Pyrgos is ready to grasp thistle

Gregor Townsend has an embarrassment of riches at No. 9 but Edinburgh’s is staking a strong claim for the autumn series

Having five quality international scrumhalves makes for constant pressure to keep improving – and that’s a good thing, believes Henry Pyrgos.

The Edinburgh 9 is involved in maybe the most competitive position in the entire Scotland squad, with Greig Laidlaw, Ali Price, George Horne and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne his rivals. Only Scarlets scrum-half Hidalgo-Clyne, Pyrgos’ predecessor at Edinburgh, is missing from this week’s training camp at St Andrews.

Pyrgos has 27 caps and has captained Scotland but seemed to fall to third in the scrum-half pecking order while at Glasgow and right to the back of the queue for Scotland last season.

He was a replacement in the three autumn Tests a year ago, but then dropped out of the starting squad when Laidlaw returned from injury and didn’t even make the summer touring squad with Horne, Price and Hidalgo-Clyne included.

But Pyrgos’ attributes of organisation, game-control and superior kicking have come to the fore since he moved along the M8 to Edinburgh and he’s now back in the reckoning.

“A lot of that is out of your control,” he points out of that fallow spell last year. “Everyone wants to play so you are obviously challenging the coaches, asking them what you need to do to get more game time.

“You do get frustrated, but you work hard on training and focus on family life and other things. Rugby can be very up and down so if it’s your sole focus every day of your life it can be tough.”

But competition is simply a reality he has to deal with and turn into a positive, he adds.

“I think it’s been the same since I came through at Glasgow, to be honest. There has been a lot of quality players in my position and it would be weird if you didn’t have any competition to play every week.

“Without it I don’t think you would have that ambition to get better. I have been lucky with guys like Ali, George and Niko (Matawalu) every week at Glasgow. You learn a lot from the guys you are competing with, which really adds to your game.

“What you have to do is get a lot of satisfaction just trying to get better as a player almost regardless of selection. It is what it is. You want to play but you understand that sometimes that isn’t going to be the case.”

However, he has found a niche at Edinburgh, where he was instrumental in the rout of Toulon last Saturday and has become Richard Cockerill’s onfield general.

“There’s been a little bit of adjustment,” he added. “I was fortunate to be at Glasgow and coached by Gregor Townsend before and he is always trying to push us and develop us.

“There are new things every time in camp. In international rugby I suppose it’s quicker, but you have to get up to speed and really execute because there are not many opportunities to score points.”

But Pyrgos warned his new teammates they will have to maintain that level of display if they want to match Warriors’ title-winning feats.

“There are loads of good young players there. They have a really dedicated coaching staff who work really hard to prepare us really well,” he said.

“But the only way we’ll achieve the success Glasgow have had is if we consistently get results. I suppose it will be hard because there is a lot of quality in the league.

“But we need to focus week by week if we’re to get better. It’s great to beat a side like Toulon but we need to back that up now. It’s been going well for me at Edinburgh. I’ve had quite a lot of minutes on the pitch and I’ve really enjoyed it.

“I’ve had a bit of stick coming from Glasgow but that is what you expect.”

Getting back to Cardiff to face Wales for the opening game of the autumn campaign on November 3 and putting to right February’s Six Nations hammering is a major target for the Scots.

“We didn’t play well, Wales put us under a lot of pressure and we know we are going to improve,” said Pyrgos.

“But we have a lot of quality in the squad with just home-based players to cause them problems and get the win.”