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Sean Everitt addresses rumours over in-demand Edinburgh star
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Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt has urged emerging scrum-half Hector Patterson, a reported target for French and English clubs, to ignore talk of a Scotland call-up and focus on maintaining his strong early-season form.
The 21-year-old Borderer from Hawick only made his senior debut in April, starting the capital side’s last four URC games of the season and scoring tries in his first two.
With Ben Vellacott sidelined following shoulder surgery until December and new signing Louie Chapman yet to arrive from New Zealand while he completes his NPC commitments with Canterbury, Patterson will retain the No.9 jersey for Saturday’s trip to face Zebre after playing a key role in Edinburgh’s two opening wins of the URC season.
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The former Scotland Under-20s cap only signed a single-year deal when he agreed his first professional contract in April, with English PREM and French Top 14 clubs already reportedly monitoring his impressive progress.
Patterson, whose father Derrick won two Scotland caps as a scrum-half in the mid-1990, is also English-qualified through a grandparent, making him a more attractive proposition for clubs south of the border.
“To be honest, we haven’t had any formal conversations around that; I believe that they’re all rumours up until now,” said Everitt.
“Hector’s got a job to do. He’s got to focus on his performances. He had four URC games last year and he’s had two up until now, so there’s a lot of growth to be done.
“Obviously, we want to keep Hector at Edinburgh, but I’m not aware of opportunities that he has elsewhere.”
With Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend poised to finalise his squad shortly for next month’s Nations Championship matches against New Zealand, Australia and Japan, there has also been speculation Patterson could win an early senior call-up.
But Everitt said: “I think Hector’s got to understand where he is in the pecking order. You’ve got Ben White and you’ve got Jamie Dobie and you’ve got Ali Price playing in France and you’ve got George Horne playing well at Glasgow.
“There’s always going to be work to do for youngsters when they come through. It’s about them sticking to task and making sure that they work on their fundamentals and become consistent in their game.”
Everitt also addressed reports that Scottish-Fijian winger Malelele Satala, who has impressed in the absence of injured stars Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe, is being tracked by several PREM clubs including Bristol and Exeter, with his contract up at the end of the season.
“We would like to keep Mal at Edinburgh Rugby,” said the South African. “I can’t comment for what’s happening out there; there’s all sorts of rumours that go around when a particular individual plays well.
“Our youngsters are on a growth path. We’ve given them a pathway at the club to be able to get exposure at the highest level. The great thing for us is that they’ve taken their opportunities really well when given those opportunities.
“But it’s for them to stay on task and make sure that they improve from week to week and put in consistent performances. It’s very difficult to judge a player after one or two good games in an Edinburgh jersey. They need to do it six weeks in a row.”
Everitt also said there had been no discussions yet about a possible contract extension for fly-half James Grayson, who has started strongly after arriving from Japan on a one-year deal this summer.
“I’m sure that conversation will come up in the near future,” he added. “We’re only two games in but he has impressed us and he’s been really good around the group and shown good leadership. The team does look at him for direction, which is great for us.”
After starting the season with 17 players on the injured list, Everitt welcomes back two fit-again Scotland internationals, plus centre Mosese Tuipulotu, for the trip to Parma.
Ewan Ashman has shaken off an adductor issue to start at hooker, with in-form Harris Morris dropping to the bench and Jerry Blyth-Lafferty – a key contributor in last week’s win over Stormers – out of the 23, while six-cap Scotland lock Marshall Sykes will make his return from the bench following summer shoulder surgery.
“It’s great to have these senior guys coming back in but they have to understand that the young guys who have played the last couple of weeks have performed well and they have got to step up to the plate,” Everitt said.
“That is the beauty of growing your squad. There are going to be headaches. But we can’t overlook that Ewan Ashman is probably the best hooker that Scotland has at the moment – he is a British and Irish Lion. And Jerry will definitely get another opportunity.
“It’s great to have Marshall back. He had a disrupted season with injury last year. He’s looking really good and chomping at the bit. And he knows that he’s going to have to perform after Euan McVie’s two cameos off the bench.”
Tuipulotu, meanwhile, takes over from Kienan Higgins at inside centre after recovering from a head knock sustained in pre-season.
There could also be a debut for 20-year-old academy loosehead prop Jamie Stewart, with Alec Hepburn out with a concussion.
Everitt also gave an update on two other Scotland internationals currently sidelined with injury.
Hooker/flanker Dylan Richardson has had a “small procedure” on a groin problem which will keep him out until after the November international window, while tighthead D’arcy Rae, who started five Tests for Scotland last season, looks unlikely to feature for his country next month as he awaits further specialist opinion on back and calf issues.
“D’arcy has more scans tomorrow to determine the way forward for his injury,” Everitt said. “We’re hoping [he doesn’t need surgery]. That would be the last resort.”
Edinburgh have failed to win on their last two visits to Parma – a 25-25 draw in April 2025 and a 31-28 loss on the opening day of last term – and were also beaten at home by the Italians in February 2025.
“We had a meeting about it on Monday,” Everitt added. “One of the groups came up with the word ‘complacency’ but you can never be complacent against a team you’ve beaten only once in four outings over the last couple of years.”
Edinburgh XV: 15 Piers O’Conor; 14 Malelili Satala, 13 Matt Currie (co-capt), 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Geordie Gwynn; 10 James Grayson, 9 Hector Patterson; 1 Pierre Schoeman, 2 Ewan Ashman, 3 Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 4 Callum Hunter-Hill, 5 Glen Young, 6 Liam McConnell, 7 Freddy Douglas, 8 Magnus Bradbury (co-capt).
Replacements: 16 Harris Morris, 17 Jamie Stewart, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Marshall Sykes, 20 Tom Currie, 21 Conor McAlpine, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Rory McHaffie.
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