Callum back. He's a quality player with significant experience at the top level, featuring in some really important games for both Saracens and Northampton Saints.""He brings real quality to our set-piece with his ability to call the lineout, and his size and toughness will bring further physicality to the pack."
Daily Mail
18-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mail
We want Gregor to stay on, says Scottish Rugby chief as he backs Townsend despite disappointing Six Nations... and having highly-rated Franco Smith waiting in the wings
Scottish Rugby chief executive Alex Williamson claims Gregor Townsend is still the man to lead Scotland forward. Townsend's contract as head coach expires next spring, with the former fly-half saying at the weekend that talks have yet to begin over a possible extension. Williamson, though, wants Townsend to stay on despite this season's disappointing Six Nations campaign and plans on sitting down with him during the summer tour to New Zealand and Fiji to discuss the details. And the former House of Fraser CEO is also eager for Franco Smith - who many thought was set to replace Townsend next year - and Sean Everitt to also continue as Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh head coaches, respectively, beyond their current tenure. Whether that appeals to Smith remains to be seen, with the ambitious coach having been linked with some top jobs of late. Townsend's deal is up next year and it was thought he could move upstairs at Murrayfield Williamson also revealed that David Nucifora won't be extending his stint as performance director beyond the initial two-year agreement. And he wants whoever comes in to succeed the Australian to arrive at a scenario where there is stability among the key coaching staff. He said: 'We know that David is going in a relatively short time frame from now, some time towards the end of next year. 'So, the key hire is going to be a performance director who is willing to stick to the plan. 'We cannot afford to bring a performance director in who's then going to basically say 'I don't really like that plan we'll do another one'. We can't do that. 'So, off the back of that we absolutely want continuity with the coaches and we really like the three guys we've got and we'd really like to keep them. 'I haven't actually given that any thought [to either Townsend or Smith succeeding Nucifora]. I think that those three men's coaches, I anticipate them being our coaching team. That's my preference, in the same roles as now. 'I'm touring with Scotland and I'm going to have plenty of time with Gregor [to hold discussions]. His manager is in New Zealand as well so that's all helpful. And we're talking to Franco and Sean as well. 'Because I haven't had the conversation with [Townsend] I really want to recognize there's a two-way flow here but we really like the idea of the continuity of the three guys here. 'When we identify a new performance director we would really like to have continuity in the coaching already nailed down so that the first thing they're not doing is hiring new coaches.' That news will come as a disappointment to some supporters who had hoped for a change at the top after eight years of Townsend. But Williamson believes the former Glasgow boss is still the right man to lead the country to the next World Cup and beyond. 'I think that we'd all accept that there were a number of games last season whether it be South Africa, England or France, where Scotland were one very small twist away from some great outcomes off the back of some exceptional rugby. 'And also the feedback from the players through the review that Gregor does was very good. 'I genuinely believe that he has the potential to produce our best outcomes going forward so that's why we're excited to have Gregor remain on the team. And we also really think that Franco and Sean will continue to develop the quality of our player groups through the clubs.' Smith expressed his frustration recently over the decision not to retain some of his foreign players like Henco Venter in favour of a focus on Scottish-qualified talent but Williamson had no truck with that. 'When we're talking about Franco we absolutely want him in. In fact I fully respect his emotional frustrations. You kind of want your coaches to be loaded and charged and emotional and frustrated, particularly in moments like those, but I don't actually think there is a huge gap between what Franco wants and what we're talking about. 'The challenge is probably that the structures aren't bedded in and as a consequence we've not really had the opportunity to test and stress test the thinking. We all believe that there is a place for foreign players, they just have to be the right ones in the right moments.'
BBC News
02-06-2025
- General
- BBC News
Bulls 42-33 Edinburgh: Three things we learned
Edinburgh find courage to end season with prideSean Everitt talked about a fast start and a strong finish. He got both of those, but it was the bit in the middle that saw the Bulls pull out of the fight Edinburgh showed to get ahead and then set up a tense-ish finale was were able to pick themselves up off the canvas after the three-try blitz that would have left others floored. Tries from Ewan Ashman and Wes Goosen made a game of it, but they just couldn't climb the only they could show that hunger, fight and desire in every game, they wouldn't have had to face the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld - one of the hardest away days in the guns offer hope for next seasonThere was a moment in the final 10 minutes that threatened to swing the game back Edinburgh's Price's up-and-under was chased by Harry Paterson, who smashed Canan Moodie back. Liam McConnell, the 20-year-old back-row just off the bench, cleaned out the ruck. Ben Muncaster followed to win the ruck young players, all with huge futures, combining to set up a potential game-swinging moment. It didn't quite work out like that - the subsequent line-out was turned over by the Bulls - but it showed there is hope for the Dave Cherry away, promising hooker Paddy Harrison will get even more game time after a breakthrough season. Freddy Douglas, Muncaster and Liam McConnell will be knocking on the door. Tom Currie, McAlpine was on the bench for this one, with fellow scrum-half Hector Patterson also highly regarded. No scrum-half replacement will be sought for the outgoing shows captain's qualities againIn the absence of co-captains Grant Gilchrist and Ben Vellacott, both missing through injury, it was once again Magnus Bradbury's turn to wear the is now a long time since he was stripped off the captaincy due to an off-field incident, aged just he delivered another stellar performance with the weight of responsibility having no burden at bungled one restart, which did prove costly, but spoke well after the game about how Edinburgh have had a tough season, but how they should be a top-four ambitions? Sure. But if he can lift his team-mates to play at his level, there's no reason why they shouldn't be aiming that high.
