‘Horrible’ to have to tell players they are leaving, admits Blair
It’s never easy telling players they are not wanted and the announcement last week that Ramiro Moyano and Nathan Chamberlain were among those being released by Edinburgh raised eyebrows.
With nine tries in 13 appearances, Moyano made a big impression in a short time before injury ended his season, while Chamberlain, an up-and-coming stand-off, has struggled for game-time, as has Sam Grahamslaw, the young prop who was also on the list of Edinburgh leavers along with experienced centre James Johnstone.
Mike Blair said it was “horrible” to have to tell them they were no longer required and the Edinburgh coach had nothing but praise for the way Moyano has conducted himself since the Argentine wing joined from Toulon last summer.
“He signed a one-year contract with us and we had to make a decision fairly early on in the season about him because of the balance and
make-up of the squad,” said Blair. “So, we probably made that decision, unfortunately for him, a little bit early because he’s been extremely impressive on and off the pitch.” Blair added that he hoped Chamberlain and Grahamslaw could now find clubs where they will have more opportunities to play.
“This isn’t a decision you take lightly,” said the coach. “It is a horrible thing to do, but I looked at things from Scottish Rugby’s point of view, from the individual’s point of view and from Edinburgh Rugby’s point of view, and my feeling was that it was best to try and get them some rugby elsewhere.
“Sam Grahamslaw has been in the environment for a couple of seasons and played three or four games, so that’s not good for his development and it’s not good for Scottish Rugby. We tried to get Nathan some rugby through Super6.
“These are young players and if we want to see the best of them coming through, then rather than their sitting here as third or fourth choice, that we’d give them the opportunity to go and get game-time elsewhere, and hopefully in two years’ time they come back and stick their fingers up and say to us: ‘Put an extra zero on that offer you were going to show me last year because this is how good I am now’.”