Edinburgh have seen significantly less player churn between seasons than they did ahead of Sean Everitt's first campaign in charge.
Whether that increased cohesion can show through in performances and results could be one of the key factors as the capital club aim for a sizeable improvement in their league position.
Here is a look at their depth chart heading into the coming season along with their new signings and those who exited the club during 2023/24.
Edinburgh Rugby depth chart
Front row
In: Paul Hill (Northampton)
Out: Luan de Bruin (Newcastle), Adam McBurney (Connacht), WP Nel (retired)
Summary: Seven fully capped internationals to call on but their first season without WP Nel since 2011/12 will bring new challenges.
Head coach Everitt didn't seem too keen to test his front row depth during 2023/24, with the top two in each position hoovering up 70 of the 72 starts available and the rest of the squad averaging fewer than 14 minutes per appearance off the bench.
That doesn't seem sustainable, particularly for players like Pierre Schoeman and Ewan Ashman who are likely to be busier than ever this season.
The loosehead is a strong candidate for Lions selection while the hooker finds himself in pole position for the Scotland number two jersey for the first time.
The big loss in this area for Edinburgh is WP Nel who played in 20 out of 24 games for his club last season (18 starts).
New signing Paul Hill will need to pick up some of the slack, although the expectation may well be that, twelve months into his Edinburgh career, Javan Sebastian needs to be pushing on as the top choice for the biggest games of the campaign.
Elsewhere, D'Arcy Rae and Angus Williams will probably need to contribute more than bench cameos, not only to spread the load but also if they are to give themselves any chance of staying ahead of fast-rising academy prospect Ollie Blyth-Lafferty when future contracts are handed out.
Locks
In: None
Out: Jamie Campbell
Summary: Well set and with a good variety available in terms of skillsets although maybe lacking a real heavyweight tighthead lock.
Steady as she goes in this area, although Rob Carmichael's previous loan deal has moved onto a full-time contract over the summer.
It's an area where four players – Grant Gilchrist, Glen Young, Sam Skinner and Jamie Hodgson – were all at least fairly regular starters last season while Marshall Sykes made more substitute appearances (16) than anyone else in the squad.
Three academy prospects will be pushing for minutes, including Euan McVie who had an excellent World Rugby U20 Trophy campaign, but, barring an injury crisis, this may well be the hardest area for any of the youngsters to break through during 2024/25.
Back-row
In: Magnus Bradbury (Bristol)
Out: Viliame Mata (Bristol), Cam Neild (Sale)
Summary: This has been the strongest part of Edinburgh’s squad for a number of years and there is little to suggest that will change any time soon.
Swapping Bill Mata (who will turn 33 not long after the new season starts) for 29-year-old Magnus Bradbury may not turn out to be the worst bit of business but it's still likely to take the efforts of more than one player to replace the indefatigable Fijian.
Mata was the only Edinburgh forward to start 20 games during the last campaign. Bradbury matched that tally in each of his two seasons with Bristol but hasn't started as many fixtures as that for the capital club since 2016/17.
Ben Muncaster's three appearances last season were a big step down on his previous contributions of 11 in 2022/23 and 14 in 2021/22. He is next in line to back up the number eight jersey but could find himself under pressure from Matt Currie's wee brother Tom.
In fact, Edinburgh have a full back row from Scotland under 20s who look like they might be ready to make the breakthrough to full-time pro rugby. Joining Currie are the abrasive Liam McConnell and ball hound Freddy Douglas.
Douglas may be the best of that trio, despite being qualified to still play age-grade rugby during 2025.
The main issue he is going to face is being a specialist openside looking for opportunities in a squad that still contains Hamish Watson and Connor Boyle, who has never looked out of place when he has had the number seven shirt.
Jamie Ritchie and Luke Crosbie have also both shifted to the openside when Edinburgh have opted to play a bigger back row unit.
Even with all this competition though, a Douglas debut before the end of the season would be no surprise.
