Macphail Scholarship: Scottish starlets Jack Craig, Ben White and Joss Arnold are picked for Stellenbosch stint
Three up-and-coming male rugby talents have received an early Christmas present with the news that they will be heading off to play rugby in South Africa for five months in January.
The John Macphail Rugby Scholarship – created in memory of former Scotland internationalist John Macphail has been running since 2005, when John Barclay went to New Zealand. From then, the likes of Grant Gilchrist (2011), Jonny Gray (2012), Finn Russell (2013) and, more recently, Edinburgh Rugby’s Jacob Henry (2019) have benefitted from great experiences training and playing abroad thanks to it. Coaches have also been part of the scholarship.
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Hide AdOn January 21, Jack Craig, Ben White and Joss Arnold will become recipients 43, 44 and 45 to benefit from the agreement when they head off to become immersed in South Africa’s rugby culture at the high-performance training facility at Stellenbosch University near Cape Town. They will be part of an academy there set to be made up of 50 exciting young players from 20 countries and it is hoped that the experience will help them build into exciting times with the Scotland under-20s and beyond.
For Ayr product Jack Craig, who has played full-back and outside centre mainly in his fledgling career, this is the latest high point in an exciting year. In the summer, the 17-year-old was part of the Team Scotland sevens squad that won gold at the Trinbago Commonwealth Youth Games and, in recent months, he has had some game time with the Ayr first XV who are on the cusp of winning the National One title. His older brother Robbie Fergusson is the current captain of GB Sevens too, so he does not have to look to far for inspiration.
“It is such a big opportunity and as soon as you hear the words rugby and South Africa in the same sentence it is exciting and it is a chance that I jumped it,” former Belmont Academy pupil Craig said. “Watching Robbie playing for Glasgow Warriors and London Scottish as I was growing up was brilliant and now seeing him do his thing on the world sevens stage inspires me and he’s a big help to me.”
Loosehead prop Ben White, 18, has come through the ranks at Biggar minis and Peebles and now plays for Biggar seniors. Currently he works part-time as a gamekeeper and said: “This is a tremendous opportunity for me. As a front-row player South Africa really is the place to learn about playing that position, there is nowhere better. I want to improve my scrummaging technique when I am over there and really nail my set piece work so that I can become a better all-round player.”
Second-row/back-row Joss Arnold, 18, started his rugby with the Haddington minis and now plays for the Musselburgh seniors. The former Knox Academy and Loretto School pupil said: “I am currently taking a gap year after school and had thought about going travelling and playing a bit of rugby abroad, but this is the best of both worlds because I get to go to a great country, but also work hard on my rugby in a top-quality environment. I really want to use this trip to take my rugby to the next level and then see how far I can go.”