Edinburgh Rugby sign Scottish-qualified scrum-half from New Zealand

Chapman, 25, was born in Christchurch and has impressed the Edinburgh coach in recent outings in Super Rugby. He is the third new back to join the club in a week following the capture of Riley Higgins and Geordie Gwynn.

“It’s a guy that we have been following,” said Everitt after Edinburgh’s 33-28 home win over the Sharks in the United Rugby Championship. “We’re just happy that he made this decision. I know he’s been going really well for the Crusaders at the moment and in the games that he’s started he has excelled.

“So we’re pleased to get him across the line. We need strength in the specialist positions, and he does add to that depth.”

Young Borders scrum-half impresses

As things stand, he will join Edinburgh at the conclusion of Canterbury’s National Provincial Championship campaign but Everitt is hopeful he could come earlier. Chapman is the second New Zealand-based player to agree terms with Edinburgh following the capture of centre Higgins from the Hurricanes.

In the meantime, Everitt was delighted with another fine performance from young Scottish scrum-half Hector Patterson. The Borders nine, who made a try-scoring debut last week against Zebre, crossed again in the win over the Sharks. There were also tries for Ewan Ashman, Glen Young, Mosese Tuipulotu and Darcy Graham as Edinburgh came from behind to make it back-to-back victories in URC for the first time this season.

“It was a great win,” said Everitt. “The boys showed a lot of fight, and that’s what we said we wanted to do - to show some fight for our fans and show that we care about the jerseys.

“Probably not a pretty performance, but effective. I thought we defended really well, so I’m very happy.

“We took our chances in the second half. Unfortunately we were not as accurate as we would have liked to have been in the 22.

Halfway there

“Hector put in another good performance tonight. There’s a lot of growth that he still needs to do in his game, but he’s doing the job for us at the moment and he’s doing a very good job for himself too.

“So it’s exciting times. I’m happy for the boys - they’ve stuck to what they said they were going to do for the last four games, and we’re halfway there now with the two wins.”

It has come too late for Edinburgh to make the URC play-offs and the result also ended the Sharks’ hopes of reaching the quarter-finals. They twice led in the first half through tries from Edwill van der Merwe and Phepsi Buthelezi but were pinned back both times and the sides went in at the turn level at 14-14.

The South African side regained the lead through replacement prop Vincent Koch but Edinburgh hit back with three tries in nine minutes to grab control of the game. Vincent Tshituka’s try in the final seconds, converted by Jean Smith, gave the Sharks the consolation of two bonus points.