Scotland star Hamish Watson is convinced the new long-term contract he has signed with club side Edinburgh will serve to help him on the international stage.
The 29-year-old has been at Edinburgh for the past decade and signed a new deal at BT Murrayfield last week – the exact length of which was not disclosed but will keep him at the club until beyond 2023.
The flanker has earned 36 Scotland caps since making his debut in 2015 and started all five matches during the 2020 Guinness Six Nations.
Watson won 13 turnovers in a Scotland jersey in 2020 – more than anyone else in Test rugby – while also completing 117 of his 117 tackles attempted as he became a talisman in the back row.
And continuing to star for his country was a key component of the decision to remain with Edinburgh into his 30s, despite being linked with moves to some of the biggest clubs in Europe.
“If you go to France you might have to give up international stuff and that’s a massive factor,” explained Watson. “To be at Edinburgh, it gives me a great chance to keep playing for Scotland and hopefully make the next Rugby World Cup.
“The last World Cup was pretty devastating for me and I was involved in the 2015 pre-tournament stuff, the Tests before we went away, and didn’t make the squad.
“I’ve been there or thereabouts the last two and only got one appearance. If I had gone away, I might not have made the World Cup squad in France.
“These are all small factors, you have to sum it all up and go through all the pros and cons, I guess.”
Watson has made 116 appearances for Edinburgh since joining from the Leicester Tigers academy back in 2011 and become a cornerstone for Richard Cockerill’s men.
The club appear to be on the up after reaching the Guinness PRO14 semi-finals and the European Challenge Cup quarter-finals last year, with that ambition also convincing the flanker to stay.
“We are starting to get to the business end of competitions regularly which is certainly something we didn’t do towards the start of my time at Edinburgh,” added Watson.
“We are getting to quarter-finals, we are getting to semi-finals and that’s what it’s all about and what the fans want to see.
“The more we can do that, like we have done under Cockers for the last three seasons, that is what builds confidence. I don’t know how many play-offs we’ve got to now and we’re all desperate to get to a final.
“Winning some silverware, that’s my ambition as an Edinburgh player. Every rugby player wants to win something in their career and I want to do it with, not my hometown club, but pretty close to it. I’ve been here since I was a teenager.
“We always say it, but I believe in this group of players, I believe we can do something, and I still feel like we’ve got some unfinished business here.”
