Rugby: Coach hails city player's rise from U20s to full Scots side

When coach Peter Wright claims there are players in Scotland's Under-20 Rugby World Cup squad who are perhaps within a year of a full international cap, he doesn't need to look far for a role model.

Those youngsters travelling to Italy ahead of next week's opening game against South Africa would be well advised to take heed of David Denton's rise to prominence.

After all, the Edinburgh back-row is currently preparing to step up training with Andy Robinson's enlarged group for the senior World Cup in New Zealand this Autumn - following a development with last year's under-20s under Wright which brought fresh meaning to the phrase 'on the ball'.

Man-of-the-match awards in successive Edinburgh home games against Ospreys and Aironi towards the end of the Magners League only proved in the most tangible fashion just how much Denton benefitted from being obliged by Wright to carry a rugby ball at all times of day and night during his 2010 sojourn in Argentina at the age-group championships. "David's ball-handling skills were a bit poor when he first arrived in Scotland (after growing up in Africa of Scottish parentage)," said Wright. "When we got David to coach we made him carry a ball around all the time. Wherever he went in public he had to have a rugby ball with him to get used to handling because that was a big weakness.

"He was one of about 10 players subjected to a punishment for dropping passes in training that I first heard of when New Zealand toured here a few years ago. Little things like that really can make a player better and from what I've seen watching Edinburgh, David has come on leaps and bounds. He has size and physicality and I now think he has better rugby skills as well. On top of that he is a good lad, a willing learner who has come through a system that is also producing quality pros such as Stuart McInally, also at Edinburgh, and Glasgow's Robert Harley who is a colleague of Denton's in the provisional World Cup squad."The current Scotland under-20s include lads like Duncan Weir, Stuart Hogg and Mark Bennett who are three of the best backs we have produced and I hope they will look at what has been achieved by others in recent years to know they aren't far away from the top end of the game." Weir and Hogg, who had a brief spell outwith his native Hawick at Heriot's, are attached to Glasgow with Bennett recently committing himself to Clermont Auvergne in France.

Wright, who has yet to decide whether to apply for the vacancy at Edinburgh Rugby for a defence and skills coach, added: "In Italy Duncan, Stuart and Mark will be expected to give a lead and raise the standard so that others come up to their level in a tough section also featuring England and Ireland."

Scotland under-20s have travelled well ahead of Friday week's opener against South Africa and Wright believes preparations could not be better with warm-ups arranged against Australia. "This gives us time to work with the guys on the pitch and off it where we tackle things like goal-setting as well as looking at how they play individually and collectively within the team. This year already we have had week-long camps and that was valuable."

Scotland failed to win a match in the latest under-20 Six Nations but Wright insists problems are being addressed.

"One of the biggest challenges we have is to get our scrum functioning because it didn't in the Six Nations when we were badly done in all the games apart from Italy. The disappointing thing was Italy gave other teams problems but we actually out-scrummed them. Sometimes it is attitude. It is not necessarily the front row. It is maybe the back five. But we did a lot towards the back stages of the Six Nations and that seems to have paid dividends."

Scotland will have to be on the ball with Wright admitting: "South Africa have come out publically and said they will be fielding the biggest team possible because they were bullied out of the World Cup last year. With the numbers available to us compared with some other countries, physicality is always a challenge for Scotland but to stay in the top 12 as we have done is a fantastic achievement. Potentially there are 10 or 11 of the present under-20s eligible next year in addition to Harry Leonard (Boroughmuir) who got the chance to spend 18 weeks in New Zealand and, while playing for your country is a fantastic honour, it was reckoned to be better that he sees out his Macphail scholarship."

One of the most deeply committed figures in the Scottish game, Wright also serves as Premiership Division One representative in his capacity as director of rugby at Glasgow Hawks. For him, it is a sign of improving domestic standards that not all the under-20s who return from Italy will gain automatic starts in Division One teams, unlike a few years ago.

One of the reasons is the advent of the British & Irish Cup which Wright endorses. "I watched a lot of B & I Cup games involving Currie, Melrose and Ayr, who got to the quarter finals and could have won, the tournament," he said. "They were very competitive and it is important for Premier Division One that the teams have the B & I carrot dangled in front of them."

One suggestion currently being aired in rugby circles is that London Scottish, newly promoted to the championship and therefore potential B & I Cup rivals next season for the big three, should be offered representation at council level through the Premier Division one organisation. The exiles will, at the SRU annual meeting later this month, argue for a separate Exiles rep on the council and whatever the outcome, Wright insists that their elevation can only bring benefits. "It is an exciting time for rugby with potentially Scotland players being exposed to higher standards in England while retaining their national identity."