Cochrane return a 'dream come true'

The hooker's signature comes after a nine-year exile south of the border, with eight years spent in the English Championship followed by a season with London Wasps in the Premiership.

The ex-Boroughmuir high school pupil, who made a positional switch from back-row to hooker mid career, will arrive in the summer as part of the club's ongoing plans to act early and build a formidable squad for the forthcoming campaign.

Cochrane said: "I'm an Edinburgh boy so it's great to fulfill a life-long ambition to play for the team where I was born and grew up."

"It's taken nine hard years of graft to prove my worth. I never gave up on earning a return to Edinburgh and I'm really excited to join."

"Wasps helped me prove that I was capable of playing at that level, so when Edinburgh came knocking at the door it was a dream come true."

Edinburgh Rugby head coach Alan Solomons, added: "What's important here is that we have a good Scottish player who has gone away and done it the tough, hard way."

"We've kept a very close eye on Neil [Cochrane] who's got talent."

"It's great to bring a player who's from the region back into the fold."

"He's exceptionally committed to coming here. A guy like that will be massively motivated and I think will add a lot of value to our side."

Neil Cochrane (30), hooker

Born: 4 January 1984 in Edinburgh
Height: 5ft 10in (1.78m), weight 16st 5lb (104kg)
Clubs: London Wasps, Bedford Blues, Doncaster Knights, Rotheram Titans, Watsonians, Boroughmuir.
Honours: Scotland under-21, U19, U18, Scotland 7s