Out with the old, in with the new at Edinburgh

First topic message reminder :

Former Wasps & QPR boss appointed MD

Davies seems to have a good CV with experience in rugby. Also has experience in "building" stadiums.

It'll be interesting to hear Wasps/QPR fans view of him.

George Carlin wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:Wouldn't eat in any of his places again, terrible meal once at his place at the shore and then he had the nerve to come out and complain to us for not finishing all the meal.
Eaten in far better restaurants in Edinburgh recently at either the same cost or cheaper.

Please can I hear more about this story???

Well I must say I'm a huge fan of The Kitchin - or rather my wife is a huge fan of Tom Kitchin. It is expensive, but I've never been disappointed.

I certainly think it should be part of Nick Mallett and/or Steve Meehan's remuneration package....

George Carlin wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:Wouldn't eat in any of his places again, terrible meal once at his place at the shore and then he had the nerve to come out and complain to us for not finishing all the meal.
Eaten in far better restaurants in Edinburgh recently at either the same cost or cheaper.

Please can I hear more about this story???

yeah we were in for my girlfriends birthday, I had a beef dish and was the toughest beef to chew on ever. My girlfriend had a chicken dish
and after a couple bits got closer to the middle only to discover it wasn't cooked the whole way through, sent it back and waited
ages only for this time it was tough as old nails and really over cooked. Left about a quarter of it and the waiter took it away, next minute
Tom Kitchen came through asking to know why we didn't eat it all and what was wrong with it, after telling him, he upped and left without even
an apology!
A friend of mine also had a similar experience but with undercooked fish and he did the same with them!

I'm be telling my wife about this!

Tom Kitchin can do no wrong in her eyes (apart from to my wallet).

A couple I'd recommend that i have been to recently are the plumed horse and wedgewood, both were really good food and service was great in them when we went.

Majestic83 wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

Majestic83 wrote:Wouldn't eat in any of his places again, terrible meal once at his place at the shore and then he had the nerve to come out and complain to us for not finishing all the meal.
Eaten in far better restaurants in Edinburgh recently at either the same cost or cheaper.

Please can I hear more about this story???

yeah we were in for my girlfriends birthday, I had a beef dish and was the toughest beef to chew on ever. My girlfriend had a chicken dish
and after a couple bits got closer to the middle only to discover it wasn't cooked the whole way through, sent it back and waited
ages only for this time it was tough as old nails and really over cooked. Left about a quarter of it and the waiter took it away, next minute
Tom Kitchen came through asking to know why we didn't eat it all and what was wrong with it, after telling him, he upped and left without even
an apology!
A friend of mine also had a similar experience but with undercooked fish and he did the same with them!

Awful. Clearly he left his sous chefs to do the whole thing and they made a horlicks of it. Any decent restuarant would have apologised completely and comped the whole thing plus a cab home. Martin Wishart would have done it immediately. According to My People the Plumed Horse and Number One at the Balmoral are still the cat's pyjamas in town. Better change Mallett's terms and conditions immediately.

Iris s a real gem - fantastic Showrdfish (we've gone completely off topic here!).

Kyloe above the Rutland does the best steaks I've ever eaten too.

Jeez, and I thought asking about people's choice of Scottish coaches may be going a bit off topic! Am afraid i am unable to contribute to your fine dining in Edinburgh topic but can recommend an excellent fried chicken establishment that originated from the east side of America on Argyle Street if you are interested.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Iris s a real gem - fantastic Showrdfish (we've gone completely off topic here!).

Kyloe above the Rutland does the best steaks I've ever eaten too.

Kyloe is good, but Steak (despite the decor) is one better. The ladies at the door are invariably hot as well.....

Can we link this thread directly to TripAdvisor.com?

Just like to point out I very rarely go to these places – usually it is once every couple of months with a 25% discount at Zizi!

I'd like to point out that I go to these places all the time.

Git.

At the danger of getting back onto rugby, Edinburgh have picked the same team as last week apart from Leonard starting over Francis, De Luca at centre so Fife shunted to the wing and Jones benched, with Atiga dropped.
This is about as much enthusiasm as I can muster for the game!

