Injured Scotland duo can still push for summer Tests as forward commits to club

The capital club have been dogged by injuries in what has been a disappointing campaign. They have found some form in recent weeks, winning three URC games in a row for the first time in two years, but it has come too late.

The injury list includes centre Matt Currie (hamstring) and prop D’arcy Rae (calf) and while neither will feature in the home clash with Connacht, Everitt said they were both on the mend.

“Matt Currie and D’arcy Rae are not too far off,” said the coach. “I’m hoping for their sake that the month that they have prior to going into [Scotland] camp in June would be enough time for them to get ready. But that’s up to Gregor [Townsend] whether he’s going to select them or not, because they haven’t played.”

Difficult season for Currie

Rae was Scotland’s first-choice tighthead during the autumn Tests while Zander Fagerson was out injured and he also started in the win over France in the Six Nations and off the bench against Ireland.

Currie, last capped in autumn 2024, has had a difficult season. He underwent knee surgery last summer and then vertigo ruled him out until December. He managed to play eight matches before being sidelined by the hamstring injury. Neither he nor Rae have played since the Champions Cup defeat by Leinster on April 5.

Scotland's summer schedule sees them play Argentina and South Africa away before facing Fiji at Murrayfield in the inaugural Nations Championship in July. The squad will meet up next month.

Everitt, meanwhile, admitted that missing out on the URC play-offs for the third time in four years came as a big blow for Edinburgh, although he did take some comfort with the progression into the first team of several of the club’s younger players, notably Liam McConnell, Freddy Douglas and Fin Thomson.

“Yes, it is disappointing not reaching your goals,” said Everitt. “We always want to finish in the top eight. Obviously there were a lot of contributing factors throughout the season that frustrated us. Some of the performances weren’t good enough.

“But there’s also been successes in the season. We were able to bring through young players and they all performed really well - every one of them that we brought has put his hand up to say that he could be a future Scotland player or could be a stalwart with Edinburgh in the next eight to ten years.

“So that for me is exciting. It means that our junior structures and our junior coaching systems have worked really well.

“I talk about him a lot, but Fin Thomson is in his second year in our academy and he hasn’t put a foot wrong in the jersey.

Lock signs new contract

“So there have been successes along the way. We’ve been able to build our squad. The fact that we’ve used 49 players is not ideal, but it’s given opportunities to a lot of other players as well. So we’ve been able to grow depth, and in a World Cup year next year it’s going to be vital for us.”

Edinburgh have announced that lock Glen Young has signed a one-year contract extension, keeping him at the club to the end of the 2026-27 campaign. Young, 31, had made 19 appearances this season. He joins fellow Scotland locks Marshall Sykes and Grant Gilchrist in committing his future to Edinburgh.