MAGNUS AIMS TO LEAVE ON A HIGH
THE stars have aligned for Magnus Bradbury. After almost eight years of service at Edinburgh, he now has the chance to finish with a flourish over these next few weeks. The Scotland back-rower is moving on to pastures new with Bristol Bears in the Premiership in the summer.
But Edinburgh’s campaign is not over yet. Not by a long shot. Bradbury would dearly love to sign off on a high before he departs.
First up is a derby clash with Glasgow Warriors at Murrayfield next Saturday night, where Edinburgh will be looking to overturn a 30-17 defeat in the first leg of the 1872 Cup.
But the magnitude of the game extends beyond the 1872 Cup. There is far more at stake than just bragging rights.
Both teams go into the final match of the league campaign knowing that the winner will guarantee themselves qualification into next season’s Champions Cup. It’s winner takes all.
There is also the added incentive of trying to finish higher in the
United Rugby Championship table to secure a more favourable draw in the quarter-final play-offs.
So, at the very least, Bradbury still has two huge games before he makes the move down south.
‘I want to help the club finish on a real high and do something special,’ said the 26-year-old. ‘That would be a great way to go out.
‘It’s been a good season for the boys and I feel like I’ve played some good rugby. We just want to keep that momentum going.
‘The derbies are one of the things I’ll miss. I’ve known this has been coming for a while now.
‘I’ll miss the build-up, all the chat about the match and all the rivalries that come with it.
‘But the aim and the glory of it all is that we can finish the season on a real high by beating Glasgow.
‘That would hopefully get us a better draw in terms of the play-offs and also get us into the Champions Cup. That would be perfect.
‘After the game against Wasps last weekend, that’s when it really started to hit home (that I was leaving). That was the last game at the DAM Health.
‘It feels very real now. We had a couple of days off, so I had to get some admin stuff sorted for moving away.
‘I’ve loved it here and I’ll miss it. But I’m equally excited to go down there and have a new challenge.’
Edinburgh have come on leaps and bounds since Bradbury made his debut back in 2014.
Back in those days, it was Glasgow who were flying the flag for Scotland every other year as they challenged for league titles.
But Edinburgh are now very much the equal of their rivals from the other side of the M8, something which isn’t lost on Bradbury.
He praised the work done by Richard Cockerill and now Mike Blair, two head coaches who have advanced the club and improved their fortunes.
‘The club I broke into when I first came here was probably a bottom end of the table team,’ said Bradbury. ‘That’s the facts of the matter.
‘We had some good results in those years, such as beating Harlequins back to back in the Challenge Cup in my first breakthrough year.
‘We had some success under Cockers. But we lacked that consistency and I feel we hit our ceiling with the way we played back then.
‘But now the way we play has opened up a whole new avenue of opportunity for us. We still have that hard edge, that hard backbone instilled under Cockers.
‘The way the club has developed it can only keep on getting better, and over the next two or three years I think we’ll see some really good results for Edinburgh.
‘I’ve got some lifelong friends here. The coaching staff are a great bunch of guys as well. They’ve pushed the team on so much.
‘Just the city in general, I’ll miss it. Edinburgh is a beautiful place to live with a lot going on.
‘It’ll be hard to see Edinburgh doing well next season, which I’m sure they will, yet not be part of it.’
Bradbury has been in outstanding form this season and has finally started to fulfil the obvious talent he has long possessed.
He is also a far more mature character than the boy who was stripped of the captaincy under Cockerill due to injuring himself on a night out.
Asked for the highs and lows of his time at the club, he said: ‘There have been a few highs, but probably the most special one was beating Sarries (Saracens) away from home earlier this season.
‘Beating the Sharks over in South Africa as well. Those two are quite recent and stand out in the memory.
‘The two lows would probably be the last two games we’ve had, to be honest.
‘To lose at home for the first time all season against Ulster and then get knocked out in the quarterfinals of Europe (against Wasps).
‘We feel like those games were very much in our control. That’s the most frustrating thing about it. We had chances to win both games.’