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'Really difficult job': Edinburgh confirm the seven who are leaving
Edinburgh have used their free week following their Challenge Cup exit last weekend to Wasps to confirm the names of the seven players who will leave them at the end of the current season. James Johnstone (centre), Ramiro Moyano (wing), Nathan Chamberlain (stand-off) and Sam Grahamslaw (prop) are all moving on, joining Ben Toolis, Magnus Bradbury and George Taylor (retired) whose departures were already been confirmed earlier this season.
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The club have just one regular-season hame remaining at home to Scottish rivals Glasgow before the URC quarter-finals and Edinburgh head coach Mike Blair commented: “First and foremost, it’s important to recognise that every player moving on has given their all to the jersey and we wish them the very best in their future rugby careers.
“It’s a really difficult job balancing the squad and the budget. We can’t keep everyone unfortunately and players move on for different reasons. We hope these players leave with fond memories of the club and feel that they have improved and been challenged.
“It’s been an absolute pleasure coaching them and they’ve all shown great commitment to better themselves and the club since day one. Their contributions both on and off the field cannot be understated and we wish them all the best for the future.”
Edinburgh Rugby leavers 2021/22
Ben Toolis (127 appearances)
Toolis will make the move to a Japanese Top League side following the 2021/22 campaign, his ninth and final season in the Scottish capital. The lock, who joined the club alongside twin brother, Alex, in 2013, made his Scotland debut in 2015 and has since gone on to win 26 caps for his country, earning selection for World Cup 2019 in Japan. With 127 appearances to his credit, Toolis will depart having already played the second-most ever games in the capital club’s second row and is only surpassed by current club captain Grant Gilchrist for appearances by an Edinburgh lock [172].
Magnus Bradbury (111 appearances)
Back row Bradbury leaves the club to join English Premiership side Bristol Bears. The Scotland internationalist and Scottish academy graduate joined the club in 2014, making his professional debut for the capital side at the age of 19. A product of Oban Lorne, Bradbury, who has since earned 17 caps for his country, became Edinburgh’s 36th club centurion in December, marking his 100th appearance with a player of the match performance against Benetton.
James Johnstone (68 appearances)
A former Scotland 7s star, Johnstone burst onto the World Series circuit in 2013. The abrasive centre represented Scotland at the World Cup 7s in Moscow that same year before competing in the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. A product of Merchiston Castle School, Johnstone played his club rugby at capital-based sides Currie and Watsonians, before making his Edinburgh debut from the bench in the 2015/16 season-opening victory over Leinster. After breaking into the capital XV at the beginning of the 2017/18 season, the centre scored his first try for Edinburgh in the 24-19 1872 Cup securing win over Glasgow later in the campaign and will be fondly remembered for his breathtaking run and finish in that season’s European away victory against RC Toulon.
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George Taylor (38 appearances)
Centre and former Scotland age-grade internationalist Taylor announced his retirement from rugby due to health reasons in January. He made the decision to hang up his boots with his own health and wellbeing paramount in his decision-making process while taking on a new career in the family business of veterinary pharmaceutical supplies. The centre made 38 appearances for the capital club – scoring six tries – since making his professional debut against Munster in November 2018.
Ramiro Moyano (13 appearances)
Moyano joined Edinburgh from French Top14 side RC Toulon ahead of the current campaign. The Argentine international made his Edinburgh debut in October 2021, starting on the wing in URC round three fixture against DHL Stormers at DAM Health Stadium. Moyano suffered a bicep injury in last month’s URC win against Zebre Parma – ruling him out for the remainder of the season – and he will leave having notched up nine tries in 13 appearances.
Nathan Chamberlain (11 appearances)
Chamberlain joined the club following an impressive 2020 U20s Six Nations campaign that saw him start all five matches, scoring 63 points in the process. He made his debut for the club against Glasgow in September 2020 and enjoyed a breakout game against Connacht in March 2021, which saw Chamberlain convert his own last-gasp try to secure a dramatic win. Chamberlain is currently playing in the Super6 with the Southern Knights.
Sam Grahamslaw (5 appearances)
The loosehead prop made his Edinburgh debut in the home win against Cardiff in November 2020 and has since made five appearances for the capital club. Grahamslaw gained Scotland U20 honours in 2017/18 and went to the World U20 Championships in France, playing in all five games.
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Comments on RugbyPass
We will always struggle for money to match the other sides but the least the WRU can do is invest properly in Welsh rugby. Too much has been squandered on vanity projects like the hotel and roof walk amongst others which will never see a massive return. Hanging the 4 pro sides out to dry over the last decade is now coming back to bite the WRU financially as well as on the pitch. You reap what you sow.
1 Go to commentsWhat do you get if you cross a doctor with a fish? A plastic sturgeon
14 Go to commentsWhat happened to feleti Kaitu’u? Hasnt played in a while right?
1 Go to commentsGregor I just can’t agree with you. You are trying to find something that just isn’t there. Jordie Barrett has signed until 2028. By the end of that he would have spent probably 11-12 years on Super Rugby and you say he can’t possibly have one season playing somewhere else. It is absurd. What about this scenario, the NZR play hard ball and he decides to leave and play overseas. How would that affect the competition. There seems to be an agenda by certain journalists to push certain agendas and don’t like it when it’s not to their liking. I fully support the NZR on this. Gregor needs to get a life.
