A ground-breaking new pilot National Academy programme has been launched today to support the development of promising young Scottish male players.
Spearheaded by the men’s national team head coach Gregor Townsend and assistant coaches, a group of young players have been identified to take part in the new pilot programme.
It will initially run across four training camps lasting two days, between now and the end of the calendar year, with more sessions planned as the concept develops.
During the pilot programme training blocks, 45 of the best 17-20-year-olds, selected from Scottish Rugby’s regional academies and Glasgow Warriors/Edinburgh Rugby Senior Academies, will be coached by Gregor Townsend along with forwards coach John Dalziel, defence coach Steve Tandy, scrum coach Pieter De Villiers and skills/contact coach Pete Horne.
The block of sessions will culminate in a Scotland Under-23s match against Italy on the weekend of 14/15 December with more details to follow in due course.
The pilot is designed to capitalise on the availability of the national team coaches outwith international windows to support the development of young talented players for Scotland’s age-grade teams as well as the Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby professional academies and first teams.
The players selected are from the length and breadth of the country spanning Scotland’s U18s, U19s and U20s national teams and across every position. Across the four blocks, the group selected will be subject to change with the potential for further players to be added as the season evolves.
The initial pilot programme will be based at Oriam, Scotland’s Sports Performance Centre, at Heriot-Watt University, where both the men’s and women’s national teams regularly train and will form part of the ongoing Scottish Rugby Male Performance Pathway which was outlined in February including A team matches for Scotland, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh Rugby.
The Scottish Rugby high performance department will also now operate from office space within Oriam on a daily basis. As part of a long term agreement with the national performance centre there will also be closer collaboration with both Oriam and Heriot-Watt University, looking at facility development and mutually beneficial projects across sports science, research projects and sports management.
Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend said: “The creation of a new National Academy has the potential to be game changing in accelerating the development of the next generation of our best young players.
“There are many players with outstanding ability, attitude and toughness within Scotland and as a coaching group we are determined to do what we can to enhance the alignment from the regional academies and age grade teams into our professional sides – with the overall goal of producing more players that could represent Scotland at Test level.
“Along with colleagues involved in the Scottish Rugby pathway and high performance department, we have identified a group of players we believe have a great future in the game and we look forward to working with them on a regular basis.
“We are grateful of the support of Oriam and Heriot-Watt University for the use of their facilities and enabling us to start the pilot programme this season.”
National Team Manager and Head of Rugby Operations David Edge said: “The national team management and coaching staff are dedicated to supporting the development of the next generation of players. We want to make use of both our coaches’ time and the world class facilities at our disposal at Oriam to provide the best learning environments to our young players.
“The players are exposed to regular quality coaching and matches within their clubs, schools and academies. We are appreciative of their support of the pilot programme.
“Having the knowledge of our national team coaches and exposure to the standards expected of our men’s national team will also be invaluable to their long and short term development.
“The high performance department moving to Oriam is a great step forward to now work from our high performance base as we look to work more collaboratively across the department moving forward.
“The training base of our performance teams is now the base for the entire department which will help energise our people ahead of David Nucifora starting in October.
“We look forward to developing our relationship with both Oriam and Heriot-Watt University over the period of this new agreement to the benefit of all parties. There is a desire from all parties to keep developing Oriam as Scotland’s Sports Performance Centre and also build stronger partnerships with the university across a number of different areas.”
Scottish Rugby High-Performance Advisor, David Nucifora said: “I have been in discussions with Gregor and David about the pilot National Academy project and I am pleased that it has begun.
“I look forward to seeing it being delivered and the impact it will have on players within Scotland.
“Creating greater alignment between the best young players in the country and the national team will be invaluable going forward. We are appreciative of the support of everyone involved to allow the National Academy to start.”
Players Initially Selected to the National Academy
U18s
Logan Hendrie: Prop (Kilmarnock RFC)
Jackson Rennie: Prop (Ellon RFC)
Boyd Cooper: Hooker (Ellon RFC/Strathallan School)
Daniel Casserly: Hooker (Stirling County)
Jack Utterson: Hooker (Kelso RFC/Kelso High School)
Christian Lindsay: Lock (Musselburgh RFC/Loretto)*
Layton Bryce: Back Row (Stirling County)
Lloyd Moncrieff: Back Row (GHA/ Calderglen High School)
Will Lockhart: Back Row (Boroughmuir RFC/Boroughmuir High School)
Harry Jackaman: Back Row (Boroughmuir RFC/Lasswade High School)
Henry Widdowson: Stand-off (Merchiston Castle School)
Jamie Henderson: Centre (GHA/ Willliamwood High School)
Henry Kesterton: Centre (Heriot’s/George Heriot’s High School)
Ruari Watson: Full-back/Wing (Biggar RFC/Kelvinside Academy)
U19s
Ollie McKenna: Prop (Glasgow Hawks RFC)*
Jamie Stewart: Prop (Currie RFC)*
Ollie Blyth-Lafferty: Prop (Selkirk RFC)*
Joe Roberts: Hooker (Marr RFC)*
Dan Halkon: Lock (Currie RFC)*
Mac Rutherford: Lock (Melrose RFC)*
Archie McMichael: Back Row (Marr RFC)*
Rory Purvis: Back Row (Edinburgh Accies)*
Hamish MacArthur: Scrum-half (Heriot’s RFC)*
Ross Wolfenden: Stand-off (Musselburgh RFC)*
Campbell Waugh: Centre (Glasgow Hawks RFC)
Alex Brydon: Centre (Marr RFC)*
Sam Leweni: Centre (Watsonian FC)*
Harry Provan: Full-back/wing (Glasgow Hawks)*
Nairn Moncrieff: Full-back/wing (Kelso RFC)*
U20s
Ben White: Prop (Melrose RFC)
Jake Shearer: Prop (Ayr RFC)*
Seb Stephen: Hooker (Edinburgh Accies)
Pat Spence: Lock (Heriot’s)
Dylan Cockburn: Back Row (Melrose RFC)
Ollie Duncan: Back Row (Edinburgh Accies RFC)*
Freddy Douglas: Back Row (Selkirk RFC)*
Hugo Alderson: Scrum-half (Selkirk RFC)
Hector Patterson: Scrum-half (Hawick RFC)*
Mathew Urwin: Stand-off (Ayr RFC)*
Isaac Coates: Stand-off (Kelso RFC)*
Jack Hocking: Stand-off (Hawick RFC)*
Kerr Yule: Centre (Heriot’s RFC)*
Jonny Ventisei: Centre (Watsonian FC)*
Fergus Watson: Full-back/Wing (Edinburgh Accies RFC)*
Jack Brown: Full-back/Wing (Watsonian FC)*
*Players are part of Edinburgh Rugby or Glasgow Warriors Senior Academy. Their listed club is the team they have been aligned to for the 2024-2025 Arnold Clark Premiership, not necessarily their club of origin.
Parallax Sugar
Sport Trivia: Where did Naas Botha play his first test match for South Africa? Answer: Wanderers – Naas Botha was selected to play for South Africa at Rugby Union after playing for the SA Under 20 squad. He made his debut against South America on 26 April 1980 at the Wanderers Stadium, recognised as a cricket ground. This was due to the fact that Ellis Park had been demolished in 1979 to be rebuilt.
Racy Lion
The first recorded game was played in 1646.