Players Eligible for Scotland

Hi guys, I asked this on Rugby Rebels but didn't get much response lol so I'm thinking I'll have more luck here .

As it says in the title, who is eligible for Scotland through residency rules or the grandparents rule etc?

The only ones I know of so far are:

Duhan van der Merwe (likely to make his debut in October)
Olly Kebble
Jaco Van der Walt
Ben Vellacott
Sean Stevenson
Will Jordan (though highly unlikely)

We have more, you just need to come to Craven week.

Stevenson won't be as he's played for Maori ABs (their 'A' side).

Findlay Christie is one with strong connections to Scotland playing for blues. As I understand it his family are ex pats (he's also very ginger).

Outside of that you have Fraser Dingwall who looks as though he's choosing England. Schoemann should be eligible in the next couple of years. Can't really think of many more off the top of my head. There's a few U20s who could go either way etc. That England sevens turned Scotland player springs to mind, I forget his name but it's hard to spell.

Femi Sofolarin, that's the one.

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby-union/scotland-sevens-star-femi-sofolarin-explains-why-he-switched-england-2536413

Just wondering but when does the residency rule change from 3 years to 5 years?

End of 2020 https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/sport/amp/rugby-union/39868065

So the SA trio from Edinburgh and Kebble are eligible before then? I think they’d be great additions to Scotland. Blade Thomson also played for the Maori btw, so are you sure about that ruling? Christie would be a good’un, Scotland could use a decent scrum half to help out. I don’t think he’ll be getting near the ABs soon. Behind the current 3 is probably Pulu (when he comes back) and anyone playing for ‘saders.

VDM and Keeble are now eligible. Hard to see them not going into the next Scotland squad.

VDW is eligible in Nov I think. He is likely to be on the fringes of the squad, behind Hastings and Russell and possibly Weir as well but with such a full on autumn series coming up, he could easily get capped as well.

Schoeman is on the 5 year plan unfortunately, so another 3 seasons to go. He has committed long term to Edinburgh though and is still young, so clearly that seems to be his career plan. He may turn out to be the one worth waiting for.

Schoeman is a very good player, Edinburgh will love that he’s committed and available all year. Kebble looked pretty good from what I’ve seen, huge bloke but injured a lot too. VDM looks class so far. VDW consistent player, probably a bit like Biggar.

VDM, VDW and Kebble will all likely get capped at various points. VDM and Kebble are the bigger names at positions of relative weakness. As mentioned above VDW will likely be fighting for the 3rd FH jersey with Weir and should end Pete Horne's international FH ambitions.

Will Jordan would be starting for Scotland if he chose us but it is fairly clear that he will be an All Black this Autumn.

Josh Bassett (Wasps winger) is eligible but decided not to go for Scotland when he was in form. Probably missed the boat now

Do you guys not have an issue with bolstering your squad with overseas residence qualified players?

We're not in a position to have a problem with it really. Personally if someone wants to play international rugby and thinks Scotland is their best opportunity that's fine by me provided they throw themselves into it 100% and earn their squad place. Players like Nel and Visser are very much adopted Scots and most of the fans are just as fond of them as the home raised players. If VDM, VDW Schoe and co commit to Scotland in heart and mind that's enough for me.

Hazel Sapling wrote:

Josh Bassett (Wasps winger) is eligible but decided not to go for Scotland when he was in form. Probably missed the boat now

He is not eligible unfortunately, a mistake I have made in the past as well. For some reason his Wikipedia entry said that he was born in Edinburgh, which he has confirmed himself was not the case. He is a decent player, but not sure if he was ever an international in the making.


There is a big Scottish diaspora out there and we have a pretty decent scouting network. There will be plenty more players that we have not even heard of yet that come into our reckoning.

I suspect Schoeman will be one of the last to qualify on residency, it is a long haul to do it that way now and most established players will miss out. You would have to be quite young to make it worthwhile. That young SA centre who has signed for Edinburgh at 18 maybe, if he comes through and sticks around. If he is any good he will have suiters as he is already EQ through his mother.

NeilyBroon wrote:We're not in a position to have a problem with it really. Personally if someone wants to play international rugby and thinks Scotland is their best opportunity that's fine by me provided they throw themselves into it 100% and earn their squad place. Players like Nel and Visser are very much adopted Scots and most of the fans are just as fond of them as the home raised players. If VDM, VDW Schoe and co commit to Scotland in heart and mind that's enough for me.

