Bradbury stripped of captaincy by strict Cockerill
EDINBURGH head coach Richard Cockerill once again demonstrated his strict, no-nonsense approach yesterday by stripping Magnus Bradbury of the club captaincy.
The 22-year-old had been suspended after an incident just over two weeks ago, when he fell over, hit his head on a pavement and knocked himself out following a drinking session.
An ambulance had to be called in the early hours of the morning to deal with the head wound that continues to keep him out of first-team action.
And yesterday, as Cockerill also faced questions over John Hardie’s suspension, the Englishman revealed Bradbury’s punishment.
‘Magnus was under the influence of alcohol, which is inappropriate, and unfortunately for him, he fell over and knocked himself out,’ said Cockerill (below). ‘I don’t think it is the right image for any of our players to portray.
‘Being inebriated lying on the floor in the centre of town with an ambulance next to you is not a picture we want to portray. He has been sanctioned, accepted the consequences and we move on.
‘It is embarrassing, isn’t it? Sometimes, when you make an error, you hold your hands up and say: “Sorry, I made a mistake” and take the consequences.
‘I’ve stood Magnus down as captain, because I’m not going to accept that behaviour from my captain away from the field.
‘The players are very aware of what I expect from them off the field.
‘They’re adults and they have to make the right decisions. They know how to behave. If they choose to behave outside of that, then clearly I have to manage it. ‘I would much rather not be answering these questions and wasting my time on people that don’t behave themselves. ‘I understand that humans make mistakes. I’ve been there myself as a player and I’m sure that everybody in the room has been there at some point, waking up on a Sunday morning regretting what they’ve done on a Saturday night. That’s part of growing up. ‘But, like I say, Magnus is no longer the captain of the team and that’s his sanction for not being able to be trusted to manage his behaviour away from the field. ‘Notwithstanding, I will help guys that get themselves into trouble, because people make mistakes. If we all got chucked aside after a mistake, none of us would be sat here now.’ Cockerill, when asked whether he had possibly over-reacted and a simple rap on the knuckles would have sufficed to someone so young, said: ‘I need guys to be honest around what they’ve done if they’ve done something wrong, and then we can deal with that.
‘People have to be accountable and take responsibility. It’s as simple as that. For me, that’s just normal. A lot of people have said to me that the Edinburgh environment is a little bit loose and we don’t want that.
‘We have a responsibility for what happens away from the field. I think we all know how to behave and we just need to make the right choices.
‘Magnus won’t be the first or last rugby player that goes out on a Saturday night and does something that he shouldn’t. He understands that. It’s a harsh lesson for him to learn. Hopefully, he’ll grow up a little bit and learn from experience.
‘Fraser McKenzie will be the club captain for the rest of this season. And, if he’s not on the field, I will select a captain for that particular day. He has that little bit more maturity, he leads very well, he’s got that little bit of devil about him — if you know him well enough, you’ll understand what I mean.’
Although forthcoming about his decision over Bradbury, the head coach continued to remain silent on the suspension of Hardie.
Cockerill said he was ‘not allowed’ to comment on the situation, with the Scotland international reportedly being investigated by the SRU over alleged cocaine use.
‘I have a view on it but, at this point, it’s not appropriate that I talk about it, unfortunately,’ said the Edinburgh boss.
Cockerill admitted the situations with Hardie and Bradbury were something he could have done without.
‘Look, of course it’s a distraction, because we’ve got two of our guys unavailable to play,’ he said. ‘We would all like them to be available to play, but they’re not.
‘That’s going to be a distraction in itself, but guys have stepped up and, thankfully, we’ve performed reasonably well, so other people get their opportunities and, like anything, life will go on.’