Ahead of kick-off in the 2020/21 season it’s time to take a detailed look at the ‘Official’ On Top Of The Moon Depth Chart for Edinburgh Rugby and the squad that will tackle the coming campaign. There are a few new faces but the real core of the group remains the same that reached the post season in both the PRO14 and Challenge Cup during 2019/20.
(For last season’s Depth Chart click here.)
Here is the full OTOTM Depth Chart (click for large version):
Main squad facts and figures
Squad size:
- There are currently 42 full-time pros confirmed in this year’s squad.
- There is also 1 Partnership contract* and 15 Scottish Rugby Academy stage 3 players.
- That compares to 42 + 3 + 16 post-RWC last season.
- Overall the Edinburgh full-time squad averaged 42 players last season
- The club made liberal use of players from outwith the 61 on their books during 2019/20. Eleven players were with Edinburgh for at least part of the season on short-terms deals or as emergency cover from the Super 6 – five of them got game time.
Age:
- The full-time squad’s average age is 26.7 (2019/20 – 26.9).
- The average for the first team is 27.6 (2019/20 – 27.2).
- There will be 10 players over the age of 30 at the start of the season (2019/20 – 4).
- There are 11 players aged 23 and under in the squad (2019/20 – 11)
- Willem Nel is the oldest player in the squad at 34 years and 5 months.
- Jordan Venter (who is joining straight from school and will be 18 at the oldest when he arrives in December) is the youngest player in the full-time squad.
Caps:
- There are 22 capped players (18 Scots and 4 others) with 382 Test caps among them.
- That’s two less than last season when there were 24 capped internationals in the main squad of 42 players (21 Scots and 3 others).
Appearances:
- The players have a total of 2,054 Edinburgh appearances behind them.
- They include 6 men with more than 100 games for the club who account for just under 40% (789) of the previous matches played.
- There are 5 players in the main squad who have yet to make their Edinburgh debuts – Sam Grahamslaw, Lee Roy Atalifo, Connor Boyle, Rory Darge and Jordan Venter.
- Among the current squad, Grant Gilchrist has the most caps for the club with 151, just ahead of Stuart McInally on 146.
- Chris Dean (92 appearances) and Blair Kinghorn (91) should be next in line to bring up a century of matches for Edinburgh.
Development:
- 20 of the main squad have progressed directly from the Scottish Rugby Academy or its predecessor, Elite Development Player contracts (48% of current full-time players – 45% last season).
- Of the remaining players:
- 5 came from other PRO14 clubs (4 from Glasgow);
- 4 from Super Rugby;
- 2 from the Top 14;
- 2 from the Gallagher Premiership;
- And there were 9 ‘others’ (Stade Nicois, Canterbury, Jersey Reds, Fiji 7s [x2], Scotland 7s [x2], London Scottish and one straight from school).
- 6 of the players who came to Edinburgh from other clubs were involved in the EDP or SRA systems at some stage in their career.
Not Scottish Qualified:
- Forwards – 5 of 26 players in the main squad are not eligible to play for Scotland (19% – the equivalent figure was 20% last season).
- Backs – 5 of 16 players are not Scots qualified (31% – compared to 29% in 2019/20).
- Total – 10 of 42 players (24%). Last season 10 of 42 (24%).
- Note that Jaco van der Walt will become SQ midway through November.
- Nationalities – 4 in total.
- 32 players – Scottish (or Scottish-qualified)
- 5 players – South African
- 4 players – Fijian
- 1 player – Australian
* subsequent to this article being published, it was confirmed that Jack Blain, Jamie Hodgson and Dan Nutton were also on Partnership Contracts at the start of the season.
On Top Of The Moon 