For a team whose attack in recent seasons has always been described as clumsy, stuttering or even dying at times, Edinburgh’s transformation in the first round of the new United Rugby Championship the season was as stunning as it was welcome.
Four bonus point attempts, 34-29 win Ulster in Belfast, two of them scintillating team scores involving more players and dreamy handling provided early evidence of a bright new dawn – hopefully not a false one – in the Scottish capital.
No wonder new forwards coach Tim Sampson, one of three Australians brought in to Sean Everitt’s revamped squad this summer, described Friday’s events at Affidea Stadium as “a bit of a dream”.
Edinburgh he only managed to attempt the bonus point in five of his first 18 games last season. They stepped up towards the end of the campaign, scoring four or more tries in four of their last five games, but overall their average tries per game dropped to a shade over three (3.08) compared to an average of 3.85 during Everitt’s second season in charge.
Sampson, a former western Force The head coach, who arrived this summer after an impressive two-year stint as an assistant at Fiji’s Drua, had the clear task of reinventing a side that had conspicuously failed to capitalize on the strength of its pack and the talents of Darcy Graham, Duhan van der Merwe and Wes Goosen with any regularity in the back three.
None of those three stars, who are currently injured, were in Belfast on Friday, making the first 50 minutes – in which they led 34-5 – all the more impressive.
“Yeah, really a dream,” said Sampson. “It’s been a nine-week preseason with some new things installed around our frame and the way we want to play the game. To go and deliver that for the majority of that game was very pleasing.”
“I’m just happy for the guys. They bought into the game plan and what we installed. It was a bit of a dream to see some of the plays we played. Breaking it down in the review meeting, it was just the simple things, a big part of the foundation of our offense, which created opportunities and line breaks, so it was very enjoyable.”
Edinburgh’s energy and intent was clear from the outset and they scored first half tries from the outstanding Freddy Douglas and Mal Satala, giving them a healthy 20-7 lead at the interval.
The temptation at that moment could have been to shoot more, play for percentages and keep what they had. But a sign of a change in approach was evident barely a minute into the second half.
“It’s just gorgeous!” 🗣️
Hector Patterson catches @EdinburghRugbyThe third attempt of the evening and the best of all so far 🏰 pic.twitter.com/NdUXWrspFn
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) September 25, 2026
Grayson, who took the Ulster kick himself from his own 22, opted to hit back at the home side instead of kicking the ball. A strong carry from prop Paul Hill put Edinburgh on the front foot and suddenly there was a four-on-three overlap down the short side on the right flank.
Scrum-half Hector Patterson, quick to spot the opportunity, missed Grayson and fired a left-hander from the foot of the arm straight to Kienan Higgins in the 12th.
Two short passes followed – Higgins to full-back Piers O’Connor, up the line, then O’Conor to Matt Currie, the outside center advanced at an angle from the outside.
Currie took the match and immediately switched it to Magnus Bradbury, the number 8 lurking in the outside channel. Soft hands from Scotland the back-rower made a pass for Satala to sprint down the right flank before the wing sent an inside pass to Patterson, picking the classic scrum-half’s support line to tackle from the Ulster 22.
“This is a magnificent effort… the timing of the passes, the pace of the attack… it’s just gorgeous!” muttered Mark Robson in the Premier Sports commentary box.
There were more superlatives – “sensational again…some of Edinburgh’s play was off the planet” – after Edinburgh’s fourth try, sparked by Grayson’s burst between two Ulster forwards and a deft clearance to put O’Connor in the gap. Scrum-half Patterson ran the backline again to make an inside pass before showing superb composure and timing to send O’Connor over the backdoor car.
That’s another great one @EdinburghRugby try it! 🏰
Piers O’Conor crosses this time and the visitors are in full control 👊 pic.twitter.com/OMIpbI6MEC
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) September 25, 2026
“This is the best Edinburgh have played in a few years, with their attacking play and ambition,” said former Scotland captain John Barclay. No doubt music to Sampson’s ears as he watched the game again.
“One of the early conversations I had with Sean (Everitt) was just to spread our offense a little bit, which creates more one-on-one opportunities around our ball carriers,” Sampson explained. “We measure one-on-one versus one-on-two – so two defenders on one ball carrier – and we have some good stats.
“So that was the main thing, getting some width in our offense. We have some highly skilled players and some good athletes through our forwards who can play a little bit wider, so that was the main thing I noticed early on. I was impressed.”
All orchestrated by new fly-half James Grayson, ex Northampton The No.10 who excelled on his Edinburgh debut after two years Japan with Sagamihara Dynaboars.
“James did a great job for us,” Sampson noted. “He had a clear mind about how we wanted to play the game around our whole attacking philosophy and very good about how he wanted to drive the team around the pitch as well, which is important.”
In it, 21-year-old scrum-half Hector Patterson continued the strong impression he made in last season’s breakthrough finish, scoring a third try – as well as a stunning assist – in just his fifth senior start.
“Hector had a great block in the pre-season and did a lot of practice, a lot of meters or time on his feet,” Sampson said. “I think his game shows the effort he puts in. He’s one of the hardest workers on the team, before practice, after practice. He’s hard on himself and that performance on Friday night was great.”
“The forwards set a good platform for him for most of that game. Then to have guys like James Grayson, Kienan Higgins, Matt Currie, Piers O’Conor outside of him – that’s a good experience there. It’s important to have a good forward pack in front of him but then good brains outside of him to help his game. His support lines in open play which are two world-class support for him that’s why he supported two world-class. (runs).”
While Patterson featured, with Ben Vellacott sidelined with a shoulder injury, the absence of Graham – out until Christmas with a torn bicep – and Van der Merwe also allowed Satala from Fiji, born in Edinburgh to show rapid improvements in his game, especially with some smart plays on defense.
“He took his chance and a lot of our positives were at the back of Mala – just through hard work, chasing contested shots and winning the ball back for us,” Sampson said. “When he got the chance, with the ball in hand, he made good meters for us. There were some outstanding defensive reads on the edge when they were really challenging us out of defense in the second half and Mal made some really good decisions, but also with quite a lot of contact.
“With someone like Mal having previously coached the Fijians, his belief is really important. They rely on confidence and you have to be tough on them, but you also have to put your arm around them and just give them clear instructions about what you want as a coach – and they will go and deliver for you every day.”
The first big test of Edinburgh’s new attacking – and defensive – approach comes on Friday when the Stormers, impressive winners over Connacht in Galway in the first round – visit the Beehive.
“They’re a high-collision team that like physicality, but I think we can use that to our advantage as well,” Sampson added. “We’ll have to meet them out front.
“We can’t sit back in that opening quarter and just be a fool for a penalty. We’ve got to meet fire with fire and we’ve got some nice plans around what we’ve installed today, so hopefully you’ll see that on Friday night.”
“How we play tactically against these guys is going to be really important because we just can’t keep breaking the brick wall. We have to be pretty smart there or it could be detrimental to the back end of the game if we blow ourselves up too early.”
