Nikki Walker to Edinburgh

Yes, Edinburgh have announced the signing of 24-times capped Scotland winger Nikki Walker for next season.

Now I know he is often derided by Scotland fans as one of the old guard of big, slow backs from the Dan Parks at 10 era - but Walker always struck me as one of those players who is pretty good at club level, but just never quite managed to excel at test rugby. He certainly seemed to score a lot of tries for the Ospreys anyway. At 31 he is no spring chicken but Edinburgh have a lot of young players in the back 3 (Jones, Brown, Fife, Farndale) and they could benefit from having an old head around the place. He will immediately be ahead of the likes of Mike Penn (what has happened to him?) in the pecking order, and there are certain games where a big powerful winger who can defend is pretty useful.

I'm also pleased because I managed to guess the signing from the first clue Edinburgh tweeted - 6'4" Scotland international!

Anyway not a spectacular star player but all in all I would say not a bad signing.

What do Edinburgh/Worcester/Ospreys fans think?

Good to see Edinburgh getting the house in order after Bradley.

The new coach will be key, but Edinburgh are already looking better, bringing back Scottish players, seams to be working well, this reminds me of Glasgow bringing back Sean Lamont.

Seams to be a good idea, a player who will have a winning menentality, should lift the squad, Edinburgh already have good players, it will just take some belief and tactics to get them playing to thier ability.

Not really sure what to make of this. I think he's a better player than Lee Jones, and his try scoring strike rate at the Ospreys was very good. If our backs can figure out how to use him properly (unlike Parks and Morrison), then he'll be an asset. He's a bit like Simon Danielli, would have been a better Scotland player in a different era. The early/mid 2000s' was not the time to be a winger for Scotland.

What bothers me, as you also mention, are the opportunities lost for Fife and Farndale in particular. Two young players with promise to become international players. Lee Jones is probably not going to grace the international stage again as a player, and whilst a useful enough club player, I think Jones' future is with Edinburgh as a squad member and more particularly the 7's team.

I can see Walker being useful to Edinburgh, he's always shown an ability to score tries at club level, but in terms of developing players for the national side this is a step in the wrong direction.

I think walkers an alright signing, better strike rate than Jones and undoubtedly a better defender. He's also less of a softy than visser. Farndales still young, fifes capable of challenging for and holding a place in the 15, Brown should concentrate on fullback and finding last season's form, and tbh walkers probably a better mentor than visser.

Good signing, very good player often underrated, can't wait to see him on one wing Visser on the other.

What bothers me, as you also mention, are the opportunities lost for Fife and Farndale in particular.

I wouldn't assume he will automatically start ahead of these guys, I would hope they still get plenty of opportunity. Kingshu quite correctly compares Walker to Sean Lamont signing for Glasgow - he is behind Maitland, DTH and probably Seymour on the wing, and behind Horne, Dunbar and probably Bennett at centre (although somehow still first choice for Scotland, but that's a different debate). But he is a useful squad member to have and I see Walker in a similar role at Edinburgh.

It's interesting that Scott and Hodge are being allowed to start building a squad for next season, does this mean they are likely to stay on, or are they trying to predict which players a new coach might find useful?

Didn't see this coming. Has to go down as a solid squad player, nothing more.

Hopefully Fife and Farndale can learn a thing or two from him. Even if it's about what not to do.

This was probably in the pipeline beforescott and hodge came in

I’m actually pretty happy with this. We desperately need more power in the back line and Walker has been a good club player for a number of years now. Yes he has looked a bit of a donkey at international level but he will do a job for Edinburgh.

I don’t think this is going to have a massive affect on the young guys. Visser will be away with Scotland a lot so there will be plenty opportunity for these guys to play.

I'm happy with this too, better to have a Scottish journeyman rather than a foreign one. He ran in a lot of tries for the Hairsprays in the pro12 and I would say we can have just as creative a backline as they had.

Perhaps too similar to Visser though, I prefer to have 2 different types of winger. Its nice to have a rapier for when the sledgehammer isn't working. Visser and Walker seem to be 2 sledgehammers.

I always thought visser was more of a 17th century cavalry sword...

In terms of balance, I wonder whether this signing is helpful for Ben Cairns. If there's an issue with Cairns it's that he has the robustness of a small twig, and having Cairns and Jones working in tandem is asking for trouble against the more physical backlines. A backline consisting of Scott, Cairns, Visser and Walker on the other hand is more balanced.

This signing is growing on me. As long as we don't chuck the ball to him static and slightly behind him and expect him to work wonders (or catch it), a la Scotland mid-2000s, this could work well.

Need to remember as well that Walker had fantastic form leading up to the last world cup before getting that serious injury in the warm up game. His injury meant we were stuck with Danielli! Let's hope he can find some of that form again.

