User:PeemJim86/Edinburgh Rugby (sandbox)

Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of two professional rugby union teams in Scotland competing in the Celtic League along with Glasgow Warriors, Edinburgh's oldest rivals. Edinburgh currently play their home games at Murrayfield Stadium, although the stadium has been rebranded "Murrayfield Castle" (shortened to "Castle") for Edinburgh matches since the 07/08 season.

The original Edinburgh district team played the first ever inter-district match against Glasgow in 1872, winning the match 3-0. The team were reformed in 1996 to compete in the Heineken Cup, their best performance coming in the 2003-04 tournament where they became the first Scottish side to reach the quarter-finals.

History
Edinburgh District played in the world's first ever inter-district match against Glasgow in 1872.

1996: Professional Era & Establishment
With the game turning professional in 1995 the Scottish Rugby Union did not believe that Scottish club sides could compete against the best teams from France and England. They therefore decided that the four district teams were to be Scotland's vehicle for professional rugby and in 1996 the Edinburgh District team was reformed as Edinburgh Rugby to compete in the Heineken Cup. Due to the SRU's high debt, partly as a result of the redevelopment of Murrayfield Stadium, retrenchment was called for and the 4 professional sides were reduced to 2. After two seasons, Edinburgh were merged with the Border Reivers to form a team known as Edinburgh Reivers.

For the 1999 and 2000 seasons the Scottish Rugby Union and Welsh Rugby Union joined forces, with the expansion of the Welsh Premier Division to include Edinburgh Reivers and Glasgow Caledonians under the name Welsh-Scottish League. However further change was imminent and in 2001 an agreement was made between the Irish Rugby Football Union, Scottish Rugby Union and Welsh Rugby Union to create a new competition which would bring in the four Irish provinces. 2001 would see the very first incarnation of the Celtic League. In that inaugural season Edinburgh achieved the highest finish by a Scottish side in the competition, finishing sixth.

The following season, to coincide with the re-establishment of the Border Reivers, a Scottish League competition modelled on the Tri-Nations was introduced alongside the Celtic League, however this only survived for one season, Edinburgh becoming the only champions.

thumb|Edinburgh Rugby Previous LogoWith the reintroduction of the Border Reivers for the 2001/2002 season, the Reivers label was dropped by Edinburgh and the team simply became Edinburgh Rugby, nicknamed the "Gunners". For the 2005/2006 season, the nickname was incorporated into the team's official name, making them the Edinburgh Gunners. The term Gunners was dropped on 29 September 2006, after the club had become Scottish rugby's first private franchise during the summer, and the team reverted back to being known as just Edinburgh Rugby. One of the reasons for this reversion being that the word Gunners was already a registered Trademark of Arsenal Football Club. Another being that the new owners wanted to rebrand the team in order to help provide a fresh new look, and to further aid this a new club logo was also introduced.

In August 2007 the club returned to SRU control as the relationship between the new owners and the SRU broke down and the SRU bought the franchisee's out. This was followed by the appointment of a new chief executive for the club - Nic Cartright and then the appointment of former Scotland fullback and captain, Gavin Hastings, as chairman. In the transition back to SRU control the club had parted company with then head coach Lyn Howells, and on October 1st 2007 they announced the signing of former England coach Andy Robinson as the new head coach.

Edinburgh's best achievements to date came in the 2003/2004 season, when they reached the final of the Celtic Cup and became the first Scottish side to reach the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup.

Scotland's first private franchise: 2006
In 2006, it was announced that from the end of the 2005/6 season, Edinburgh would become a franchise. Finance was to come from a private company headed by businessmen Alex and Bob Carruthers. Previously the Scottish Rugby Union had warned that funding problems could force it to scrap one of its Celtic League sides. The SRU were to retain a seat on the new company board and continue to provide funding and support to the new owners in development.

Funding dispute & return to SRU: 2007
In July 2007, a dispute arose between the Scottish Rugby Union and the owners of the newly-franchised Edinburgh team. According to owner Bob Carruthers the SRU owed Edinburgh a six-figure sum which had not been paid. Carruthers also claimed that SRU had threatened to pull the plug on funding should Edinburgh continue with legal action relating to the sum. In the midst of the dispute Alex Carruthers resigned along with then Managing Director Graeme Stirling. The dispute caused much disruption in Scottish rugby at the time, leading to the temporary withdrawal of 12 players from the Scotland squad training for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. This included leading players such as Chris Paterson and Mike Blair

The dispute escalated when on July 9th, 2007 Edinburgh revoked their associate membership of the SRU. This led to doubts over whether Edinburgh could fulfill fixtures in the Magners League and Heineken Cup and whether Edinburgh players were insured for playing at club level. The resignation was withdrawn on July 12th, with Bob Carruthers asking to "talk directly to someone" and insisting the proposed signing of Australia stand-off Stephen Larkham would go ahead. Despite this, the dispute continued, with both sides initiating legal action against the other. The situation was resolved in August 2007 with the termination of the franchise agreement and the return of Edinburgh to the direct control of the SRU.

