EDINBURGH head coach Richard Cockerill described the culture at the club as "loose". New captain Fraser McKenzie believes that with his help and guidance, they can tighten discipline and create the kind of close-knit unit that can go on to win things.

In a club packed with caps and with a couple of players who have led Scotland at international level, McKenzie was, perhaps, not the obvious choice to take over the captaincy. Yet he may be absolutely the right one. He is a hard, dynamic, no nonsense player who gets things done in the murky underworld of the front five. That kind of hard-nosed approach is precisely what Edinburgh need at the moment.

"I may not necessarily always be out on the pitch but I see myself as driving the standards off the field and on the field" he said. "I’ll guide people into making good decisions. That is all it is. Maggie [Magnus Bradbury, the previous captain sacked after a drink-related incident], for example – it is something that is not uncommon.

"A lot of people have done the same thing as Magnus has done but he has to realise that he is in a position of responsibility. Things that he does will be picked up and scrutinised more than with other people. I'll be guiding him, guiding people, into making right decisions."

At 29, McKenzie is at the opposite extreme to 22-year-old Bradbury in terms of both rugby and life experience. He first signed for Edinburgh way back in 2008, when he was seen as the next big thing in the Scotland second/back row production line. Somehow, though it never quite happened for him – caught between a smallish lock or a slowish flanker – and he is one of the few players of real experience in Scotland never to have won a cap.

His commitment to Edinburgh, however, has been unwavering even when he spent three seasons playing in England, first for Sale and then Newcastle Falcons. He has been back since 2014 and, after 80 games, knows what makes the club tick.

"I am privileged to be captain, I have been here for a lot of years now, the club means a lot to me and I want to see the club are doing well. I want to see the club driving forward," he said.

"There is no doubt about the quality in the squad, it is just that performances have lacked consistency. That will come as the standards, and the discipline come together. As Cockers [Cockerill] says, Rome was not built in a day. He will guide us through it, along with certain players, and the performances will come.

At the same time as talking about his own pride at being offered the captaincy role, he has thrown his full backing behind Bradbury to win the job back one day. "Magnus is a fantastic person, a good guy," McKenzie explained. "He has made a mistake but he is a young guy.

"He had been put into a position where he was captain. I thought that was the right decision but he made this mistake and has paid the price. He knows that and he will address the team himself this week. He is back in training and I have no doubt that it will be a positive reaction from him.

"I want to see him coming back, proving a point and getting into the Scotland stuff. Eventually, Magnus will come back and he will be captain for Edinburgh and maybe go further but that depends on him making good decisions and learning from his mistakes.

"It is not all bad. I think mistakes will help propel him, potentially, into a better mindset and will only help his onfield stuff as well."

It does not make McKenzie's task any easier that Bradbury is only one of the recent problems for Edinburgh, and probably the lesser of the two since there are reports of alleged cocaine use surrounding the decision also to suspend John Hardie.

It seems to have come as much as a shock to McKenzie as to those outside the group. The squad were told on Friday, when they were in Moscow to play Krasny Yar in the European Challenge Cup, only a few minutes before Hardie's suspension was announced.

The first thing McKenzie has demanded in his new role, however, is that the players do not let any of this distract them as they prepare to head for Treviso on a revenge mission after throwing away a 14-0 lead to lose to the same opponents in the home match.

"We have had conversations this week saying ‘look we need to put this to one side’," he explained. "It is outwith our hands, we don’t know anything, we just focus on the playing side, the training side and will build on the ambitions we have."