'Speechless' Matt Currie reveals Scotland skipper inspiration after being named Edinburgh co-captain

Edinburgh Rugby have confirmed a captaincy change ahead of their 2026/27 URC campaign kicking off on Friday away to Ulster.

The capital club have announced Matt Currie as their new co-captain alongside last season’s skipper Magnus Bradbury. The 25-year-old, who has spent his entire professional career with Edinburgh, is the first centre to take on the role since Graham Shiel way back in 1999.

It also comes on the 30 year anniversary of professional rugby being introduced to the city by the Gunners who were led by the late, great Scotland centre Scott Hastings in their first ever season. Captaining from that position is something Currie has seen up close and personal from his involvement with the Scotland men’s national team and Sione Tuipulotu.

Matt Currie and Magnus Bradbury named Edinburgh Rugby co-captains for 2026/27 season

“I've seen Sione in action for Scotland and how he leads,” said Currie. “He's definitely someone who leads by example and speaks really well to the squad and he definitely inspires action.”

Upon finding out that head coach Sean Everitt wanted him to take on the role the Dumfries native said he was ‘speechless’, explaining: “I got the news last week in camp, Sean just came up to me and basically said that he'd like me to co-captain the team with Magnus if I was keen to do it and obviously immediately I was like 'yes, absolutely'.

“You just kind of get filled with pride but I was also a bit speechless, I was in a bit of disbelief but it was real excitement and it was a massive honour to be able to co-captain Edinburgh this year and something that I'm really happy about.”

Currie has been involved in leadership groups at the club for a few seasons now so progressing to this role is a natural step. He added: “I definitely think being in leadership groups helps you get a feel for how to lead, how to speak to a squad but I feel like leadership probably comes in loads of different ways I think.

“With me, I just focus on being myself and the standards that Edinburgh set. Hopefully, I can live by them and set examples for the squad as well.”

The centre also got the seal of approval from co-captain Bradbury who believes it’s good for the club to have someone slightly younger sharing the role. The 31-year-old explained how respected Currie is by the current squad at the Hive.

He said: “I think it’s good for Matt because he’s a younger player. Obviously, I’m 31, so I’m halfway dead and on the way out! I’m joking. It’s good to share the responsibility. Matt has shown for a while that he has every quality required to captain this club.

"The way rugby goes, I’ll naturally retire and move on a lot sooner than Matt will. I imagine he’ll be captain of this club for a long time. I’m really excited to do it with him. He’s a brilliant leader and a brilliant player, and the whole squad respects him."

On how sharing the role will work logistically, Bradbury added: “We’ll just do what feels natural. There are no written rules.

"I’m not going to play every game this season, and neither is Matt, because of injuries, rest periods and things like that. It’s about having a bigger leadership collective and driving the standards of the team together.”

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