Rugby news round-up: O'Sullivan out of the running for Edinburgh

They are dropping like flies in the race to be Edinburgh's new coach, including my own front-runner. According to one pretty reliable source Eddie O'Sullivan got a "Dear John" letter from Murrayfield on Friday morning telling him "thanks, but no thanks", and Connacht's assistant coach, Brian Melrose, has stepped back from the process for one reason or another.

The rejection must have come as quite a shock to former Ireland boss O'Sullivan, as he was the only one with international experience who is thought to have applied for the post.

O'Sullivan has always divided opinion and was never going to win any prizes for popularity but there is a sizeable school of thought that thinks that Edinburgh need someone to take them out of their comfort zone and the Irishman promised to accomplish that much if nothing else.