Edinburgh in a battle to keep their star duo
EDINBURGH Rugby managing director Jonny Petrie has admitted he faces a tough task keeping world-class stars WP Nel and Grant Gilchrist at the club.
The former Scotland captain is bracing himself for interest from big-spending suitors in the pair, who are both out of contract at the end of this season.
Both Scotland internationals will play for the capital side in tonight’s friendly against Newcastle Falcons at Murrayfield, with Gilchrist returning to the starting line-up after missing most of the previous Guinness Pro12 league campaign through injury.
South African Nel, who qualifies for the Scots through residency rules, has become one of the best tight-head props in the game after enhancing his reputation at the 2015 World Cup and has already been monitored by top clubs in England and France.
And Petrie’s resolve could be tested soon if there is a mid-season bid for Nel, just as there was for David Denton three months into last season before he left Edinburgh for Bath.
Ex-Scotland captain Gilchrist is also creating huge interest in the transfer market. He has had major injury problems over the past two years but that did not prevent Toulon trying to buy him out of the final year of his deal.
The French giants rated Gilchrist so highly they saw him as a direct replacement for Irish rugby legend Paul O’Connell, following his retiral through injury, but the move collapsed at the 11th hour.
‘WP is one of the most dominant tight-heads in world rugby,’ acknowledged Petrie, ‘and he’s likely to be a candidate for the Lions as well. I don’t doubt there is going to be interest from other clubs from around the world and rightly so.
‘WP has been playing for Edinburgh for the last few years, his family is very settled here and he loves playing at the club. We will have conversations with him about a new deal over the next few months. Hopefully, we’ll be able to keep him but we have to see how these negotiations go.
‘As for whether we can afford to keep him, I’m not sitting here with a set budget for next season yet, but he’s clearly someone we’ll do our very best to try to keep.
‘I can’t legislate for what other teams will come in and offer, so we’ll have to work hard to keep him. That’s a conversation we need to have in the club and the business, but we’re hopeful of having a positive conversation with WP Nel at the right time.
‘Grant is also out of contract next year and we’ll have discussions with him at the right time, too. He’s not had his troubles to seek on the injury front, but he’s another who really has the bit between his teeth going into this season. He’s grown up playing for Edinburgh and I’m hoping he’ll stay.’
Petrie, meanwhile, denied there had been any approach from Wasps for Scotland openside John Hardie and does not expect to lose him mid-season like the club did with Denton.
But the managing director played his cards close to his chest over the future of head coach Alan Solomons, who will also be out of contract next summer amid a time of upheaval which will see Scotland head coach Vern Cotter replaced by Gregor Townsend, and Dave Rennie replacing Townsend at Scotstoun.
Talks over Solomons’ future will begin before the end of the year, with SRU chief executive Mark Dodson and director of rugby Scott Johnson also part of the panel that will decide whether he is awarded a new contract or not.
‘Alan has clearly signed a year’s contract, there’s no secret about that, but there will be a time when we sit down and look at what goes beyond that,’ said Petrie.
‘Alan has to sit down with us and look at what the future is, but just now we are genuinely only focused on getting the season under way.
‘We’ll get the first part of the year under our belt and then those discussions will happen over the course of 2016, as would happen with a player. That’s not me saying we’re going to make an announcement on what happens.
‘There are a number of discussions to have and Alan is very much a part of that in terms of what he wants to do as well.
‘Clearly there’s been a lot of movement on the coaching front. Mark Dodson, Scott Johnson and all those guys have things to be done, so it’s not necessarily a case of: “They have done this with Glasgow and Scotland, let’s get straight into Edinburgh”. We have a coaching team in place and there will be a natural order over the course of the season.’
Meanwhile, former All Blacks hooker Corey Flynn will make his Glasgow debut tonight when they play Gloucester in a friendly at Kingsholm.
“We’ll be having talks and I hope they will stay”