Amazing coach, amazing person - Dylan Richardson relishes reunion as he opens up on Edinburgh move

The pair go back a long way and Richardson is quick to praise the coach who helped shape his career as a young player making his way in the game.

Everitt’s influence has been marked and it was the Edinburgh boss who first floated the idea of the player’s positional switch from the back row to hooker. Richardson now hopes that working on a daily basis alongside the man he knows as ‘coach Sean’ can further his career.

“He coached me when I was a youngster at the Sharks and in our group we had a really good team, we built some really good relationships there and we actually won the competition that year,” said Richardson. “Coach Sean was our coach through that and he brought me through the junior ranks and into senior rugby so I have a lot of respect for him.

“He's an amazing coach, an amazing person and I just think he has this ability to bring a real goodness out of people and I think it's just awesome to get the opportunity to come and play for him again and just do what I can.”

He didn’t have to sell it to me

Everitt is about to embark on his third campaign in charge of Edinburgh and last season saw a marked upturn in fortunes for the capital club who qualified for the United Rugby Championship play-offs for the first time in three years and also reached the semi-finals of the European Challenge Cup, a decade after their previous appearance in the last four.

They have lost some stalwart talent over the summer, with Jamie Ritchie, Dave Cherry, Ali Price and Mark Bennett all moving on. Richardson arrives to replace Cherry and insists he didn’t need much persuasion from Everitt.

“He didn't really have to sell it to me, but he just spoke to me about what he's building here at the club and what he's trying to create,” explained the hooker. “Obviously knowing him from before, I know the type of environment that coach Sean wants to create and it's an awesome environment to be in.

“For me the choice about coming to play wasn't just about coming to the best club or whatever, it was about coming to the club that I thought was going to fit me best. It's something that I'm starting to learn in my experience with rugby, it's also about your environment and the people that are around you. Being able to push yourself and have people push you, I think that's extremely important as well.

“I think that was one of the main reasons why I decided to come to Edinburgh. I believe that this club is going to push me in the right way,” added Richardson who was part of the Sharks team that won the Challenge Cup in 2024, defeating Gloucester in the final at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Furthering his international ambitions is also a big part of it, and in particular playing in the Six Nations for the first time. Richardson has been capped six times by Scotland and thinks joining Edinburgh will only strengthen his hopes of adding to the tally.

Three Scotland internationals vie for hooker’s jersey

“I think naturally it would because I would be around and I'd be able to be watched more often and when it comes to training and skills and development as a rugby player that's what I've loved about the Scottish group,” he said. “They're all about developing you as a player and as a character and I think it just makes it better to be closer to the home of Scotland and I think that's only going to benefit me as a player.”

At 26, Edinburgh are getting a player in his prime. A succession of injuries conspired against him in South Africa but Richardson is now raring to go. The shoulder issue that caused him to miss this year’s Six Nations is cleared up and he is now ready to vie with Ewan Ashman and Paddy Harrison for the No 2 jersey at the capital club.

Both are also Scotland internationals but Richardson is used to fighting for his place. The big-spending Sharks signed Bongi Mbonambi and Siya Kolisi during his time there, effectively putting him up against a world-class Springbok in his two favoured positions of hooker and flanker.

“I think that's rugby and that's actually the good thing about rugby as well,” he says of the competition at Edinburgh. “We'll be able to push each other. There's a lot of good hookers here and I think it's basically just healthy competition.

“I've had to compete with Siya Kolisi, I've had to compete with Bongi, so I'm not afraid of competition and I don't think any rugby player is. I think it's just about being able to push each other and whoever gets the opportunity is doing their best for the club.”