Having fully settled in to life in Scotland’s capital, new signing Nick Haining is
excited to train, and play, with ‘some world-class players’ at Edinburgh.
HAINING LOOKING FORWARD
TO PLAYING ALONGSIDE ‘SOME
WORLD-CLASS PLAYERS’ AT
EDINBURGH
ince moving to the UK in
2014, and after three years at
Championship side Jersey Reds
and two at Gallagher Premiership club
Bristol Bears, Nick Haining decided to
take his rugby north of the border.
The Australian-born number eight recently
arrived at Edinburgh Rugby, and, speaking
exclusively to SCRUM, he explained that
it had been a relatively seamless move to
Scotland for him and his girlfriend Efia.
“Me and the missus moved in about two
months ago. We’d never been up this way
before, and my first time here was when
I met all the coaching staff, but we really
like the place,” Haining explained.
“The city is beautiful and, now we’ve
properly moved in, we’ve been to a few
Asian joints, and really enjoyed those: Umi
in Stockbridge, that was really good.
“It’s a bit like Bristol - there are good
eateries, a decent music scene, and
things dotted all around the place - so it
wasn’t too big of a move.”
The Edinburgh squad, and the rest of the
club’s Southern Hemisphere contingent,
have also played a significant part in his
finding his feet so quickly, said Haining:
“I’m good mates with one of the other
new boys, Mike Willemse, and Pierre
Schoeman, I’ve been getting along really
well with him and Simon Hickey.
“These boys have told me of a few places,
and taken me out a couple of times, and
we had a little social at the end of our
three-week pre-season block so it’s been
really good.”
Explaining how the move came about,
Haining revealed that Edinburgh “came in
pretty early” to secure his services, and
that the move “made sense”, given that
“everything looked to be moving in the
right direction at the club” under Head
Coach Richard Cockerill.
As was the case with fellow new arrival
Willemse, it seems that the Edinburgh
boss played a significant part in the
back-row swapping Ashton Gate for BT
Murrayfield.
“The chat [with Cockerill] got me pretty
excited to come up and play here
because there were a lot factors that
came up that I felt suited me,” the
ex-Bristol Bear explained.“He told me about the brand of rugby
that Edinburgh want to play, that it’s quite
expansive compared to what they’ve
opted for previously. I watched a couple
of the games as well, and I really like the
way that they were playing.
“There’s a lot of back-row action out in the
wide channels, which suits my game - I
got to do a bit of that at Bristol - and that
really excited me.
“Edinburgh are a big physical team too,
and I’d like to think that that’s part of my
game as well.”
Haining did concede, however, that he
was disappointed not to be playing top-
flight European rugby next season.
“It was a shame about Champions Cup
rugby though,” said Haining.
“Everything was going well - in the PRO14,
they were doing really well - and then it
came to the Champions Cup, and it was a
bit of a bitter way to end.
“I was talking to some of the boys and
I think they’re still a bit heartbroken
about it.”
According to Haining, the squad are
harnessing this heartache, and doingS
118 • WWW.SCRUMMAGAZINE.COM • ISSUE 116 2019
PRO RUGBY