'Could be a week, could be eight months...': Edinburgh's injury limbo

Edinburgh and Scotland centre Matt Currie faces an uncertain period on the sidelines after suffering with vertigo on the eve of the new season.

The 24-year-old has been a model of consistency and excellence over the past two seasons, playing in 46 of the capital side’s 50 games over that time, including 44 starts.

Currie started to experience symptoms during a pre-season camp in London last month and there is no timeline on his return to full training given the nature of the condition.

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt likened Currie’s situation to All Blacks winger Will Jordan, who missed New Zealand’s northern hemisphere tour in 2022 and the majority of the subsequent Super Rugby Pacific season after experiencing debilitating migraines and vertigo symptoms, only returning fully in July 2023 in the lead-up to the World Cup.

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“It’s not ideal for him,” Everitt said. “We’ve done a lot of reading and research on Will Jordan. He had a similar condition. It is something that you cannot put a timeline on, so we’ll just wait and see. It could be a week, it could be eight months like Will Jordan. We’re not sure.

“If you pull a hamstring, the physio will tell you it’s two to four weeks but this one is unknown and I suppose that’s a frustrating part of it. We do look after him and he does get some free time in between. So we’ll keep him fresh.

“We are around him and supporting him and he’s doing his rehabilitation. It’s not as though he’s not involved in rugby. He’s doing conditioning in the gym and hand-eye coordination. So hopefully he’ll be back sooner rather than later.”

With Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones away with the British & Irish Lions this summer, Currie was selected as one of four centres for Scotland’s summer tour of New Zealand and Fiji.

But he was forced to withdraw from that trip – to be replaced by Rory Hutchinson, who started two of the three games – and his absence for an unknown period is another concern for Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, with Jones facing a race to return to fitness by November after undergoing surgery on an ankle issue last week.

“There was no real source of the problem,” Everitt explained. “It was something that happened outside of rugby. Matt was selected to go on the Scottish tour and it was fine. And then he pulled out with a knee injury, which then turned into something else. So it’s something totally different. It’s just a bit unfortunate.”

Edinburgh are already without another frontline centre in Mosese Tuipulotu, who is not expected to return until December after a knee operation, while another midfield option – summer signing Charlie McCaig – is likely to miss the entire season after sustaining a knee injury in pre-season that also required surgery.

That leaves James Lang and another recent recruit, Piers O’Conor, as the only fit centres in the senior squad, with Mark Bennett released at the end of last season and Matt Scott having retired.
But Everitt said the club do not plan to bring in additional cover “at this stage”, with academy centre Fin Thomson – who made a senior debut off the bench in Edinburgh’s penultimate regular-season game against Connacht in May – backed to step up.

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“Fin’s been in our system for quite a while now,” Everitt said. “He got a good few minutes against Bundee Aki when we played Connacht. He’s had good minutes in the friendlies we’ve played and he’s shown some good touches on the ball and I think he’s one for the future. It’s great that we’ve got a youngster like that coming in and covering us there.

“And we do have utilities. [Wing] Ross McCann can play 13 and has played 13 in the URC before. If push comes to shove, we can move a guy like [full-back] Wes Goosen to 13.”

Edinburgh are also preparing for their opening URC fixture against Zebre in Parma on Saturday without two of their three fly-halves, including first-choice Ross Thompson.

Thompson was forced off with a toe injury in Friday’s pre-season friendly against Ealing, while back-up Cammy Scott tweaked a hamstring in the warm-up and will also miss the trip to Italy.

That means Ben Healy, who was restricted to just four starts last season and managed only 27 minutes of rugby in the last three months of the season after suffering tendinopathy in his knee, is poised for a first start since late January.

“Ben will step up and hopefully continue in the form he produced in the first URC season that I was here,” added Everitt, alluding to the fact the former Munster man started 23 of Edinburgh’s 24 games in the 2023-24 campaign, as well as winning seven caps for Scotland, before Thompson’s arrival saw him fall from favour.

“He’s struggled with the tendinopathy in his knee since early in the year, so we’ve been managing that, obviously, conservatively over time. He didn’t get the minutes that he wanted in the latter part of the URC but obviously there’s an opportunity now with his full recovery that he can build some consistency, which will be great for us if he can produce the form that he has which earned him a Scottish call-up.”

Edinburgh confirmed on Tuesday that as well as McCaig. another summer signing, tighthead prop Rhys Litterick, is also set to miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on a ruptured Achilles.

But on a more positive note, Everitt reported that the club’s two original Lions tourists, wing Duhan van der Merwe and prop Pierre Schoeman, will be “good to go” for Saturday’s opener against Zebre, even if Darcy Graham will be held back a week in his recovery from an ankle issue until their second URC game against Ulster.

“We’ll just have to manage their load on the weekend but we’re looking forward to seeing them back,” said Everitt. “They’re not only good rugby players, but they also add a lot to the environment. They offer a lot of leadership and as we know, they’re world-class players.”

Everitt was coy when asked about the possibility of signing another Lion, Scotland scrum-half Ben White, who is into the final year of his contract at Toulon, with RugbyPass revealing Edinburgh’s interest at the weekend.

“There’s no news on Ben White,” he added. “We’re interested in any international that we can bring back to Edinburgh, especially in a specialist position. But at this stage, there’s nothing.”