LONG READ Hector Patterson: 'I hear stories about Gary Armstrong - maybe I can be similar in the physical side of the game'

For 50 blistering minutes, Edinburgh ran Ulster into the Affidea plastic. The ambition and accuracy, the verve and the tempo, and the supreme levels of fitness required to deliver it, had not been seen from this side in an age. Edinburgh scored belter after breathtaking belter, and though they almost succumbed to a very Edinburgh-like capitulation late on, the hope is, victory heralds a new dawn for a club which has lain stagnant far too long.

Watching Edinburgh these past few seasons has typically been as exciting as filling in a tax return. It raised your blood pressure, yes, but probably not your pulse. In one glorious hour, the formulaic, turgid fare of old melted away under the Belfast floodlights.

The numbers were stark. Edinburgh scored a single try from their own 22 last season. They’d equalled that tally within 48 minutes of the new campaign kicking off. They’d averaged 22 tackle-breaks per game and bettered that figure by 10. Their rate of converting 22 entries to tries had been a meagre 30%. That more than doubled, with five tries from eight visits for a 62% success rate.

At the heart of this transformation, a nucleus of young Scots. Ten of the matchday squad were aged 22 or under. From the bash brothers, Liam McConnell and Freddy Douglas, in the back-row to a beefed-up Malelili Satala on the wing and lock Euan McVie, whose late jackal penalty smothered Ulster’s hopes of a monumental comeback. Orchestrating things from the base was Hector Patterson, the nuggety scrum-half with so much to admire about his game. Patterson finished a sumptuous team try and put Piers O’Conor in for another with a cute sidestep and cat-flap offload at the end of a flowing move.

“That is simply sumptuous!” 🗣️

Hector Patterson grabs @EdinburghRugby‘s third try of the night and it’s the best of the lot so far 🏰 pic.twitter.com/NdUXWrspFn

— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) September 25, 2026

Patterson is a terrific talent. Twenty-one years old and highly thought of at Scottish Rugby HQ, he is primed for a breakthrough campaign. He made his Edinburgh debut at home to Zebre Parma in April and scored a neat try. He had a blinder against a Sharks side laden with Springbok world champions the following week. Edinburgh’s new game model shows him at his best; probing, scampering, igniting the attacking flames.

“The main word has been ‘fast’ in everything we do, with the ball in hand or getting to breakdowns,” he says. “We’ve been going wide, hitting up and stressing the defence. It seems to me like the last few years when I’ve been watching, we’ve just been going to an ‘eagle’ [contestable box] kick really early and not testing the defence. I hated that side of it. Now everyone in the club wants to play, it works.

“It was the quickest ruck ball we’ve had for a while, around 60% was under three seconds which is what we aspire to and ties into our fast attack. Speed of ball was the main focus.

“I was struggling to keep up with the pace. Some of those sets – and against Harlequins in pre-season – were some of the hardest aerobic rugby I‘ve ever played, so you can imagine how the defence feels. I like the fact I’m being put under that strain. We are flipping pressure onto teams when necessary, little front-foot kicks into the corner, and getting good outcomes.”

Sometimes I maybe go a bit over the top. On Friday, I could see myself letting the head go a bit. We were in the finish zone in Ulster’s 22 and a few boys were slow around the corner, and we ended up getting pinged back into our own 22.

Patterson hails from Scotland’s Borders heartlands, where scrum-halves of iron temperament and footballing nous are forged. Born in Denholm, he played for the storied Hawick club which has spawned an astonishing number of internationals, in the women’s game as well as the men’s. Patterson is cast in the same cussed yet unassuming mould as those tiny giants of the past: Roy Laidlaw, Gary Armstrong, Greig Oliver, Bryan Redpath, Greig Laidlaw and his own father, Derrick, whose career took him across Europe in the nascent days of professionalism. The lineage and the heritage are not lost on Patterson.

“My dad used to help me a lot when I was younger which I probably didn’t listen to half the time. He is not always as harsh now but he used to keep it 100% honest and tell me if something was good or bad. My mum always says I remind her of him when he was playing. We are quite similar players in the way we are built. Neither of us were very fast.

“The past scrum-halves from the Borders, the Laidlaws, Gary Armstrong, those guys, it would be good to follow in their footsteps. I hear stories about Gary Armstrong. Maybe I can be similar to him in the physical aspect.”