2 Go to commentsHope he stays as believe he can do a great job.
1 Go to commentsMake what step up? Manie has a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and changed the way the Springboks can play. He doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone. The win record of the Boks with him in the team is tremendous. Sacha can be wonderful and I hope he has a very succesful Bok career, but comparing him to Manie in terms of the next Bok flyhalf is very strange. Manie is the incumbent (not the next) and doing pretty incredibly.
1 Go to comments00 😍 U
1 Go to commentsSabbaticals have helped keep NZ’s very best talent in the country on long term deals - this fact has been left out of this article. Much like the articles calling to allow overseas players to be selected, yet can only name one player currently not signed to NZR who would be selected for the ABs. And in the entire history of NZ players leaving to play overseas, literally only 4 or 5 have left in their prime as current ABs. (Piatau, Evans, Hayman, Mo’unga,?) Yes Carter got an injury while playing in France 16 years ago, but he also got a tournament ending injury at the 2011 World Cup while taking mid-week practice kicks at goal. Maybe Jordie gets a season-ending injury while playing in Ireland, maybe he gets one next week against the Brumbies. NZR have many shortcomings, but keeping the very best players in the country and/or available for ABs selection is not one of them. Likewise for workload management - players missing 2 games out of 14 is hardly a big deal in the grand scheme of things. Again let’s use some facts - did it stop the Crusaders winning SR so many times consecutively when during any given week they would be missing 2 of their best players? The whole idea of the sabbatical is to reward your best players who are willing to sign very long term deals with some time to do whatever they want. They are not handed out willy-nilly, and at nowhere near the levels that would somehow devalue Super Rugby. In this particular example JB is locked in with NZR for what will probably (hopefully) be the best years of his career, hard to imagine him not sticking around for a couple more after for a Lions tour and one more world cup. He has the potential to become the most capped AB of all time. A much better outcome than him leaving NZ for a minimum of 3 years at the age of 27, unlikely to ever play for the ABs again, which would be the likely alternative.
2 Go to commentsJake White talks more sense than anything I've read in the last 5 years. Hope someone's listening.
9 Go to commentsThe Springboks tried going down the road of only picking home-based players and it was an unmitigated disaster in 2016 and 2017. Picking overseas-based players has been one of the main reason the Boks have done so well since 2018, not only because of the quality Rassie could call on, but because of the knowledge and experience those players brought into camp from England, France and Japan. With some of the big names playing abroad it also gave younger players in SA the chance to break through at franchise level. Would we have seen the emergence of a Ruan Nortje if RG and Lood were still at the Bulls? Not so sure. I understand why Jake would want to block players leaving since his job depends on good results but it’s an approach that would take Bok rugby back to the bad old days and no South African wants to see that.
9 Go to commentsExeter were thumped by 38 points. And they only had to hop on a train.
39 Go to commentsI am De Groot.
1 Go to commentsHad hoped you might write an article on this game, Nick. It’s a good one. Things have not gone as smoothly for ROG since beating Leinster last year at the Aviva in the CC final. LAR had the Top 14 Final won till Raymond Rhule missed a simple tackle on the excellent Ntamack, and Toulouse reaped the rewards of just staying in the fight till the death. Then the disruption of the RWC this season. LAR have not handled that well, but they were not alone, and we saw Pau heading the Top 14 table at one stage early season. I would think one of the reasons for the poor showing would have to be that the younger players coming through, and the more mature amongst the group outside the top 25/30, are not as strong as would be hoped for. I note that Romain Sazy retired at the end of last season. He had been with LAR since 2010, and was thus one of their foundation players when they were promoted to Top 14. Records show he ended up with 336 games played with LAR. That is some experience, some rock in the team. He has been replaced for the most part by Ultan Dillane. At 30, Dillane is not young, but given the chances, he may be a fair enough replacement for Sazy. But that won’be for more than a few years. I honestly know little of the pathways into the LAR setup from within France. I did read somewhere a couple of years ago that on the way up to Top 14, the club very successfully picked up players from the academies of other French teams who were not offered places by those teams. These guys were often great signings…can’t find the article right now, so can’t name any….but the Tadgh Beirne type players. So all in all, it will be interesting to see where the replacements for all the older players come from. Only Lleyd’s and Rhule from SA currently, both backs. So maybe a few SA forwards ?? By contrast, Leinster have a pretty clear line of good players coming through in the majority of positions. Props maybe a weak spot ? And they are very fleet footed and shrewd in appointing very good coaches. Or maybe it is also true that very good coaches do very well in the Leinster setup. So, Nick, I would fully concurr that “On the evidence of Saturday’s semi-final between the two clubs, the rebuild in the Bay of Biscay is going to take longer than it is on the east coast of Ireland”
11 Go to commentsWhat was the excuse for the other knockout blowouts then? Does the result not prove the Saints were just so much better? Wise call to put your eggs in one basket when you’ve got 2 comps simultaneously finishing.
39 Go to commentsReally hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
86 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
86 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
14 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
14 Go to comments