that will be proved by continued improvement as the season progresses. “Two isolated incidents have not helped, but I don’t think there is a bad culture about the club,” said Mckenzie. “I don’t think we have an issue with our standards. What has happened
● Edinburgh flanker back in training after knocking himself out on drunken night
New Edinburgh skipper Fraser Mckenzie believes Magnus Brad bury will return to captaint he club at some point after learning from the mistake which l ed to him being stripped of the honour.
Brad bury has been stood down as captain by coach Richard Cockerill after a night out earlier this month left him inebriated, knocked out and in need of ambulance assistance. The 22- year- old flanker, pictured, was unfit to play the following weekend and told to stay away from the club.
On Tuesday, Cock er ill revealed his sanction and 29- yea r-old lock M ck enzie takes on the responsibility for the rest of the season.
“Magnus is a fantastic person, a good guy. He has made a mistake but he is a young guy,” said the news kipper .“He has been put into a position where he is captain. I thought that was the right decision but he has made this mistake and he has paid the price.
“He knows that and he will address the team himself this week. He is back in training and I have no doubt that it will be a positive reaction from him.
“He is a great player on the field and that is what I want to see from Magnus. I wanted to see him coming back, proving a point and getting into the Scotland stuff.
“Eventually, Ma gnus will come back and he will be captain for Edinburgh and maybe go further but that is on him making good decisions and learning from his mistakes. It is not all bad. I think mistakes will help prop el him p oten - tially into a better mindset and will only help his onfield stuff as well.”
Dunfermline man Mckenzie, who has also had spells at Sale and Newcastle, is not a guaranteed starter for the team when at full strength, with the likes of Ben Tool is, Grant Gilchrist and Anton Bresl era head of him in the pecking order but he is a solid club man, who Cockerill clearly sees as the right person to bring some stability and instil the right standards.
“Definitely. In my role as club captain, I may not necessarily always be out on the pitch but I see myself – and certainly talking to Cockers – as driving the standards off the field and on the field,” he said.
“I’ll guide people into making good decisions. That is all it is, Maggie’s, for example, it is something that is not uncommon for anybody. A lot of people have done the same thing as Magnus has done but he has to realise that he is in a position of responsibility. “Things that he does will be picked up and scrutinised more than with other people. It is guiding him, guiding people into making right decisions.”
Cockerill says he will make game - by- game decisions on captaincy on the occasions when Mckenzie doesn’t start. The coach referred to what he perceived to be a“loose culture” at the club and the new skipper sees himself as being a guiding influence.
“What you call a loose environment… I think we need a disciplined environment,” he said. “Players will react when we have got discipline within the training and our whole environment.
“Some players go out on the Saturday night after a game, the majority of players don’t. We have got a young side and young players have sometimes not been guided into this role, they have been put into these positions a lot younger than some people.”
Mckenzie and the squad are preparing for this weekend’s Guinness Pro14 match against Benetton in Treviso and trying to block out off-field distractions, which were added to last Friday with the news that flanker John Hardie had been suspended from Edinburgh and Scotland duty pending a further internal disciplinary investigation.
“None of the players has spoken to John since the incident broke,” said Mckenzie. “We were in Russia [ for the Euro - pean Challenge Cup win over Krasny Yar] and we have only just come back. We have been told next to nothing, which I think is down to legal issues.
“John will be supported by the team regardless but there are consequences for everything and they are out with our hands. We just have to bide our time and focus on the playing side of things. Magnus will come back in this week. I do not know when John will come back or what will hap - pen but we will be focusing on playing Treviso and then the Ospreys so that we can go into the break in a good mindset.
“There are boys that will go away with Scotland and the rest of the boys can freshen up before we have a big away trip to South Africa.
“We knew about the John Har die situation the same time as the press release was going out. It was the night before the games owe had limited time. We have not been told much but we were in a position where we could talk about it or we could focus on the game. We are a professional rugby team but we are still close- knit.
“The boys will support anybody in the team but performance is the main thing.
“The last three games we have gone out during this storm, if you want to call it that, and we have won three games quite convincingly and now we are looking forward to Treviso this week.”
Mckenzie was keen to stress that he does not believe the past few weeks have exposed a club in crisis and is confident
TIGHT SHIP “We need a disciplined environment. Players will react when we’ve got discipline within the training and the whole environment”
FRASER MCKENZIE