I never had much of a problem with the 3 years qualifying to be honest. That is a good commitment for any professional player in what can be a very risky and unstable career. 5 years makes it very difficult to qualify through residence now, so fair play to anyone who makes that commitment.

Ahh did not realise on Bassett. Memory fade.

Got no problem with anyone coming to play for Scotland who desire to. We don't have the clubs or finances to demand 10 years in Scotland. Families move for opportunities that have nothing to do with sport.

I also don't have any issues with it but I would say that I do not want us over doing it and capping every single eligible player when we could give some of the younger aged group players a chance.

Not relevant to this thread but seeing as I started it, I'll go slightly off topic for a bit :P.

Rob Robertson has a bit in today's Scottish Daily Mail saying that we should now cap Scott Steele (Harlequins) because of the high number of internationals we have at the end of the year.

Old Man wrote:Do you guys not have an issue with bolstering your squad with overseas residence qualified players?

If you can’t beat them, join them. All nations have done their bit, including SA (Namibia, Zimbabwe, probably Nigeria next given the influx of them). There seems to be more SA players representing other nations than anyone else though which is a bit concerning. You also have to ask yourself why are so many leaving and then representing another jersey when the opportunity came up?

Don’t take this the wrong way but it seems like Scotland and Italy take advantage of the fickle laws in place regarding international qualification the most, or at least they used to be the worst. 

The issue I have with it is that SA and some of the islanders seem to get poached the most, so the 5 year residency rule makes sense. The parent / grandparent / adopted grandparent rulings probably divide opinion (Anscombe, Tompkins, Rowlands, Francis, Ball). Then you have unique cases like Moriarty, Johnny Williams (a bit Welsh) and Sam Moore who are Welsh but utilised good opportunities in England that enabled a smooth transition to pro rugby, pretty smart of them if you ask me. 
Then you have Parkes and McNicholl for example. Good players that came over, settled in well and really gave their all. Parkes certainly improved whilst he was with scarlets, Jmac was just a natural. Halaholo is next and I couldn’t be happier about him choosing our jersey. 

Wales now have an exiles programme in place. It makes sense because a lot of Welsh people go across the boarder at various stages in their life for work and study. Some of our guys are born there and stay, or come back home at a young age. Given our minute playing pool I think it’s a great idea. Do Scotland have anything similar?

mikey_dragon wrote:

Old Man wrote:Do you guys not have an issue with bolstering your squad with overseas residence qualified players?

If you can’t beat them, join them. All nations have done their bit, including SA (Namibia, Zimbabwe, probably Nigeria next given the influx of them). There seems to be more SA players representing other nations than anyone else though which is a bit concerning. You also have to ask yourself why are so many leaving and then representing another jersey when the opportunity came up?

There are a number of reasons players leave.

Mainly talking about those who leave with the premises they will represent a new country.

Number one is the political situation in SA, crime, uncertain future, corruption, in other words little belief in the future of SA.
Number two is they believe rightly or wrongly (premature) they won’t make the Springbok team.
Number three is the weak Rand.
Number four grass looks greener on the other side.
Number five, promises are made about the potential of representing adopted country.
Lastly, young impressionable minds are easier to believe the promised land lies offshore.

As for evryone does it, there are very few players moving to SA for rugby reasons. We have always had Namibians coming to play Currie Cup here, also Zimbabweans, they very rarely represent South Africa. Only player in the last decade or so was Tendai Mtwarira, can’t think of anyone else. Basically what I am saying is we don’t “poach” players.

BigGee wrote:
I suspect Schoeman will be one of the last to qualify on residency, it is a long haul to do it that way now and most established players will miss out. You would have to be quite young to make it worthwhile. That young SA centre who has signed for Edinburgh at 18 maybe, if he comes through and sticks around. If he is any good he will have suiters as he is already EQ through his mother.

The last Craven week, 22 players were signed to go Overseas. all 18 year olds, doubt the five years residency qualification will stop anyone, scouts simply go for younger players.

5 years is a long time, non of those 18 year olds are estsblished players in the pro game and many will fall by the wayside. Injuries, lack of oportunities, bad luck, other career opportunities and many of them just won't be good enough to make a good pro or even international.

Any of them thst do, well good luck to them, they will have deserved it.

