Ben Vellacott's ambitious Edinburgh Rugby aim for URC season and thoughts on captaincy

They needed to beat Connacht and Ulster in their final two league games to reach their goal and duly delivered but Ben Vellacott would like to see them do it this season without the late stress.

Top four is the aim, a position that would guarantee them a home tie in the play-off quarter-finals.

“We left it to the last minute [last season] and put ourselves under a lot of pressure, but we do thrive under that,” said Vellacott, the Edinburgh scrum-half.

“But the big thing for us is trying to get into that top four before the end of the season. So if we can try and get a good run together and keep pushing in each game, take each game as it comes, then hopefully we're there at the end.”

Edinburgh finished the regular season in seventh place and then lost to the Bulls in Pretoria in the play-off quarter-finals, having beaten the same opponents at home in the last eight of the European Challenge Cup.

The clear advantages of URC top four

Playing in the heat and altitude at Loftus Versfeld made the task considerably harder for Edinburgh and that is why making the top four is so important. The capital side have never finished higher than seventh since the URC replaced the Pro14 four years ago and the importance of a good start is not lost on Vellacott.

He played his first game in five and a half months on Friday night when he helped Edinburgh beat Ealing Trailfiners 27-14, their final friendly before their URC season begins against Zebre away this Saturday. The capital side will then face Ulster (h), Munster (a), Benetton (h) and Cardiff (a) before the URC takes a break for the autumn Tests.

“Obviously, you want to try and get that momentum going into the season,” said Vellacott who has recovered from a plantar plate tear in his foot. “We've obviously got five games coming up now, an important September, October before the November break. So if we can get the momentum going in the group that we have at the moment, there's a good energy around the group, then hopefully we can come on the right side of the results.”

Vellacott co-captained Edinburgh alongside Grant Gilchrist last season but there has been a change of direction for the new campaign, with head coach Sean Everitt appointing Magnus Bradbury as the lone skipper. The No 8 has Vellacott’s full support. He believes Bradbury has grown into the role and matured as a leader since rejoining the club from Bristol Bears last summer.

“To be honest, what I do, I don't need to have the label as captain,” said Vellacott. “And I'd always put Maggie [Bradbury] as my captain. He leads on the field, he speaks very well, and as he's already said, he's different. He's matured as a player compared to when he was captain last [in 2017].

“I'm so glad that a boy who came through at Edinburgh and who's been at the club for many, many years [across two spells], and has got over 100 appearances is going to take that role and responsibility. So I can't wait to help him and make that role work for him.”