Well if he can score one try next season, that'll be more than Lee Jones and Sep Visser combined (I think) this season.

We've had plenty chat on here already but I think who Edinburgh let go this year will be just as interesting as who they bring in. Surely Sep Visser and Mike Penn (who??) are surplus to requirement now, considering they have barely been used this season.

Especially Penn who has not played at all other than one pre season friendly! I've heard he's been quite good for Heriots though...

Hard to comment on Penn. I haven't seen him play rugby. I'm sure he's good at other things though....

From what I’ve seen of him walking around the running track at Edinburgh games he can legally be classed as a midget…

Saying that, James King is tiny too but somehow punches above his weight.

You mean he's 12st and he plays like he's 13st....

13st when wet...!

Danielli does get a lot of stick from Scottish fans, and fair enough he didn't light up the international stage, however Danielli was very good for Ulster, a solid performer in League and H-cup, though he levels did drop in later years.

However a Walker and Danielli comparison could be fair, Scotish fans are not so keen on him at international level, but if he does the same job for Edinburgh as Danielli did for Ulster, then he could be very beneifical

I don't personally think this is good business for Edinburgh.

He was out for a year with the Ospreys because of his injury, he goes back to Worcester and is barely used.

He's been injured for Worcester as well and has only played 13 games. While some of those were weaker grade games like LV Cup games against Scarlets and Wasps. And Amlin Cup games against Bizkala Gernika RT and Rovigo.

Truth be told the Ospreys got rid of him because he is injury prone, Worcester took him and he's been injured or only used for unimportant games, now Edinburgh have signed him. Worcester signed him on a 2 year deal so you wonder why their happy to let him go early.

Big name in Scottish rugby, but not a good or reliable signing in my eyes. Not the same player after that bad knee injury.

It's a bit like last seasons signings of John Yapp and Richie Rees, yep fair enough decent but not great players, who once played international rugby, but not really going to win anything for you, or really improve your team.

That’s a good point shifty Hopefully he has a contract that is dependant on how much he plays – kind of like Michael Owen for the last 5 years of his career!

On the basis that he can stay fit he will be a good signing. If he is always injured then we can add him to the list of Scottish pros who are always injured and never actually play – Steve Turnbull, James King, Chris Cusiter etc.

RDW_Scotland wrote:That’s a good point shifty Hopefully he has a contract that is dependant on how much he plays – kind of like Michael Owen for the last 5 years of his career!

On the basis that he can stay fit he will be a good signing. If he is always injured then we can add him to the list of Scottish pros who are always injured and never actually play – Steve Turnbull, James King, Chris Cusiter etc.

With regards to Walker, I look at it like this...
The Ospreys lost Shane Williams and Tommy Bowe in the same season, basically the British Lions first choice wings. Yet they were still happy to show Walker the door the first chance they got after assessing him after his knee injury.

Worcester took a chance on him and he's not been able to reward that faith. I feel sorry for Walker because he did good things at the Ospreys, he played a lot of games, scored many good tries, and he's still only 31, but that bad injury has probably finished his career, in terms of being an international quality player, or even a consistent or reliable one.

Hopefully Edinburgh can get him back to his best, but personally I wouldn't of taken a risk on him.

Edinburgh are in such a mess at the moment that they can't really afford any passengers in their squad. Their performing well below the level you should expect based on whats in their squad.

They already have the 2 Visser brothers, Lee Jones and they have been trying to bring on Doughie Fife. So unless they are going to release Mike Penn at the end of the season this signing makes no real sense.

Sep Visser is out at the end of the year... No need to keep him on with Fife and Farndale coming through and Visser/Jones/Walker now available. Same with Penn.

Dougie Fife may be seen as a longterm option at 13 with De Luca's age/brainfarts (take your pick) and Cairn's ability to be like glass... But even so there are options and there's no need to have NSQ if they're not playing.

Jeez - you guys are in trouble if you have to sign him. At least with him playing your defence will be improved somewhat

UlstermaninGlasgow wrote:Dougie Fife may be seen as a longterm option at 13 with De Luca's age/brainfarts (take your pick)

Nick De Luca is 29, and still the best 13 in the Edinburgh squad. The sooner he returns the better. Visser's try scoring has conspicuously dried up since De Luca got injured.

A guy commented on one of the Edinburgh Facebook posts suggesting Lee Jones could move to 13 - I shot him down very quickly for that blasphemy!

In other news De Uselss' ban is reduced to 7 weeks, so he's free to play the last 2 games

http://www.edinburghrugby.org/news/edinburgh-news/4721-de-luca-suspension-reduced

RDW_Scotland wrote:A guy commented on one of the Edinburgh Facebook posts suggesting Lee Jones could move to 13 - I shot him down very quickly for that blasphemy!

the horror... the horror.

