If there’s one player who measures Edinburgh’s renaissance this season, it’s the player Richard Cockerill suspected would be the first out the door when he arrived.
Captain Fraser McKenzie makes his 100th appearance in tonight’s European Rugby Challenge Cup quarter-final against Cardiff Blues but first impressions with Cockerill when he took over the club last summer were not promising.
“I met him for the first time when I did one-on-ones (to meet) with the whole squad and he looked like a retired footballer,” recalled Cockerill. “He was in t-shirt and shorts, had a really good sun tan, and was slightly overweight.
“I think I did ask `how long have you got on your contract?’ and when he said two years I thought `ooooh’.”
Typically, Cockerill told the Dunfermline RFC product exactly what he thought of him on the spot, but the transformation has been such that now “Fraz” is club captain and revelling in the leadership role since he assumed when Magnus Bradbury fell foul of discipline issues last October.
“I have said this to him, so he won’t be surprised to hear it, Fraz is not a world class player,” continued Cockerill. “He is a very good club player and leads very well by what he says and delivers what he says.
“But he surprised me because when I first arrived I thought he might be one of the first blokes leaving.”
The key is that Cockerill wants actions, not appearances, and doesn’t care what the background of a player is.
“Fraz has worked really hard, got himself in good nick and played very, very well,” he continued. “I want to reward guys who play well for the team, and I don’t mind whether they are an international or a club player or whatever background or reputation they have or don’t have.
“I said what I said to him in that one-to-one, but him doing something about it was the key. He’s been one of our best players this season, and is also a great leader, no-nonsense and no airs and graces about him. Sometimes it’s not what you say but the way you say it.”
McKenzie’s attitude – shared by “99 per cent” of the squad says Cockerill – is what makes the coach so confident in them during this current run of six successive wins.
“This group do the things that don’t require talent very well,” he said. “Because anyone can do those things, a lot of it is just effort.
“We made the choice to make the effort, and we’re doing that really well. We’re showing that in our performances and although I thought we played poorly last week against Connacht, we’re good enough to stay in the game because we make the effort and the right choices. That’s what’s getting us these results.”
Edinburgh can clinch an unexpected play-off place in the PRO14 next week against Ulster – far beyond the targets set for the team – but this quarter-final is probably more crucial, he argued.
“If we lose next week we can recover because there are two more games in the league, but if we lose to Cardiff we’re out,” he said.
“I still have no expectation of where we’re going to end the season, we’re just going to go into every game and try and win.
“We’re only nine months into a project that needs to last a little bit longer than that. Nothing’s solved. We’re just starting and are only 60% of where we can be – this is just a starting point.”
Cockerill’s been pleased to wind up the importance of a home quarter-final with a crowd of 7000 expected at BT Murrayfield.
“It’s been good to beat the drum this week,” he said. “With respect, when you go to Dragons or Connacht you can’t go `this is the biggest game of the season, we have to win’.
“It’s a big two weeks because the reality is that we could lose to Cardiff and then lose next week and then the momentum of our season changes very quickly.
“Cardiff are a good side on a good run and they can turn us over. But we have a really solid foundation built on hard work and confidence in how we’re going to play.
“We can play in all conditions, as we have seen in the last few weeks. I’m not sure they can but we’ll see.
“The sum of our parts is the most important: we have some very good individuals but collectively I think we’re very strong and that probably gives us the slight edge on them.”
Hamish Watson is absent nursing a sore shoulder and Ben Toolis is rested, while both Darryl Marfo and Ross Ford will play club games this weekend, but otherwise it’s a full strength Edinburgh side.
Edinburgh (vs Cardiff Blues, ERCC quarter-final, BT Murrayfield, ko 5.45, live on Sky Sports) B Kinghorn; D Fife, M Bennett, C Dean, D van der Merwe; J van der Walt, N Fowles; J Lay, S McInally, WP Nel; F McKenzie (capt), G Gilchrist; M Bradbury, J Hardie, W Mata. Replacements: N Cochrane, R Sutherland, S Berghan, L Carmichael, C du Preez, S Kennedy, D Weir, P Burleigh.