Hurricanes head coach answers the Riley Higgins to Edinburgh question on the lips of Scottish rugby fans

Scotland qualified centre Riley Higgins has signed for Edinburgh (Pic: Getty) | Getty Images

Edinburgh’s signing of Riley Higgins from Super Rugby franchise the Hurricanes has got a lot of Scottish rugby supporters talking.

The 23-year old will trade Wellington for the Hive when he arrives in Scotland later this year. That is set to go hand in hand with swapping a potential All Blacks career to play for Gregor Townsend’s national team, who he qualifies for through his Ayrshire-born grandmother.

Edinburgh described the capture of the talented centre as “one of the most significant pieces of recruitment in Edinburgh Rugby’s recent history” when they confirmed his move. Head coach Sean Everitt, who called Higgins an “outstanding talent”, also stated that he had “chosen to turn down a potential All Blacks future.”

‘He’s made it for rugby reasons’ - Laidlaw lifts lid on why Riley Higgins chose Edinburgh

Strong statements like that have many supporters asking the same question - why would he swap a club competing for Super Rugby titles and a national team who have won three Rugby World Cups for a struggling Edinburgh side and a Scotland team that has ultimately flattered to deceive for some time now? It’s a fair question and one to which the answer may, or may not, be as straightforward as you think.

Hurricanes head coach Clark Laidlaw, a Jedburgh native and son of Scotland legend Roy Laidlaw, revealed that they tried to secure Higgins on a new deal of their own, but the pull of Edinburgh and the SRU was likely too much to compete with. He also denied any suggestion that the centre’s move was due to a lack of opportunities in their starting XV.

He said: “That is the juggle you’ve got. You know we have more than one good player in one position, it’s like a loose forward, it’s quite similar, how do you keep everybody happy? And the short answer is, you can’t. Riley made his decision a while ago, it’s not been based on whether he’s been getting a game in the last couple of weeks because he’s actually injured at the minute, he’s got a shoulder injury.

“It’s really difficult to keep that middle tier when it comes to the budget, Riley’s Scottish qualified and I think the good thing about Riley’s decision is he could have went somewhere else for more money, because he had other options.

“He had an option to stay here, we genuinely offered him a two year contract, and we’d love him to stay and keep that strength in depth. But what I quite like about his decision is he’s still made it for the rugby reasons.

“He wants to go there and prove himself over there, and if he’s good enough to play for Scotland or play and start for Edinburgh, play well and be considered, that’s the probably deeper part of his reason.”

Higgins has signed a three-year contract at Edinburgh and will arrive after the start of the 2026/27 URC season in October as he sees out his NPC commitments with Wellington.

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