De Luca Commits to Edinburgh until 2010

The skilful centre rejoined the club last summer and played an influential role in the club clinching fourth place in the Magners League - Edinburgh's highest ever finish in the competition.

Dumfries-born De Luca was rewarded with his first Test cap for Scotland during the RBS 6 Nations after impressing in Edinburgh's midfield and has since been included in the squad for the two Test tour of Argentina.

As a result, the 24-year-old says he has found the ideal setting for him to continue his marked progress on the pitch and that he wants to help Edinburgh regularly challenge for trophies.

De Luca said: "Edinburgh is the right environment for me and I am absolutely delighted to have extended my contract for another two years. I genuinely believe Edinburgh is a club that is going places.

"When I rejoined the team last summer nobody outside the camp predicted we would finish as high as we eventually did in the table (fourth).

"But there is a tremendous amount of self belief in the Edinburgh squad and that can't be underestimated.

"That was shown with some of our defensive performances at places like Newport Gwent Dragons and at home against Leinster.

"The fact is that we are a very young side, so everything points to this team continuing to improve and challenging for silverware.

"I really enjoyed my first season back at Edinburgh and I'm looking forward to enjoying that same level of success over the next few years."

Edinburgh head coach Andy Robinson welcomed the news and underlined De Luca's importance in the club's future plans.

Robinson said: "As soon as I joined in October, I recognised what an exciting rugby player Nick is.

"He was short-listed for the Player of the Year award and that was a fitting tribute to the impact he had on Edinburgh's season.

"Not only does he have fantastic skill levels but he also has a tremendous amount of physicality which makes him an asset to any team's midfield.

"He is an attentive student of the game and his keenness to learn suggests he will keep on improving and become a key player for both Edinburgh and Scotland."

Chief executive Nic Cartwright endorsed that view and believes De Luca's eye-catching displays make him a firm favourite with the fans.

Cartwright said: "It is great news for Edinburgh that we have managed to secure the services of Nick for a further two years.

"The skill and vibrancy he brings to the team is invaluable and supporters enjoy watching him play because he is such an exciting player."

Scottish Rugby chief executive Gordon McKie backed the re-signing and says De Luca's decision to continue his development in the country is great news for Scottish Rugby.

McKie said: "I'm delighted to hear that another one of our young national squad members has committed himself to continue playing professional rugby in Scotland.

"This further demonstrates our stated intention to retain a significant number of our Scotland internationalists playing in this country and thus help us build upon the excellent results achieved in 2007/2008 season."