Join us for another edition of Don't poach, can't poach where our new contestant will pretend they're morally superior.

Cant think of anyone but Vellacott who could be in Scotlands radar at the moment and I dont think hes progressed as much as many either side of the border wanted.

Edinburgh have done just that by signing Jordan Venter. He’ll be 22/23 when he is SQF (assuming he’s stays at Edinburgh).

I think it’s unfair to criticise Scotland’s recruitment policy. They have two pro sides while SA have six with a huge pool to select from. It would be very odd for SA to select a player who was born and raised outside of SA. Players like Hardie, Maitland, McNicholl, Parkes, Berghan, Nel, Strauss, Stander, VDF etc may not have had international careers if they’d not been given opportunities elsewhere. I like that the rule allows players from competitive nations the chance to reach their goal of playing international rugby. The fact it is being bumped up to 5 years is the right call though as it represents a substantial commitment on a players part.

Vellacott played for Scottish age grades, we can hardly be acused of poaching him!

We have not really seen him since his injury, hopefully it won't have effected his pace, which was his main assett.

He could still choose Scotland, he is more estsblished now and posdibly less worried about the contract vslue of maintaining his EQ status.

Redpath could still come to us as well. His career has not quite gone to plan the last season either and he may fancy a reset.

If they choose Scotland that is great, if they don't, that is fine as well. Plenty of players have dual allegiances.

I’d prefer Christie ahead of those two simply because Christie has been so positive about joining Scotland in the future. He may well get a shot at AB’s glory if he’s lucky but to me he seems quite proud with the prospect of playing for the country he left at a young age. Redpath and Vellacott seem more like the type to join Scotland when their England ambitions fail.

Not saying you would poach him. I've been fairly clear you cant poach players as they are completely free to choose who they want. The pretence anyone is better morally is tired though, it's simply there are different push and pull factors across the world.
Redpath is a good shout.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Join us for another edition of Don't poach, can't poach where our new contestant will pretend they're morally superior.

Cant think of anyone but Vellacott who could be in Scotlands radar at the moment and I dont think hes progressed as much as many either side of the border wanted.

I don’t think it is about being morally superior, just stating facts about the situation in SA.

bsando wrote:I’d prefer Christie ahead of those two simply because Christie has been so positive about joining Scotland in the future. He may well get a shot at AB’s glory if he’s lucky but to me he seems quite proud with the prospect of playing for the country he left at a young age. Redpath and Vellacott seem more like the type to join Scotland when their England ambitions fail.

Aye I can't help feeling like the Velacott ship has sailed, and the Redpath one (bar an injury crisis so bad that it requires us to send our scouts out) isn't far behind. We talk a lot about Christie but we also have Sheil, Dobie, etc coming through at club. Not to mention Frostwick and co who will probably get their chances this season.

On the earlier points, I think to criticise Scotland and Italy for "poaching" is definitely unfair given both have very small pools of their own to choose from. Also look at the second tier nations. Japan cannot deny the importance of the impact of Leitch on their squad, particularly in 2015, the year that escalated them to top tier competitors meaning the interest grows and you get potentially more homegrown talent (of which Japan has quite a few). Squads like Canada, USA, etc etc all need some, or most, of their squads from abroad because they simply do not have the player numbers.

How can we expect the game to grow if we limit players to their country of birth? How many teams beyond England, South Africa and New Zealand would be competitive?

The number of "project" players playing for Scotland is actually relatively small at the moment. Johnson is one, Nel is the other. Add VdW and VdM and you have four. Strauss chose Scotland but also failed to push on in a Scotland shirt, so he definitely would not be competing for a SA shirt, same with Du Preez. VdW may get a few appearances but weirdly we've actually got two good homegrown options at FH at the moment which is truly a novelty. VdM will have a big impact probably in the same way that Visser did. So of the starting lineup it's likely we'll only see two project players. Hardly taking the p*ss when you consider that Ireland have potentially CJ Stander, Aki Bundee, Jared Payne in their lineup, all of whom are project players. Just to put it into perspective here's my choice of a Scotland starting XV on form alone:

Sutherland (born in Melrose, Scotland)
McInally (born in Edinburgh, Scotland)
Fagerson (born in Perth, Scotland)
Cummings (born in Glasgow, Scotland)
Gilchrist/Gray (born in Stirling and Rutherglen, respectively. Both in... surprise, surprise... Scotland)
Ritchie (born in Dundee, Scotland)
Watson (born in Manchester, England - has Scottish grandparents and has even spoke about putting a Saltire up in his room just to prove he was Scottish at school)
Haining (Australian born, Scottish grandparents)

