Everitt to take a leaf out of Erasmus' book with debutant Richardson

Sean Everitt expects Dylan Richardson to bring his “massive competitive spirit” to bear on his Edinburgh debut as the Scotland international prepares for his first game in almost 10 months against Munster on Friday.

The 26-year-old will start the URC clash in Cork at flanker, the position he grew up playing under Everitt’s watchful gaze as Richardson’s youth coach at South African side the Sharks.

It was Everitt, who eventually progressed to head coach at the Durban franchise after three years as assistant coach, who first mooted Richardson’s switch to hooker six years ago.

The junior Springbok didn’t warm to the idea initially though and made his Scotland debut in the back row as a replacement against Japan in late 2021, before falling off the international radar.

But after moving to hooker on a more consistent basis in the 2023-24 season, Richardson started two Tests in the front row on Scotland’s summer tour of the Americas – moving to the flank later in each of them – and was the replacement hooker in Scotland’s three main autumn Tests last year.

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A shoulder injury suffered against Bordeaux in the European Champions Cup in January though deprived him of a first taste of Six Nations action and ultimately ended his season.

On arrival at Edinburgh this summer, Richardson – whose father Neil was born in Edinburgh before emigrating to South Africa – described Everitt as “an amazing coach, an amazing person” with “this ability to bring a real goodness out of people”.

A back injury picked up in pre-season has prevented him turning out for his former mentor until now, but Richardson has belatedly been cleared for his Edinburgh bow.

“It’s exciting, because there’s been talk of Dylan coming to Edinburgh for many a year now,” Everitt said. “That was before my time. It’s exciting to see a guy that I watched grow up, through his school years and representative rugby in his age group.

“It’s almost weird in a way that you come across the ocean and you end up at the same club. He went through a bit of adversity, came in and picked up a back injury, but he’s over that now. I know he’s relieved about that and excited to get going. It’s never easy when you arrive at a new club and you end up with an injury after a couple of weeks.

“It’s exciting for him, but it will also be exciting for us to see what he can bring to the table and how he can impose himself on Munster. I know that he’s a fierce competitor with a massive competitive spirit.”

Eight of Richardson’s nine outings for the Sharks last season came at hooker, but he will initially be deployed by Edinburgh in the back-row having not played since 19 January, with openside prospect Freddy Douglas poised to replace him at some stage in Cork.

“It’s just more for him getting back and integrating back into rugby after the injury,” Everitt explained. “He did have a back injury and putting him in the front row is not ideal at this stage. We’ll slowly implement him into scrumming sessions. He can be used as a hybrid, but it’s about getting Dylan going again. We can see where he is from a fitness point of view, and then Freddy can come on and take over. That’s part of our plan.”

Another Scotland contender, Ben Muncaster, is also poised for his first outing of the season from the bench after recovering from his own back issue.

But centre Matt Currie, who has been experiencing vertigo since a pre-season camp in August, remains unavailable for the foreseeable future, with no timeline for his return.

“Matt’s involved in all our team meetings, he is doing skill sessions and has been running out on the field,” Everitt reported. “What he can’t partake in is the field session. So he is frustrated. Unfortunately, like I’ve said before, there is no time span on this. It’s for him to be patient.

“The boys have been pretty good. We’ve kept him busy. He’s still involved in our strategy group meetings and our leadership group meetings, so it’s not as though he’s sitting out in the cold. We try to incorporate him where we can.”

After the frustration of their home game against Ulster being postponed last Friday amid Storm Amy, Edinburgh are seeking a repeat of their surprise 34-28 win in Cork back in February, having had a fortnight to stew on an opening loss to Zebre in Parma.

“Any win you get away from home does give you confidence. It is a daunting place to come and play in Cork and Munster have a proud record here,” Everitt added.

“But in saying that, Munster are a different team with a new head coach in Clayton McMillan, so we expect a different Munster this time round. We understand different coaches bring different tactics and we’re aware of that; we’ve seen slight changes to the way Munster play. It should be a different game altogether than we had in February.”