Half backs
In: Ross Thompson (Glasgow)
Out: Charlie Savala (Northampton), Scott Steele (retired), Tim Swiel (Saracens)
Summary: Looking for their two fly-halves to push each other on to new heights and for options to emerge at scrum-half.
There is a case for describing Ben Healy as the hardest-working man in rugby after the former Munster player started 23 out of 24 games for his new club last season and went the full 80 minutes in 19 of those fixtures.
Depending on the perspective taken, the signing of Ross Thompson is primarily aimed at easing Healy's workload or providing more competition to be the number one option at fly-half.
Thompson has already had a season and a half as the Warriors' first-choice number 10 early in his career and is unlikely to have moved with the intention of playing the understudy role.
At scrum half, Ben Vellacott could have found himself in a similar situation to Healy and had to start nearly every game, if Glasgow hadn't coughed up a 'loan' move for Ali Price.
With the British and Irish Lion now on a permanent deal – although only for the current season – he and Vellacott will continue to dominate starts in the nine shirt.
Edinburgh opting for no fewer than three scrum-halves in their senior academy does rather suggest that this is an area where squad progression is more of a priority.
Unlike Glasgow, who rotate among a quartet of nines, Edinburgh have only played three scrum-halves in each of the last three seasons.
Development minutes might need to be found here and there during 2024/25 with one eye on auditioning for the future.
Centres
In: Matt Scott (Leicester), Mosese Tuipulotu (Waratahs)
Out: Chris Dean (released)
Summary: The coaches will almost certainly be hoping that a pairing of Mosese Tuipulotu and Matt Currie establishes itself as first choice with some veterans in place to provide good depth.
Club centurion, Chris Dean spent the majority of last season covering wing. His replacement, Matt Scott – returning for a third spell – is unlikely to be too keen on providing the same kind of flexibility, especially as he turns 34 at the end of September!
Unless there is a repeat of the back three injury armageddon that took place during 2023/24, Scott is likely to pick up appearances covering for Edinburgh's top-line quartet of centres. He does just need six more outings to bring up 100 games in the capital club's colours.
As the season kicks off, the only real certainty would seem to be Matt Currie filling one of the starting slots in midfield.
Form-wise, Mark Bennett seemed to have the edge over James Lang during the previous campaign, but with the Olympian being a specialist outside centre this means fielding Currie in his less favoured 12 jersey.
The wildcard will be Mosese Tuipulotu. If he can get anywhere close to big brother Sione's impact at the other end of the M8, he would appear to be an ideal foil for Currie.
He would allow the Dumfries native to slide out one slot to play at 13, making best use of Edinburgh's resources.
Back three
In: Ross McCann (GB 7s)
Out: Blair Kinghorn (Toulouse)
Summary: Plenty of class in this area but international duties will have an impact. No matter how good they are, they remain somewhat reliant on the rest of the backline – and the forward pack – functioning well.
Given the resources at their disposal in the back three, Edinburgh's coaches may not have expected to miss Blair Kinghorn too much when he departed early on in the 2023/24 campaign.
It's never great to lose a player of that quality but the capital club still had a quartet of experienced pros along with three newly minted graduates from the academy to back them up.
As it turned out, it was an annus horribilis for Edinburgh wings and full backs. Emiliano Boffelli and Darcy Graham only managed five and three starts respectively.
Harry Paterson came in, showed enough form to earn his first Scotland cap but had his season ended by injury in early March.
Jake Henry was lively in a short spell between two ill-timed absences, while Nathan Sweeney only managed to squeeze in a single turn as an unused sub among his own injury disruptions.
Henry will be out on loan at Coventry next season which should allow him to develop with more consistent game time.
Other than the addition of Ross McCann – who played a couple of games for Edinburgh early on in 2023/24 when not involved on the 7s circuit – it will be the same faces starting the new campaign, providing good depth if everyone stays fit.
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