Horne (born in Dundee, Scotland)
Russell (born in Bridge of Allan, Scotland... Also listen to him do an interview. Barely intelligible at the best of times, definitely Scottish)

Graham (born in Hawick, Scotland)
Johnson (Shock. A project player from Australia)
Jones/Hutchinson/Harris (born in Edinburgh, the latter two have Scottish grandparents)
VDM (hold on to your hats... it's another project player, one of the hundreds we've stolen from SA )
Hogg (born in Melrose, Scotland... God it's almost like the majority of the team are actually originally from Scotland...)

So not that it matters a jot. I'm happy for whoever is willing to pull on the blue to play for us, as I said before as long as they play for their place and give it their all. Contrary to popular belief, people don't just walk into the Scotland squad because they speak Afrikaans or have a Kiwi twang. It's really tiresome going through this argument every time.

However, for the sake of argument let's say we use all the SA-born players in our starting lineup for the next few years. South Africa have just won a world cup and have the most registered rugby players of everyone, even over England. It's not surprising they don't poach because they've never needed to. Contrast to Scotland who have only about 20,000 registered players, of which only about 70 are registered pros. You can bet your bottom dollar that SA have at least three times the number of pros or semi-pros registered.

These players have a right to choose who they represent, 5 years is a fair amount of time to tie your colours to the mast. If South Africa want Scotland-based players that badly, offer them a cap. They're not obliged to play for Scotland.

Also if Christie chooses NZ should he get the opportunity, which actually isn't entirely infeasible, I will not be going on a tirade against NZ for stealing our talent. I would not blame him at all for choosing the most exciting side in world rugby, just as I'm not bothered that Tommy Allan (or Tommaso, I should say) chose Italy, despite playing the early part of his career in Scotland or Pat Lambie chose SA over Scotland (again, understandably).

If they feel that's who they want to represent, or who they have a better chance of playing more rugby for, I say good for them. It's their decision at the end of the day. The world is the smallest it's ever been so it's hardly surprising that people move around internationally and settle elsewhere.

I think a few are getting a bit defensive here, I merely wanted to know whether supporters have a problem with overseas born players representing their country.

It seems they don’t, as for SA capping every potential international star, well it is not possible, simply because you will run out of tests before you run out of potential players.

Whilst we won the world cup, our domestic rugby is suffering because of our experienced and top players aren’t competing in our domestic leagues, purely for money reasons mostly.

Whilst I accept that they are professionals and will go after money to secure their futures it is not helping our domestic rugby one iota.

Look at the Cheetahs, they are a talent factory but cannot hold onto their squad because they don’t have enough revenue, so they will never be able to compete in the pro 14 at an even level because they bleed players like anything.

The Kings are poorly managed, but even though they now have new management, their talent pool is thin, those good enough leave as soon as they can.

Lions had to rebuild in 2012 when they got kicked out of Super Rugby, took a few years to rebuild, then went to three finals in succession, then lost their best players and now have to rebuild all over again.

Bulls are rebuilding with Jake White on a buying spree (well in Rands, not dollars)

So spare a thought for the average south African rugby fan who suffers the most, our best players aren’t on show in SA, they are spread all over the world.

Our young players have very few experienced world class players to learn from.

Many of us agree that it's a desperate state for the SA clubs to be in, and as Scotland fans we definitely empathise given the fact we only have two pro clubs after the Reivers were lost due to financial issues. However you do not see any of us objecting to SA involvement with tournaments in future a la pro14 etc etc.

In fact many clubs here now are beginning to smell the roses too, the popularity of international rugby has accelerated too quickly for the clubs to catch up. You have essentially the inverse problem that football has, where clubs have very little money but have to sign internationals who have become very pricey to get any kind of fanbase rather than clubs getting most of the revenue and TV deals, the players not interested in international because it doesn't pay as well.

However, 2020 has forced their hand and World rugby is changing and it's an opportunity for the SA clubs to improve their fortunes.

Old Man wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Join us for another edition of Don't poach, can't poach where our new contestant will pretend they're morally superior.

Cant think of anyone but Vellacott who could be in Scotlands radar at the moment and I dont think hes progressed as much as many either side of the border wanted.

