Scotland stars return for Edinburgh Rugby - but raft of injury issues remains a concern

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt believes a week’s bonding in London has benefited his squad ahead of their final pre-season hit-out against Harlequins.

A line-up bolstered by the return of Scotland internationals Darcy Graham, Freddy Douglas, Magnus Bradbury and Ben Muncaster will take on the PREM side at the Stoop on Friday night.

It is Edinburgh’s last outing ahead of their United Rugby Championship opener away to Ulster next Friday and Everitt wants his players to make it count.

“For us this week, it's about getting the new players back in and playing,” he said. “That's the injured players as well as the international players.

“There was a lot of good stuff that we got out of the Ulster game in the first friendly and we're just hoping for improvements in our attack and defence and the new things that we've been working on.

“Being in London this week has been really good for us. It's great when you have everyone together. You can have team meetings in the evening, discuss your culture, players can do activities amongst each other, have group dinners etc. So, it's been great for us.”

Everitt is still without a raft of bodies including Scotland duo Pierre Schoeman and Ewan Ashman, while there are 13 players on the injured list.

“Ewan has been in rehab from some niggles that he picked up in the summer series,” revealed Everitt. “But he's back to full training, will complete that this week and we'll see how he goes. Wes Goosen has a three-to-four week hamstring injury and Jack Brown we're still waiting to hear as he’s injured his MCL.

“Marshall Sykes went in for a small procedure on his shoulder in the off-season and he's returning to full training this week and contact training next week.”

In terms of his team’s readiness for the new season, Everitt was cautiously optimistic. “We're probably in the same boat as everyone else,” he added. “You don't really know until the first round. But the guys have adapted well to the new coaches and new style of play. So, we're looking forward to it.”