Sean Everitt hints at direction of Edinburgh recruitment strategy

Sean Everitt has called for his Edinburgh side to show their “fight for the jersey” over the remaining four matches of a dispiriting campaign.

The side from the Scottish capital have little to play for other than pride after bowing out of the Investec Champions Cup and seeing their United Rugby Championship play-off hopes fade.

“Clearly, we haven’t done as well as we expected,” Everitt said ahead of Friday’s visit from Zebre.

“What I’m looking for is for the players to show us care and fight for the jersey that they wear, care for the club.

“And more importantly, it’s an opportunity for us to develop some of the younger talent and give them experience in the URC and then develop elements of our game, such as the attack.”

Homegrown scrum-half Hector Patterson, 21, will make his debut against Zebre.

“Hector, unfortunately over the last couple of years, hasn’t played much rugby due to injury, but he’s got through a couple of months now where he has trained exceptionally well,” said Everitt.

“We just feel that he could be something for the future in Scotland and we would love to see what he can do in a game situation.”

Everitt’s backroom staff is undergoing a revamp for next season, with Edinburgh announcing this week that Australian pair Tim Sampson and Brad Davis will come in as attack coach and defence coach respectively in the summer.

“We’re pleased that the process is now complete for the attack and defence coaches,” said the head coach.

“We cast our net far and wide to see the best candidates that we could get and we believe that we do have those.

“We are looking for another coach to come in – in the contact area – and we’re still busy with that process.”

Asked about how Edinburgh’s playing squad might evolve over the summer, Everitt added: “The club is going through a transition period.

“We’ve been very successful with some of the guys that have come through the pathway system in our academy and as you can see in the match 23 (for Zebre), there’s 12 guys that have come through that system, so that process will continue.

“But we will be bolstering the squad with some external replacements.”