Cochrane plots ideal end game

EDINBURGH head into the final 1872 Cup match with Glasgow on Saturday hoping the underdog can complete a fine season by claiming the cup and a Pro14 play-off place.

As they enjoyed a weekend off, while the Warriors were in action in Ulster, no one was possibly more excited about the forthcoming Murrayfield match than Edinburgh’s great underdog himself, Neil Cochrane, one of several players leaving the club this summer.

The hooker is not just departing the club, but heading out of professional rugby as he takes the first steps into a surveying career.

These were steps he contemplated a decade ago when his fine development through Scotland’s age-grade scene, ending with captaining the under21s, came to an abrupt, sobering denouement when he was offered just £6,000, per annum, to sign his first pro deal with Edinburgh.

The then Boroughmuir flanker declined but used that slap in the face to fuel a pro career in the English Championship with Rotherham, Doncaster and Bedford, regularly hailed as one of the league’s top performers.

At 27, Bedford suggested the move to hooker and Cochrane excelled further, so much so that Wasps signed him for the Premiership.

That drew attention in Scotland and Alan Solomons stepped in four years ago to offer him the contract he had always dreamed of, with his native city.

Cochrane has gone on to prove that he always had the qualities to be a pro in Scotland, good basic skills and hardworking traits coaches often overlook in pursuit of an ‘X-Factor’.

Also now a key leader, he was even called into Gregor Townsend’s Scotland squad during the recent Six Nations, though did not get a cap.

Now 34, however, he is ready to retire on his terms, and helping Edinburgh step out of the shadows of their Scottish rivals — by beating them on Saturday and perhaps in a Pro14 final — is part of the end game.