'This isn't the norm' - Sean Everitt addresses sheer scale of Edinburgh Rugby problem

It is a problem that has plagued the capital club since their pre-season outings, and head coach Sean Everitt has admitted that he has never experienced such a lengthy and persistent injury list in his career.

In addition to the three Scotland players and South African cap Venter, 13 other players are unavailable because of injury, among them seasoned internationals such as Sam Skinner and Luke Crosbie. And that total of 17 is actually down on the number who had to sit out the 1872 Cup games last month.

To his credit, Everitt has never tried to use the injury list as an excuse for the poor form which has seen his team win just two of their seven URC outings to date, but there is no denying that it is testing the depth of his squad to the very limit. “This is a little bit different,” he said. “If you’re a rugby coach you’ll work on 15 to 20 per cent of your squad being injured at any given time, so this isn’t the norm.

“I would say we’ve been pretty unlucky with the injuries we’ve had. Right back in the first friendly of the season we lost Rhys Litterick to an achilles rupture, and then a full knee reconstruction for Charlie McCaig.

“So if you add those two players to the 43 that we’ve used, that gives you 45, and that’s pretty much everyone. It’s definitely not the norm.

“They’re coincidental, because there’s a variation of injury,” Everitt continued when asked if he could identify any reason for the sheer scale of the problem. “If you’re having a lot of soft-tissue injuries, we do look at that and see what we’re doing at training and in the gym, because it all plays a part in injuries. But these injuries are all very different.”

Venter has a neck injury, Ashman has still not recovered from concussion, Richardson has a rib injury, and Van der Merwe aggravated a hip problem. They should be back in the coming weeks along with the likes of Harry Paterson and Mosese Tuipulotu.

Richardson’s replacement at openside, Freddy Douglas, is one of five changes to the team that began last week’s defeat by Glasgow. Two further alterations to the pack see Tom Dodd take over at blindside from Liam McConnell and Ollie Blyth-Lafferty return at tighthead in place of Paul Hill. And behind the scrum, Ross Thompson replaces Cammy Scott at 10, while Jack Brown is at full-back as an indirect replacement for Lewis Wells, with Wes Goosen moving to the left wing.

Edinburgh beat Benetton 43-0 at the Hive in October, but the Italians are a different proposition at home, and are currently seventh in the table compared to their opponents’ 13th.

Benetton v Edinburgh teams

Benetton v Edinburgh Rugby (United Rugby Championship, Stadio Comunale Monigo, Saturday, 7.30pm GMT)

Benetton: 15. Matt Gallagher; 14. Louis Lynagh, 13. Paolo Odogwu, 12. Leonardo Marin, 11. Ignacio Mendy; 10. Jacob Umaga, 9. Alessandro Garbisi; 1. Thomas Gallo, 2. Bautista Bernasconi, 3. Simone Ferrari, 4. Niccolò Cannone, 5. Eli Snyman, 6. Alessandro Izekor, 7. Michele Lamaro (c), 8. Riccardo Favretto.

Replacements: 16. Nicholas Gasperini, 17. Destiny Aminu, 18. Giosuè Zilocchi, 19. Scott Scrafton, 20. So'otala Fa'aso'o, 21. Andy Uren, 22. Rhyno Smith, 23. Malakai Fekitoa.

Edinburgh Rugby: 15. Jack Brown, 14. Darcy Graham, 13. Matt Currie, 12. James Lang, 11. Wes Goosen, 10. Ross Thompson, 9. Ben Vellacott; 1. Pierre Schoeman, 2. Harri Morris, 3. Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, 4. Glen Young5. Grant Gilchrist, 6. Tom Dodd, 7. Freddy Douglas, 8. Magnus Bradbury (c).

Replacements 16. Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, 17. James Whitcombe, 18. Paul Hill, 19. Callum Hunter-Hill, 20. Liam McConnell, 21. Charlie Shiel, 22. Cammy Scott, 23. Piers O’Conor.

Referee: Peter Martin (Ireland).