Magnus aiming to depart on a high of beating Glasgow
Magnus Bradbury has seen a lot of ups and downs in his eight seasons as an Edinburgh player, and he is determined to help the capital club end this campaign on a high before moving on in the summer to Bristol Bears.
Edinburgh will qualify for next season’s Champions Cup if they beat Glasgow in Saturday’s derby at BT Murrayfield, a result that could also get them a slightly easier quarter-final in the URC play-offs.
A high-scoring draw would also take Bradbury’s team through as long as they got a try bonus but the Warriors failed to do so.
However, with the 1872 Cup also up for grabs – and a 13-point deficit to chase from the first leg at Scotstoun – they have every intention of going all out for a convincing win.
“The glory of it all is that we can finish the season on a real high by beating Glasgow,” the Scotland forward says.
“That would hopefully get us a better draw in terms of the play-offs and also get us into the Champions Cup for next season. That would be perfect.
“I want to help the club finish on a real high and do something special. 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 personally. We just want to keep that momentum going.
“The club I broke into when I first came here was probably a bottom-end-of-the-table team. 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 (former head coach Richard Cockerill) (inset).
“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.”
The 26-year-old is just as confident, if not more so, about the future of his new club. Bristol have had a frustrating season and are 10th in the English Premiership at the moment, but made the play-offs last year. What is more, Bradbury feels that the Bears coaching team is ideally equipped to help him keep developing his game. “They’ve not had a great season this year, but you look back to last year and the semi-final,” he said.
“They unfortunately lost that by the narrowest of margins, but I’ve kept an eye on how they’ve gone this season and they’ve played some brilliant rugby.
“But what excites me the most is the coaching set-up down there.
“Obviously Pat Lam, John Muldoon and Jordan Crane were all No 8s, so that’s a huge part of the conversations I’ve had down there. As I now see myself as an 8, there’s a great opportunity to learn from the best in their field.
“I’ve always had an inclination to go down there. The whole nature of that league is a completely different animal to what we have up here. It’s much more intense, and it’s the physicality of it as well. It’s just a different challenge for me.
“I’ve loved it here and I’ll miss it. But as much as it hurts to leave, it’s also exciting to try to take this form down south with me and into a new environment.”