Sean Everitt addresses rumours about his club future at Edinburgh

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt has brushed off uncertainty over his future despite entering the final six months of his contract.

The South African arrived in the Scottish capital as a ‘senior coach’ in the summer of 2023 before becoming head coach two years ago in January 2024, when he signed an extension to his deal until the end of this season.

When Scottish Rugby confirmed contract extensions for national head coach Gregor Townsend and Glasgow Warriors supremo Franco Smith last September, the governing body’s de facto performance director David Nucifora indicated that talks with Everitt would soon follow.

“It’s unusual you actually get two coaches signed up at the same time, so I think the chance of pulling off the trifecta was pretty low,” Nucifora said at the time.

“We’ve spoken to Sean and we’ll continue to speak to Sean over the next few weeks and we’ll work out where that’s heading as well.”

Edinburgh subsequently lost three of their first four URC games of the season, all three defeats coming by three points or less.

By November, Scottish Rugby chief executive Alex Williamson said the union was “in conversation” with Everitt and “didn’t want to pre-empt” the nature of their talks, but that “continuity in our coaching group was a really important part of our evolution.”

Back-to-back defeats by Scottish rivals Glasgow over the festive period may have done little to strengthen Everitt’s hand.

But a much-needed win over Benetton in Treviso last weekend lifted Edinburgh to within two points of the URC play-off places, with a game in hand, while they have a chance to put themselves within reach of the last 16 of the European Champions Cup on Friday when they host Gloucester at The Hive, following a superb win over Toulon last month.

Everitt, who has previously indicated he would be keen to stay on and help develop youngsters he has blooded such as Liam McConnell, Freddy Douglas and Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, was keen to put his own future to one side after announcing his team on Friday.

“For me, it’s about doing the best that I can in my job,” he said. “I can’t worry about my future at the club.

“To be quite honest, there’s a lot more things going on at the moment rather than worrying about a contract. I focus on the job at hand and being true to myself and true to the club, and that’s what matters.”

In Everitt’s first season in 2023-24, Edinburgh finished 10th in the URC, missing out on the play-offs after defeats in their final two games, and lost in the quarter-finals of the European Challenge Cup away to Sharks in Durban.

Conversely, a late-season surge lifted them to seventh place in the URC last year before losing 42-33 to the Bulls in Pretoria in the quarter-finals, while they reached semi-finals of the Challenge Cup before losing at home to Bath in the last four.