RDW_Scotland wrote:At the danger of getting back onto rugby, Edinburgh have picked the same team as last week apart from Leonard starting over Francis, De Luca at centre so Fife shunted to the wing and Jones benched, with Atiga dropped.
This is about as much enthusiasm as I can muster for the game!

Well I must say I'm delighted about all those decisions. That's our backline at full strength in my view. Thank God NDL is back.

Does that mean we still have two locks on the bench though, without back row cover?

Aye

15
Tom Brown
14
Dougie Fife
13
Nick De Luca
12
Matt Scott
11
Tim Visser
10
Harry Leonard
9
Greig Laidlaw
Backs
Forwards
1
Allan Jacobsen
2
Ross Ford
3
Geoff Cross
4
Grant Gilchrist
5
Sean Cox
6
Stuart McInally
7
Hamish Watson
8
Netani Talei
Forwards
Substitutes
16
Steven Lawrie
17
Robin Hislop
18
John Yapp
19
Perry Parker
20
Robert McAlpine
21
Sean Kennedy
22
Piers Francis
23
Lee Jones

Well I'm in complete agreement with the starting XV, but the bench is a complete mess!

No tighthead and no back row cover! I don't understand how MacAlpine can be a better blindside than that huge unit we just poached from Dundee. I'd have liked to see Hodge and Scott be bold and just pick players in the correct position.

What about tighthead? Is there no fit tighthead in the Edinburgh squad?

Still, the XV is spot on.

Worrying that Denton is still out- he'd be gutted to miss another Scotland summer tour! Realy shame for Rennie too - probably his only chance to be clsoe to the Lions squad and injuries have ruined it.

Agreed, a real shame for both, although Denton could probably use a summer to get his head straight and figure out what he needs to do to oust Beattie from the Scotland XV.

I just hope Rennie can get over these injuries and play in the next WC. I really hope his career doesn't fizzle out. I rate Barclay and Fusaro, but Rennie is better.

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

DrTreasure wrote:IBD, that's a terrific post and insight into the club coaches , thank you. Seems like there are some real prospects within Scottish rugby and really hope they are given the chance and treated well by the SRU. Am I right that the original plan had been for Scott Johnsons role to be in the development of domestic coaches? Hope his role is to develop their motivation skills and media handling and not on the field tactics or how to function effectively at the breakdown.

+1 altho I think you are focusing a little too heavily on jus the most recent season for Melrose in your analysis of Chick's coaching abilities. There is no doubt in my mind that he is one of Scotland's best young coaches

Well thats what im saying, I dont know how much to read into it. Id have liked to see him coach another season at Melrose to see if he could get back to winning ways without the likes of Wight, Thomson, Dalziel etc.

Agreed - it would have been interesting to see if he could transition a new crop of players into being successful. Always the mark of a top coach.

Anyone know how he's getting on in his new role?

To be fair I don't think his new role will till us much - are they not in the equivalent 4th division or something?

RDW_Scotland wrote:To be fair I don't think his new role will till us much - are they not in the equivalent 4th division or something?

Yes, about the same standard as Michael Bradley's Edinburgh.....

Saracens forum reporting rumours that Ross Ford has been seen down their way.

Very good move for Ford, assuming he won't have Brits and Smit to contend with...

RDW_Scotland wrote:Very good move for Ford, assuming he won't have Brits and Smit to contend with...

Smits leaving to become CEO of the skarks

Looking forward to the look on Borthwick's face when the ball at the lineout misses him by about 5 metres!!

That would be great for Ford, he is a talented individual who would suit the saracens style of play. I think Ford looked his best under Andy Robinson's first couple of years, especially his carrying.

Back on the topic of Edinburgh, I feel sorry for Van Der Westhuizen. Had a cracking season with Cheetahs and was very keen to make an impact at Edinburgh and he's been injured for ages now. Anyone know when he'll be fit again?

No - but I agree that he could be a key player for us next season. Hopefully he'll turn out to be our Tim Swinson. Completely reliable, huge workrate and with a bit of nasty around the rucks combined with a strong technical game. We sorely need a quality lock - Gilchrist and Cox isn't really working well at the moment. Gilchrist just isn't punching his weight, and Cox's main contribution seems to be bluster (although he was excellent in the lineout against Connacht).

can't see any of the inured people being brought back for the last game in 2 weeks anyway (apart from maybe Scotland players) so I suspect we won't see VDV until next season.