In mindset, at least, Patterson is no different to those straight-talking scrappers of yore. A scrum-half needs stout vocal cords as much as anything and Patterson has never been one to mince his words.

“That’s always been an alright side of my game and I probably learned a lot of that stuff when I was playing down at Hawick,” he says. “I have got quite a loud voice and those older boys always say they like being spoken to.

“Sometimes I maybe go a bit over the top. On Friday, I could see myself letting the head go a bit. We were in the finish zone in Ulster’s 22 and a few boys were slow around the corner, and we ended up getting pinged back into our own 22. You cannae just call them ‘Fs’ and ‘Cs’ the whole time. Some stuff has to be constructive. That’s probably a work-on just now, being more constructive instead of shouting for the sake of things, but the boys are good at taking it and they like that. No-one turns round and says ‘shut it’.”

On his aspirations, too, Patterson is pragmatic and unvarnished.

“People say they want to play for the Lions and that, I couldn’t really give a monkey’s about that at the minute. I just want to play a lot for Edinburgh and what comes, comes. Obviously being at the World Cup would be cool but that’s a year away. I’ve got other things to worry about and nail down.”

If you’re good, you’re good and you’ll get picked up but maybe those guys who are late bloomers might struggle and give up because none of their friends are playing.”

The Borders is no longer the thriving bedrock of Scottish rugby. The decline in player numbers is sad and symptomatic of issues the global game has yet to solve, even among its most passionate communities. The talent, though, endures.

“It’s a bit of a shame,” Patterson says. “Not many young guys are wanting to play, the way I see it. Back in the day there would be four teams at Hawick, loads of boys at Jed-Forest as well, that’s all anyone wanted to do. Now no-one really wants to play. If you’re good, you’re good and you’ll get picked up but maybe those guys who are late bloomers might struggle and give up because none of their friends are playing.”

Hawick, the proud wee town of Jim Renwick, Colin Deans, Bill McLaren and Tony Stanger, was where Patterson learned the game. He came of age in men’s rugby as an 18-year-old pup, as the club stormed to an unbeaten campaign in the top tier of domestic Scottish rugby. As his career blossoms, Patterson has resisted his mother’s pleas to take up some kind of university course. He was never the most naturally academic and the tail end of that remarkable Hawick season provided an unfortunate example.

“I loved my time playing with Hawick. My first season when we won the Prem gave me some of my best memories. I still get the p**s taken out of me when I go down there. We won the league that year and didn’t lose a game. I posted a photo on my Instagram story and I think I’d had a few drinks at that point. I’ve never been a great speller or reader or school person. I spelled ‘invincibles’ as ‘invisibles’. So I was called the invisible man for a wee while and I still get craic for that now.”

Patterson is hardly inconspicuous these days. His maturation has made sure of that. He’s attacked his kicking game and honed his decision-making wits, first as a mainstay in the national Under-20s, then with hours of ‘extras’ drilled by former Edinburgh skills coach Bob Chrystie. Patterson talks about Chrystie’s summer exit as though pining for an ex-girlfriend he hasn’t got over. “You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone,” he laughs.

There’s steel in him too, of course. He has the number nine jersey again when the Stormers rumble into town on Friday night, and will keep it for the bulk of this first block of fixtures. One of Edinburgh’s marquee signings is a scrum-half; Louie Chapman of the mighty Crusaders with his Super Rugby CV and his Scottish eligibility. Chapman will not arrive until November, after the NPC. When he does, Patterson will be fiendishly hard to displace.

“That’s been a big thing for me in terms of pre-season,” Patterson says. “I just said to myself, I’m going to completely focus on this because I knew I was going to get the opportunity at the start of the season.

“Whether that was missing birthdays or not going out with pals on a Saturday night… ach, I can do that when I’m off. Especially with my body, I definitely struggled with that last year, so I know what I need to do now to be fresh for the Monday. It was quite a tough pre-season in terms of running load and having had a lot of hamstring problems, if I was to be out over the weekend, I would struggle way more. I wasn’t scared of missing out on the weekends. I’m happy with how I’ve come into the season and ready to keep going.”

Nowhere breeds scrum-halves like the Scottish Borders. The latest cab has left the rank.