Scotsman
02-06-2025
- Sport
- Scotsman
All change at Edinburgh Rugby as 164-cap quartet play final game
Everitt confident new signings can help club continue progressing Sign up to our Rugby Union newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Sean Everitt is confident the influx of new players at Edinburgh can help them build on the progress they made over the course of a season which saw them qualify for the United Rugby Championship play-offs and reach the semi-finals of the Challenge Cup. The campaign came to an end in South Africa on Saturday with a 42-33 defeat by the Bulls in the quarter-finals of the URC. It was the first time since 2022 that Edinburgh had made it as far in the competition and although they started and finished strongly in tough conditions at Loftus Versfeld they were undone by a decisive spell either side of half-time which saw them concede 31 unanswered points. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It was the final Edinburgh game for a handful of senior players, with Jamie Ritchie, Mark Bennett, Ali Price and Javan Sebastian all bowing out. The quartet has amassed 164 Scotland caps and Edinburgh are losing a lot of experience. In addition, fellow internationals Dave Cherry, Emiliano Boffelli, Matt Scott and Jamie Hodgson are also leaving along with Robin Hislop, Jake Henry, Nathan Sweeney and Jack Hocking. Magnus Bradbury of Edinburgh is tackled by the Bulls' Sebastian de Klerk during the URC quarter-final at Loftus Versfeld. | Getty Images In their place comes a number of new faces, only one of whom is a full international. Scotland hooker Dylan Richardson has signed from the Sharks, and Scottish-qualified props Rhys Litterick, from Cardiff, and James Whitcombe, from Leicester Tigers, are also joining. In addition, wingers Malelili Satala and Finlay Doyle are coming from Leicester and Loughborough University, respectively, along with utility back Piers O'Conor from Connacht, centre Charlie McCaig from Exeter Chiefs and loosehead Ben White from Melrose. It is a big turnover of personnel but Everitt believes they can bed in quickly. 'I'm very confident,' said the Edinburgh coach. 'Obviously, there's a lot of work to do with the youngsters that we have in the group. There's quite a long way between now and the first game and a lot of hard work. What we mustn't do is forget the amount of work that we've put in now and the progress that we've made so that we can hit the ground running in round one against Zebre away from home, which is going to be a tricky fixture. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We are building from within our structure, so it's not as though we're going to lack cohesion. If anything, it's going to bring Edinburgh Rugby a lot of energy, having new faces around and some of the new players that we're bringing in have played top-level rugby in the English Premiership. Whitcombe has played there and Rhys Litterick is playing for Cardiff. Cardiff just missed out on the play-offs and then Piers O'Conor has done really well and played every game except one, I think, for Connacht. That will bring something different to the group, so it's actually exciting times for us.' Reflecting on the season, Everitt felt his squad grew over the course of a campaign which had several peaks and troughs but ended with Edinburgh producing some of their best rugby to beat South African sides the Lions and Bulls in the Challenge Cup and then securing the back-to-back bonus-point wins over Connacht and Ulster they needed to make the URC play-offs. The low points were a 55-21 drubbing by the Lions in Johannesburg and their failure to win either of the games with Zebre. Honours were even with Glasgow at one win apiece although Franco Smith's side retained the 1872 Cup on aggregate. Jamie Ritchie, right, in his final game for Edinburgh, sprints to close down David Kriel of the Bulls in the URC quarter-final. | Getty Images 'It's been a challenging season,' said Everitt. 'We had a tough start with Leinster at home at full strength and getting on the plane the next day and coming to South Africa for two games. And then we pulled it together quite nicely up until the international break in November. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We staggered along. We were good but we were inconsistent in our performance as well and didn't always get the results. But if you look at what the guys have achieved to get where they were and then to get into this position of the quarter-final, their efforts have to be commended. 'It's not easy to go into the last two rounds of competition needing 10 points to qualify. So, the fight that this team shows is really encouraging. "We've got a good environment. The players are proud of playing for Edinburgh. We saw that on Saturday. I know we fell short but those are the positives we can take out. There's a lot of growth that has taken place over the season. So, you can't look at this game in isolation. 'And we're certainly excited about what we can bring next year.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scorers: Bulls: Tries: Hanekom, Kriel, Vorster, Moodie, Johannes, Nortje. Cons: Johannes 3. Pens: Johannes 2. Edinburgh: Tries: Goosen 2, Thompson 2, Ashman. Cons: Thompson 4. Yellow cards: De Klerk (Bulls, 3min), JF Van Heerden (Bulls, 59min), Thompson (Edinburgh, 60min). Bulls: W le Roux; C Moodie (D Williams 14-23, 50-64), D Kriel, H Vorster (S Gans 64), S De Klerk; K Johannes, E Papier (Z Burger 62); J-H Wessels (S Matanzima 64), J Grobbelaar (A van der Merwe 48), W Louw (M Smith 64), C Wiese (J Kirsten 69), JF Van Heerden, M Coetzee (M Van Staden 48), R Nortje, C Hanekom (M van Staden 34-42). Edinburgh: W Goosen; D Graham (M Bennett 5-14), M Currie, J Lang (Bennett 52), H Paterson; R Thompson (B Healy 71), A Price; P Schoeman (B Venter 50), E Ashman (P Harrison 59), D Rae (J Sebastian 20-30, 50), M Sykes, S Skinner, J Ritchie (B Muncaster 52), H Watson, M Bradbury (L McConnell 73). Replacement: C McAlpine.
