Everitt, who knows Richardson well from their time working together at Sharks, explained that the decision to start Richardson as hooker should not be an indication that he sees that as the 26-year-old’s primary position.

“It’s just more for him getting back and integrating back into rugby after the injury,” the coach explained. “He did have a back injury and putting him in the front-row is not ideal at this stage. We’ll slowly implement him into scrumming sessions. He can be used as a hybrid.

“There’s been talk of Dylan Richardson coming to Edinburgh for many a year now – that was before my time – but it’s exciting to see a guy that I watched grow up through school years and his representative rugby in his age group … it’s almost weird in a way that you come across the ocean and you end up at the same club. I know that he’s a fierce competitor with a massive competitive spirit. It’s exciting to see what he will bring tomorrow night.”

The selection does mean that Freddy Douglas once again has to make do with a place on the bench, meaning the 20-year-old full Scotland cap is still waiting for only his second start in an Edinburgh shirt. When he comes on, it will be eighth appearance for the club.

“For us, it’s about getting Dylan going again,” said Everitt. “We can see where Dylan is from a fitness point of view, and then Freddy can come on and take over. That’s part of our plan with Ben [Muncaster] and Dylan returning from injury.”

“We have put last week’s postponement behind us, and we’re focussed entirely on the task at hand. It’s a completely different challenge this week – a tough test against Munster at a difficult venue in Cork,” Everitt added.

“There’s been a massive amount of growth already within this group. With so many new and fresh faces, particularly the exciting young players coming through. There’s a great energy throughout the squad.

“The preparation this week has been excellent, and we’re determined to put in a performance that makes the Edinburgh fans proud.”

“It is a daunting place to come and play and Cork and Munster have a proud record here, but in saying that Munster have got a new head coach in Clayton McMillan, so we expect a different Munster this time round. We also have to understand that different coaches bring different tactics and we’re aware of that. With our review we’ve seen slight changes to the way Munster play. So a different game altogether than what we had in February.

“But I also think we put in some really good performances post-Munster last season, so it did give the guys a lot of confidence, and this is an opportunity for us to win away from home again.”

 

Edinburgh (v Munster @ Virgin Media Park on Friday, 7.45pm kick-off BST – live on Premier Sports): W Goosen; D Graham, P O’Conor, J Lang, D van der Merwe; B Healy, B Vellacott; P Schoeman, E Ashman, D Rae, M Sykes, S Skinner, L McConnell, D Richardson, M Bradbury ©. Replacements: P Harrison, B Venter, P Hill, G Young, F Douglas, B Muncaster, C Shiel, H Paterson.

Munster: M Haley; C Nash, T Farrell, S O’Brien, A Smith; J Hanrahan, P Patterson; M Milne, D Barron ©, O Jager, J Kleyn, F Wycherley, J O’Donoghue, R Quinn, G Coombes. Replacements: L Barron, J Wycherley, J Ryan, E Edogbo, B Gleeson, E Coughlan, T Butler, D Kelly.

Unavailable to Edinburgh: Charlie McCaig (knee), Rhys Litterick (achilles), Ross Thompson (toe), Matt Currie (vertigo), Rob Carmichael (wrist), Connor Boyle (knee), Mosese Tuipulotu (knee), Luke Crosbie (hamstring)

 

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