Stuart McInally has taken his time to be a frontline starter since he moved from backrow, but Richard Cockerill’s endorsement seems to have him squarely in the Hookers’ Guild.
The Edinburgh head coach, himself a former international No 2, thinks McInally would have been due the start for Scotland against Samoa even if Fraser Brown and Ross Ford had been fit.
And there’s no question that Cockerill’s decision to make McInally his top hooker at Edinburgh has had a crucial bearing on him being set to start on Saturday.
“I owe a lot to Richard, he took a bit of a gamble on me at the start of the season,” said McInally. “He was happy for me to play, a play a lot. I think before the start of this year the most I’d ever played at hooker was two games in a row.”
McInally made the switch to hooker because he wanted to play for Scotland, a move that had the backing of the senior international management but not so much of previous coaching regimes at Edinburgh.
“I’m in a really good place and happy to be playing for Edinburgh this year,” he said. “I didn’t enjoy it much last season, directly from not playing much. I was made co-captain at the start, which was something I was desperate to do for my home town team, but then I think I started six games and was on the bench for something like 20.
“It was really frustrating, because if I wasn’t playing for Edinburgh, I definitely wasn’t going to be playing for Scotland.
“My expectations of how the season would go and how it actually went were so different.”
McInally chose to “go back to square one” but Cockerill’s arrival has been a huge boost for him.
“I think what people perceive about Richard and we see is totally different,” he said. “He is a really smart technical coach. He can be hard on us as well, but the way he approaches training for me is he puts me under enough pressure but not too much, if that makes sense.
“He knows the pressure you’re already under as a hooker at setpiece. He gave me a little tip he used to use back in the day for striking at the scrum and I actually use it and it works really well for me.
“But he doesn’t mind the odd bad lineout if I’m contributing about the pitch. I owe a lot to him already.”
Even when he was struggling for games McInally tried to be positive for his fellow hookers, and finds he is getting it in return.
“Ross (Ford) I see day to day and know how hard he works, and how desperate he is to keep playing for Scotland,” said. “I couldn’t be more pleased to see George (Turner) and Neil (Cochrane) here.
“I’ve known for a long time what a good player George was and that if he got a shot he’d do really well,” he continued. “He never got a chance at Edinburgh for whatever reason, but now every time I see Glasgow he’s one of their best players.
“Neil I’ve spent a lot of time with and he’ s been great for me, both him and Ross can’t do enough for me. I know Neil’s dreamed of being in the Scotland set-up for years and he maybe thought his time had gone, so I know how chuffed he is to be here.”
McInally also believes Edinburgh team-mate Darryl Marfo – just a fringe player in the Aviva Premiership last year but set for his first cap – will surprise many.
“You won’t meet a more professional guy in terms of someone who comes in, does his work, does his homework, frequently is takes laptops away to watch scrums at home,” he said.
“Darryl even takes scrum presentations at Edinburgh. He’s been playing a lot and in every game he’s been getting better and better. Hard work has paid off, and he’s really humbled and proud to be here.
“There’s not been any extra attention paid to scrummaging because we’re missing a few loose heads. It just always happens in international rugby you can’t bank on everybody being fit at any one time.
“The good thing about Darryl and Jamie (Bhatti) is they’re both starting week in week out and playing really well.”
McInally knows how things can change in the blink of an eye, as well, from his desperate World Cup disappointment.
“That World Cup I was so excited and so ready to go, and then at the last minute (with a neck injury) being told you’ll be out for four months…” he recalled. “It does make you appreciate being back in the Scotland squad even more.”