I don’t think it is about being morally superior, just stating facts about the situation in SA.

Oooh quoting is back. Ta to the mods.

As I said more can't than don't. If the money brought the best 'free agents' for want of a better term or there was a setup as in the UK where we a hitch potch of ancestry then itd be a different story.

I come in peace - Shoot to kill!

The issue of players "moving" to play for other countries is a bit of a cluster of issues.

The main reason players will move is the money. A young kid in SA being promised 3 times what he can get in SA to come to the UK, it’s a no brainer for the kid. There will be some players who stay as they will want to play for SA, but if they have SA thoughts (serious ones) then they will be good enough to ask for a bit more cash from the SA clubs.

There's a failing on the losing nations side for this. A failing that the respective Unions cant fix as its a national economic issue. It's not even exclusive to rugby. If some hot shot fashion designer is born in Peterhead, they aren’t going to hang about in Peterhead to establish their fashion empire are they?! No! They're off to London, New York, Milan, etc. You can’t blame these places for hoovering up the talent if there isn’t the same, equal opportunity for them to succeed as much if they stayed at home.

The reason that Scotland get a hard time on the "poaching" side of things is because our clubs are run by our Union and not independently owned. The RFU can't turn round and say to some 18 year old up and coming islander or SA player that they can have a £50k a year contract at Exeter if they agree to commit to playing for England after 5 years. Scotland and the Scottish clubs can, so they do!

In answer to Old Man's question. I don't like players coming over here with the intent of becoming Scottish Qualified. I however have absolutely no issue with someone that is here becoming qualified then playing.

What I mean is Pierre Schoeman was brought over and given a contract on the agreement that he'll play for Scotland. To me, this is wrong. It's money doing the talking and its open to utter abuse (though 5 years is better than the 3 it was).

Compare this to the likes of David Denton. He was here. He was studying here and was then spotted and brought into the pro set up and then international honours. I have no issue with this at all. It's a case of what came first, the country or the rugby???

Mauritz Botha same thing, he didn’t move to England on a rugby contract, he went there, worked his way through the clubs and got to represent England. Respect to the guy.

But as you say, in all walks of life money talks. There is very little SARU can do about it due to our weak currency and other domestic factors.

Just a shame our domestic rugby suffers because of it.

I think the change to a 5 year residency is the right thing and I think it will have the desired effect. You will only see players representing their adopted country where they've embraced that adopted country. I'm fine with that.

What I am against is where unions use the carrot of international rugby to aid their clubs/regions/provinces/whatever signing players. We saw it with Brad Shields and Eddie getting involved and helping to engineer a move to Wasps. If he wanted to represent England great come over and qualify we shouldn't be tapping him up. Wales did this, this year calling up Tigers 18 year old development flyhalf from the under 20s to train with the first team and telling him he needed to come home to play internationally. It's perfectly within the rules but it feels unethical and disrespectful to the club that have developed the player.

At the end of the day players will do what's best for them and you can't blame them. With people travelling for jobs etc more than ever we'll see increasing numbers use qualification via parents or grandparents to represent their country of choice. Someone mentioned Hamish Watson being born in Manchester, he came through the Tigers academy (at a time where we did nothing to utilise the academy) and he was always very set on being referred to and representing Scotland.

You sometimes just need to accept people's word on things.

Just because you are not born in a country, it doesnt mean you're not being brought up by your parents to feel you are "Scottish". What do we do, go back and ask thier School mates "Here, did Hamish ever tell you he wanted to play for Scotland when he older?"

Also we're moving more and more into a more globalised society (current situation being the exception). The whole border thing is getting more and more diluted as we go along.

besides, this wont be relevent soon when a band of space monsters come down to earth and we need to form a ragtag team of players to beat them in a game of Rugby. It'll be called "Space Scrum" and we'll need to get a retired legend, possibly Greig Laidlaw, to lead the team of All Stars.

tigertattie wrote:
besides, this wont be relevent soon when a band of space monsters come down to earth and we need to form a ragtag team of players to beat them in a game of Rugby. It'll be called "Space Scrum" and we'll need to get a retired legend, possibly Greig Laidlaw, to lead the team of All Stars.

