Edinburgh Rugby have been very busy on the recruitment front in the closed season following a very disappointing 2012 / 13 season. Numerous players of varying experience have been brought in, with Australasia proving a particularly attractive source region to the club.
In the last week alone the arrival of scrumhalf Grayson Hart (25) and lock Ollie Atkins (24) from the Waratahs were announced. Both of these players have a little Super Rugby experience with Atkins earning one cap for the Waratahs and two for the Western Force. Atkins also played against the British and Irish Lions this year. New Zealand born Hart made his Super Rugby debut for the Auckland Blues against the Bulls back in 2009 and went on to earn six more caps for the Blues and two for the Waratahs.
The next announcement was that of the recruitment of young twins 21 years old Alex and Ben Toulis from GPS Old Boys; a Queensland Premier League Grade team. The twins had been part of the Australian national academy programme and their signing is subject to them passing medical tests. All four of the players mentioned are available to play for Scotland through various ancestral connections.
The coaching team has also seen changes with former Southern Kings coaches Alan Solomons being recruited as head coach and Omar Mouneimne as defence coach. Stevie Scott who filled in as caretaker head coach towards the end of last season has been retained; as Solomons’ assistant coach.
The players will have been in preseason training for the last while but preparations are sure to have stepped up a gear this week with Solomons reporting for duty at the Murrayfield based club on Monday.
More detail of their preseason preparations as follows:
At the end of this his first week in the job, Edinburgh Rugby head coach Alan Solomons will take the squad on a week-long residential training camp as the club’s pre-season preparations intensify.
SRU
This Sunday (18 August) the squad will relocate to the high performance campus at Loughborough University in the build-up to the pre-season clash with Northampton Saints at Franklins Gardens the following Friday (23 August, kick-off 7.30pm).
The camp will allow the newly appointed coaching team to work with the players in a concentrated period, with on and off-field development high on the agenda.
Solomons [pictured right with MD David Davies] said: “I think the camp will be fantastic for us. Firstly, it will give me an opportunity to get to
know the squad better and give me the time to have a one-to-one meeting with every single player.
Attention to detail is absolutely critical. It’s going to take a little bit of time to get to know the squad better and get a very good grasp of the situation here. As well as train, we’ll be able to workshop a little bit and talk about the culture for our group. It’s very important. We need to set that out early, and say what we’re about and what our values are.”
The squad will be joined in Loughborough by recently appointed defence coach Omar Mouneimne, with Solomons expecting him to waste no time in getting to grips with the team. “Omar’s arrival will make a big difference,” added Solomons. “The players have already been working very hard over the summer in a really tough pre-season and we have seen improvements through our testing but, when Omar arrives, they will be worked very, very hard on their defence.”
“Things haven’t gone the way people would have wished for this club and I think it’s a question of taking the time to get everything back on track. This is not something that is going to happen overnight. I think the green shoots could take a couple of months to become visible, but they will appear. We are all pointing in the same direction. Everybody wants to see improvement and we all appreciate that it’s a process that will require a lot of hard work.”
Fans will be able to meet and ask their own questions of head coach Alan Solomons at this Thursday’s free-to-attend Edinburgh Rugby Open Day (15 August, kick-off 6-8pm), where the new playing kit for the 2013/14 will also be unveiled for the first time.
After the training week, the club will return to Scotland after the Northampton match to begin preparations for the final friendly of the season, against Newcastle Falcons at Mansfield Park, Hawick (Friday 30 August, kick-off 7.45pm), one week out from the start of the RaboDirect PRO12.