There really are some special people that support Edinburgh - someone is now claiming that 'pound for pound Jones is one of the best tacklers in the league outside the Welsh lot'.

'Pound for pound' is the most meaningless comparator in this game.

I'm sure that pound for pound Gio Aplon has excellent defense. It's just that each week he plays against guys who are 8 stones heavier and has been known to be tossed around like a labrador's chew toy.

Even in the Ulster game, where Jones didn't play badly, he was bounced a couple of times, then there's the memory of Malzieu using him as a mat in the 6 Nations last year.

He frustrates me because he has good pace and a decent side step, and yet he isn't really used properly. He doesn't work hard enough off the ball to get himself into those positions where he can really use his talents. For example why don't we have him standing directly behind the scrum on attacking ball so that he can break quickly and pick his moment to attack the line? That's how players like Robinson, Williams and Dominici were often used. Having him just standing out on his wing just to run into his opposite man seems to me a waste of potential. He has quick feet and good acceleration, and yet Edinburgh have completely failed to use those gifts this season.

Team for Zebre on Friday

15 Greig Tonks

14 Lee Jones
13 Matt Scott

12 Ben Atiga

11 Tim Visser

10 Piers Francis
9 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN

1 Allan Jacobsen

2 Ross Ford

3 Willem Nel

4 Perry Parker

5 Sean Cox

6 Stuart McInally
7 Ross Rennie

8 Netani Talei

Substitutes
16 Steven Lawrie

17 John Yapp

18 Geoff Cross

19 Robert McAlpine
20 Hamish Watson

21 Sean Kennedy
22 Harry Leonard

23 Tom Brown

Gilchrist is out due to family issues, so a rare chance for Perry Parker to start.

Pleased to see the internationals return, although I don't much care for Matt Scott at 13, and I've have kept Dougie Fife involved ahead of both Brown and Jones.

Still, I like the general continuity to the side, and they've been out there since Wednesday, so no excuses for not being ready.

I wonder if Lee Jones is being given the remainder of the season to justify being kept on? Dropping Fife altogether rather than moving him out one position seems strange

Would have much preferred Scott at 12 and Fife at 13 but hey ho.

With only 4 games to concentrate on I'm really hopeful we can do well the rest of the season! With the players back in contention we have every reason to be confident - despite it being such a crap season.

Hopefully Leonard and Kennedy get some game time on Friday. Would be great if they could put some meaningful pressure on the incumbents Laidlaw and Francis.

Agree on Scott, I think he needs to stay at 12 (especially if thats where Scotland view him playing international rugby)

Hopefully Jones just needs to get on the scoresheet for his confidence to return. That said, Venditti is a brick of a winger so Jones will need to make his tackles.

Fife really is unlucky here, he's been the best back on the pitch since he's made the starting XV.

We must win our last 4 games, and target 7th place. That would be a remarkable outcome given how dire we've been, but would make a huge difference to the squad preparing for next season. All our remaining games are winnable.

If Lee Jones was Welsh they'd be falling over themselves and praising his talents. Sadly last season Scotland had such slow ball and such a rigid game plan they had no idea how to utilize his speed and talents, and when they did win turnover ball, it seemed getting the ball to him with space to use was the last thing on Scotlands mind. I think he could be a revelation in this Scottish team.

Yes he is not the best in defense, but neither was Shane Williams, the bottom line is you take the extra offensive skills at the cost of losing some defense. If Scotland can find a happy balance between last season Scotland team where they dominated teams but didn't score points, and this seasons team where they scored points but didn't get as much ball, then they could be a very dangerous side.

Shifty wrote:If Lee Jones was Welsh they'd be falling over themselves and praising his talents. Sadly last season Scotland had such slow ball and such a rigid game plan they had no idea how to utilize his speed and talents, and when they did win turnover ball, it seemed getting the ball to him with space to use was the last thing on Scotlands mind. I think he could be a revelation in this Scottish team.

Yes he is not the best in defense, but neither was Shane Williams, the bottom line is you take the extra offensive skills at the cost of losing some defense. If Scotland can find a happy balance between last season Scotland team where they dominated teams but didn't score points, and this seasons team where they scored points but didn't get as much ball, then they could be a very dangerous side.

I think you underestimate just how bad his defence is. Last years 6N was actually quite good by his standards.

RDW_Scotland wrote:A guy commented on one of the Edinburgh Facebook posts suggesting Lee Jones could move to 13 - I shot him down very quickly for that blasphemy!

Good job!

Edinburgh want to sign some decent forwards before signing mediocre backs !

Imperialbigdave wrote:I think you underestimate just how bad his defence is. Last years 6N was actually quite good by his standards.

A good coach would teach him how to tackle mate. That's what they are there for!
If Shane Williams can be taught how to tackle players then so can Lee Jones.