The rugby equivalent to Michael Jordan is NOT Greig Laidlaw. A pedestrian passing game and over reliance on kicking ability does not equal a points scoring legend. Now a grizzled world cup winning lock whose stern gaze and unspoken threat of violence might well do the job, though Johnno as the lead wouldn't make the best film.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

tigertattie wrote:
besides, this wont be relevent soon when a band of space monsters come down to earth and we need to form a ragtag team of players to beat them in a game of Rugby. It'll be called "Space Scrum" and we'll need to get a retired legend, possibly Greig Laidlaw, to lead the team of All Stars.

The rugby equivalent to Michael Jordan is NOT Greig Laidlaw. A pedestrian passing game and over reliance on kicking ability does not equal a points scoring legend. Now a grizzled world cup winning lock whose stern gaze and unspoken threat of violence might well do the job, though Johnno as the lead wouldn't make the best film.

Johnno will do just fine, we will get Ben Affleck to play him in the movie

Ben Affleck is only 3 years younger than Johnno. Might have to be more like the guy that plays Colossus in Deadpool. Could always use Chabal as the lead and get Jason Momoa to play him.

That can work, yeah

So will we DVDM, VDW and Kebble potentially lining up against Georgia and Wales in a few months time? VDW might be a good one to have starting or on the bench For Georgia and I’d like to see how Kebble does as a replacement for Sutherland.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Ben Affleck is only 3 years younger than Johnno. Might have to be more like the guy that plays Colossus in Deadpool. Could always use Chabal as the lead and get Jason Momoa to play him.

You've no idea how much I'd watch that film. France's 2007 knockout of the all blacks

bsando wrote:So will we DVDM, VDW and Kebble potentially lining up against Georgia and Wales in a few months time? VDW might be a good one to have starting or on the bench For Georgia and I’d like to see how Kebble does as a replacement for Sutherland.

Did I miss something - when are we playing Georgia? The only thing I've seen is the 6N resolution then unconfirmed details about a tournament where we'll be in a group with France, italy and Japan.

I don't think is is confirmed yet, but we are likely playing them at Murrayfield the week before we play Wales.

Would make sense - a warmup game before the proper tests come.

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/oguntibeju-the-68-120kg-scottish-qualified-nigerian-born-lock-whos-playing-in-sa-but-could-be-about-to-sign-for-edinburgh/

There is this guy Olujare Oguntibeju who is now eligible, must say I've not heard of him but Edinburgh fans are raving about him :O.

I'm not sure 'raving about' is quite correct - the guy is an absolute unit but only started playing rugby 12 months ago. There's been plenty big lads over the years who just can't cut it because they can't play rugby.

Will be interesting to see how he develops - it's certainly a hell of a story!

Yeah I’d be very surprised to see him excel quickly. He’s gonna need years of game time to develop into a professional player. Interesting find though, I hope he can push on and do well.

If he's a natural athlete he could come on quite quickly - there's a number of pro rugby players in the game who came to it late. It sounds like he's dabbled in a few sports but we don't know how seriously and to what level. He can go a long way on size alone but this is pro rugby we're talking about - it's a huge step up.

Sounds like he wants to get a uni degree so hopefully he can focus on that and play some rugby with amateur and uni teams (bugger coming up against him at uni level rugby!!) plus maybe Super 6 and see where it goes. There's no rush - if he looks like he can make the step at 21/22 then that's when he can be brought in properly. It also sounds like he's happy to stay in Edinburgh for the foreseeable future anyway.

RDW wrote:If he's a natural athlete he could come on quite quickly - there's a number of pro rugby players in the game who came to it late. It sounds like he's dabbled in a few sports but we don't know how seriously and to what level. He can go a long way on size alone but this is pro rugby we're talking about - it's a huge step up.

Sounds like he wants to get a uni degree so hopefully he can focus on that and play some rugby with amateur and uni teams (bugger coming up against him at uni level rugby!!) plus maybe Super 6 and see where it goes. There's no rush - if he looks like he can make the step at 21/22 then that's when he can be brought in properly. It also sounds like he's happy to stay in Edinburgh for the foreseeable future anyway.

As soon as you said that all I got was the image of Dwain Chambers trying rugby league and blowing after about 10 minutes on the pitch. Probably all the steroids.

In seriousness this lad could have the attributes to be a great player, although it worried me when he said he wasn't so keen on tackling (the bread and butter of any good forward). Needs to get some anger in him I think but if anyone can do that, Cockers probably can.