Sean Everitt eyes Dylan Richardson recruitment
03/29/2025 07:01 PM
EDINBURGH head coach Sean Everitt has admitted that he is in talks to recruit Scotland hooker Dylan Richardson from the Sharks.
Richardson, who is also an accomplished back-row player, has spent his entire career in his native South Africa, and has two years to run on his current contract with the Durban-based Sharks, but Everitt is clearly keen to push the boat out to get his man – and he will be supported in his quest by Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, who has made no secret of his preference for having as many of his squad members as possible on the Murrayfield payroll so that their game-time and travel demands can be tightly managed in the national interest.
The 26-year-old won the last of his six Scotland caps against Australia in November, missing the Six Nations due to a shoulder injury he suffered in January. He is yet to return to action for Sharks.
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"We're still in talks. Dylan has been on our radar at Edinburgh since he was 18-years-old – that's when I was coaching him in Durban. We've tried for a number of years to bring him to Scotland, so who knows?" said Eveirtt.
"I think the versatility [of being able to play both hooker and back-row] is good for us. But, like I say, he's a Durban boy, he's got two years left on his contract, so yeah, it's a far cry … but not impossible."
Earlier this week, Everitt revealed that 34-year-old Dave Cherry – the senior hooker in the Edinburgh squad at the moment who started all five of Scotland’s recent Six Nations matches – has not been offered an extension to his current deal which runs out this summer. Cherry has been linked to moves to Leicester Tigers in England and or Vannes in France.
The other hookers currently on Edinburgh’s books are 24-year-old Ewan Ashman (who was Cherry’s understudy during the Six Nations) and 22-year-old Patrick Harrison (who was capped by Scotland against Chile and Uruguay last summer, who was also a member of the Six Nations squad and who scored the opening two tries in Friday night’s win for the capital club over the Dragons), plus academy prospects Jerry Blyth-Lafferty and Harri Morris.
Meanwhile, Glasgow started the season with Johnny Matthews, Gregor Hiddleston, Grant Stewart and Angus Fraser as specialist hookers in their senior squad, plus Joe Roberts in the academy. They then added Roberts’ Scotland Under-20s’ squad-mate Seb Stephen to their Champions Cup squad on Thursday.
Stephen started his rugby journey at Garioch (Inverurie), finished his schooling at Glenalmond, during which time he played for Scotland Under-20s. He set off for a year in New Zealand after school but was persuaded to return home early by Scotland Under-20s head coach Kenny Murray to play in last summer’s Junior World Trophy, and started this season playing for Edinburgh Accies in the Arnold Clark Premiership before impressing Glasgow head coach Franco Smith during the Under-20s Six Nations window.
“I think he’s got a good future,” said Smith on Friday. “We trained against the under-20s about four times in the Six Nations period. I got to know him, got to see what he’s about. He’s got a good frame and he’s got a great work ethic, a top person, someone that will fit into the Glasgow Warriors environment.
“He’s senior professional rugby-ready, I think. More than a young guy like Joe Roberts, who in the front-row position still has to improve a lot as an under-20 player. Where this guy has been down south in New Zealand, he’s had a stint there with senior rugby already. So I think there’s opportunity in developing him as part of our squad going forward.
“All our guys in the academy are part of our environment the whole day. They train with us most often. So yes, the idea would be to progress him as a young Scottish under-20s player. Not necessarily as a senior pro here.
“I think every year Scotland should pick up the best in the 20s and put them in environments and make sure that their progression is followed. I just think he’s already somebody that we can look to and say that there’s a guy that will in the long-term maybe play an important role in Scotland rugby.”
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