Under Andy Robinson: 2007 to present
Following the return to SRU control the club coach Lynn Howells was dismissed. SRU head of player development was appointed interim coach and Nic Cartwright appointed Chief Executive. Former British and Irish Lions captain Gavin Hastings was subsequently appointed Chairman stating his "desire and passion to see this game and this club grow". The proposed signing of Stephen Larkham fell through after the SRU were unable to honour the terms of the agreement. This was viewed as a disappointment at the time as the signing was considered a coup for the beleaguered SRU when the signing was initially announced. .

Following an application process it was announced on October 1st, 2007 that Andy Robinson, the former England head coach, would become the club's new head coach. Edinburgh showed progress under Robinson, performing well at home in the Heineken Cup posting wins against Leinster and Leicester Tigers and a narrow bonus point loss to Toulouse. Following disappointing performances by Scotland in the 2008 6 Nations Championship, there were rumours of Robinson taking a post within the Scotland set-up after helping Edinburgh to climb to 3rd in the Magners League.

Current squad
}

Coaches

 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Andy Robinson 2007- (incumbent)
 * Henry Edwards - Two terms as interim coach
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Lynn Howells - 2006-2007 (Sacked after return to SRU control)
 * Todd Blackadder - 2005-2006 (Now in Crusaders coaching set-up)
 * Frank Hadden - 2000-2005 (Took over as Scotland coach)
 * Bob Easson - 2000 (Now with Scottish Institute of Sport)
 * Iain Rankin - 1996-2000 (Later became team manager)

International players—past and present

 * Todd Blackadder (New Zealand) - retired in 2005
 * Mike Blair (Scotland)
 * Dave Callam (Scotland)
 * Rob Dewey (Scotland) - left for Ulster in 2007
 * Marcus di Rollo (Scotland) - left for Toulouse in 2007
 * Ross Ford (Scotland)
 * Phil Godman (Scotland)
 * Dougie Hall (Scotland) - left for Glasgow Warriors in 2007
 * David Hewett (New Zealand) - retired in 2007
 * Nathan Hines (Scotland) - left for Perpignan in 2005
 * Duncan Hodge (Scotland) - retired in 2007
 * Ally Hogg (Scotland)
 * Allan Jacobsen (Scotland)
 * Gavin Kerr (Scotland)
 * Brendan Laney (Scotland) - left for Yamaha Jubilo in March 2005
 * Francisco Leonelli (Argentina) - left for Glasgow Warriors in 2006
 * Lucio Lopez Fleming (Argentina) - left in 2007
 * Ander Monro (Canada) - left for Waterloo RFC in 2006
 * Scott Murray (Scotland) - left for Montauban in 2007
 * Chris Paterson (Scotland) - left for Gloucester in 2007
 * Mike Pyke (Canada) left for Montauban in 2006
 * Roland Reid (Scotland)
 * Craig Smith (Scotland)
 * Hugo Southwell (Scotland)
 * Simon Taylor (Scotland) - left for Stade Francais in 2007
 * Simon Webster (Scotland)

Heineken Cup 2006/2007
Edinburgh were drawn in Pool 2 along with fellow Celtic League side Leinster, French side SU Agen and English side Gloucester. Leinster advanced to the quarter finals as pool winners.

Final Pool Table

 * {| class="wikitable"


 * + Key to colours
 * style="background: #ccffcc;" |
 * Winner of each pool, plus two highest-ranked second-place teams, advance to quarterfinals
 * }
 * }


 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

!width="200"|Team !width="20"|Pld !width="20"|W !width="20"|D !width="20"|L !width="20"|TF !width="20"|PF !width="20"|PA !width="25"|+/- !width="20"|BP !width="20"|Pts
 * - bgcolor=#ccffcc
 * align=left| Leinster
 * 6||4||0||2||21||174||97||+77||5||21
 * - bgcolor=white
 * align=left| SU Agen
 * 6||4||0||2||12||119||119||0||1||17
 * - bgcolor=white
 * align=left| Gloucester
 * 6||3||0||3||19||152||144||+8||3||15
 * - bgcolor=white
 * align=left| Edinburgh
 * 6||1||0||5||9||95||180||-85||1||5
 * }