Sean Everitt believes Ben Healy’s arrival this summer could be the catalyst to improve Edinburgh’s fortunes this season.
Edinburgh’s impressive win over the Dragons at Rodney Parade on Saturday was their first away win on the road in the United Rugby Championship in a year and Healy was instrumental to that success.
The Scotland international demonstrated his precise kicking ability at the World Cup with a 100% conversion record in the demolition against Romania and he emulated that success rate in the 22-17 triumph in Newport.
Healy was signed from Munster before Everitt’s arrival at Edinburgh but the head coach admits the fly-half fits his philosophy perfectly.
“Very much so,” the South African admitted when asked if Healy suits his plan. I think we can be guilty of overplaying across the field. They scored 17 points and sometimes you need to manage the game according to the momentum because it’s easier to look after the ball. I think we kicked more on Saturday than Edinburgh have kicked for a while but it certainly paid off in the end.
“He kicks very well and he got 11 out of 11 against Romania at the World Cup. That’s one of the reasons why he bought him back to Edinburgh, but he’s also a quality player. He managed the game really well on Saturday in difficult conditions. The line speed that the Dragons brought on Saturday was hard for us to handle and Ben really helped us with his kicking.”
Healy’s arrival will facilitate Blair Kinghorn’s return to full-back this season, although the Scotland international could still deputise on occasion.
Kinghorn will be one of Edinburgh’s returning contingent from the World Cup for their first home game of the campaign against the Lions on Saturday afternoon.
Kinghorn has recovered from concussion and he will be joined by Scotland teammates Grant Gilchrist, Hamish Watson and Duhan van der Merwe, while Bill Mata will also return after Fiji excursions in France.
“It’s great to have the guys back. They bring a lot of experience, especially after being at the World Cup, and they are happy to be back. They are comfortable in the environment and they will be in contention for the weekend. Pierre Schoeman isn’t available because he has a family bereavement and we’ve sent him back to South Africa to deal with that.
“There will be times when he might have to step in and over us at 10,” Everitt specifically added on Kinghorn’s role. “But primarily [I see him] as a full-back. I believe he’s got good counter-attacking ability and he’s got a good boot on him. He also needs to settle so I’d like to see him more at 15. I also like to work towards the national cause and they certainly see him in that position.”
Edinburgh will be looking to build on their impressive start to the URC against the Lions. The South African’s dangerous outfit and it will be a patriotic day for Everitt with the Springbok’s contesting the World Cup final against New Zealand just one hour after the full-time whistle in Edinburgh.
While Everitt’s attention will be focused on beating the Lions, he admits it will be straight to one of the hospitality suites in Murrayfield after to, hopefully, watch South Africa retain their trophy.
He added: “We’ve got a five o’clock kick-off so we’ll all be up in one of the suites, hopefully watching a South African victory. I’m sure they’ll recover well. They did look a bit fatigued. I think England took it out of them at the weekend.
“For me, the concern would be around Bongi Mbonambi going another 80 minutes. But he’s really done well and he’s led the pack well when the leaders have been off.
“South Africa stuck to the task. We talk about sticking to the plan and being resilient and that’s exactly what they did. They got two scrum penalties, scored a try from having field possession and kicked a goal, and that’s no different to what they’ve been doing all year.”