Could be a blessing in disguise for VDV being out for a bit and having a proper rest, had a long season playing super rugby and then currie cup and then straight into it with Edinburgh. He'll get a proper pre season and should have all guns firing next season for us.

On the line up for this weekends game its interesting to see yet another change at 10, none of them are really getting a chance to settle in and take charge from 10.
Saying that they will have to justify Harry Leonards rather large salary so hence the probable reason for him starting.

Agreed on VDW, let's just get him back fit and firing for next season.

Didn't realise Leonard was on hefty wedge. I still think he's the 10 for the future, so I'm personally delighted it looks like he's going to get the last couple of games. Do you know if he's on a long term deal? Hope so.

Or were you being sarcastic about the large salary part??

Also just renewed my season ticket. They are also going to offer the chance to upgrade the season ticket to cover Scotland games as well by the sounds of things. Not sure how it's going to work though.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Also just renewed my season ticket. They are also going to offer the chance to upgrade the season ticket to cover Scotland games as well by the sounds of things. Not sure how it's going to work though.

You're a brave, brave man.

Or stupid.

Probably stupid, but the wife was in a good mood last night, so it seemed an opportune moment to complete the forms.....

.....also, when Steve Meehan asks the new bloke how many season tickets have been sold for next season, in an attempt to guage what the support for the team is like, I want the answer to be "one", rather than "none"!!

Nope being deadly serious about the large salary part, Was having a pint with a mate at the weekend who is involved with Edinburgh and I was shocked how much Leonard was on for a first year professional.
He was given a tier 1 contract and is roughly on £55,000 per year. Think its a 2 year contract he is on.

Jeez - that's quite a lot for something like 4-5 games of rugby. He really should have been used more this season.

2 years isn't ideal either. I can see him getting starts next season, playing well, and then the Clermont Academy swooping in so that he can learn the art of carrying bottles of water.

Yep normally a player of Leonards age and experience would be in the high teens per year but from what i was told the officials at Edinburgh wanted to snap him up before anyone else signed him so gave him the top level contract.

That’s gutting if it is true – basically out of school and earning a lot more than me having gone to Uni for 5 years and worked as a professional Engineer or 3!

Reckon they all know how much each other gets paid?

I dread to think what Piers Francis is on…

Sounds like the sort of joined up thinking you'd expect at Edinburgh.

Target a top talent, pay him a small fortune and then don't play him!

RDW_Scotland wrote:That’s gutting if it is true – basically out of school and earning a lot more than me having gone to Uni for 5 years and worked as a professional Engineer or 3!

Reckon they all know how much each other gets paid?

I dread to think what Piers Francis is on…

I think if we know, then the players will know.

I do worry about the contracts Bradley will have given to the likes of Francis and Atiga, to tempt them over here. Really bad management I suspect, especially given that Atiga was such a risk, and Francis hadn't played at a particularly high level.

Remember this is the same team that gave John Houston a 4 year contract as he was in the process of losing his place in the starting XV to James King, resigned Steven Turnbull after hed played about 2 games without doing anything notable, and obviously signed Piers Francis.

Were making the most common mistake made by economists, in that we are assuming rational decisions are being made.

With Edinburgh I never assume that!!

My decision to renew my season ticket certainly wasn't rational!

Think Edinburgh and Scottish Rugby in general could employ Sir Chris Hoy in some sort of motivational/sports psychology role. Hope somebody had word with him when he was at Murrayfield yesterday. Imagine if he could help improve the on pitch decision making.

That seems to be happening according to press releases, although only "A few days in the year".
http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/other-sports/moving-on-rugby-and-cycling-to-benefit-from-retired-hoys-expertise.20847955

In other news, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne metro two-dads is going on the MacFail scholarship in place of injured Alex Allan.

I've got high hopes for Hidalgo-Clyne as a scrum half. A few technical aspects to work on, but he's a good footballer and has good pace.

Shame to hear about Alex Allan though.

So Treviso away tonight. After the mess we made against Zebre & Connacht not feeling particularly confident...

Anyone able to find a link please let me know!

I've potentially found one but won't know until kick off - will keep you updated...