Rugby: Duncan Taylor to get Scotland ‘A’ squad call-up

The 23-year-old was born in Northampton but moved north with his Scottish parents as a youngster before the family returned to England. He developed with Bedford Blues and was snapped up by Saracens in the summer of 2011 on a dual contract with the Championship club. The rangy youngster, who sported dreadlocks in the Bedford midfield, impressed enough in six months to land a full-time deal with the Premiership club.

At 6ft 3in tall and weighing 14 and a half stones, Taylor has made a name for himself as a strong-running centre and wing. His first game for Saracens was off the bench in front of 55,000 supporters at Twickenham in the opening game of last season, against Wasps. He has made 12 further Premiership appearances.

Taylor – whose father Colin went to the Royal High School in Edinburgh and swam for Scotland – was on the bench for his first Heineken Cup match in Paris last month, against Racing Metro, and replaced Chris Ashton for the last 25 minutes against Edinburgh in the 40-7 home win that secured Saracens a home quarter-final ten days ago. That was the club’s final match at Vicarage Road and Taylor helped to christen the new 3G pitch on Sunday by playing the full 80 minutes at outside centre in the LV= Cup win over Cardiff. He has been known to Scotland selectors for some time, but came to the wider consciousness last year when he collected a Melrose Sevens winner’s medal after team-mate Kelly Brown brought Sarries to the famous tournament in his home town. Mark McCall, the Saracens director of rugby, commented: “Duncan has made an outstanding impact since arriving from Bedford.”

Scotland ‘A’ coaches Shade Munro and Scott Murray agree and he will be named this afternoon in a promising ‘A’ squad bidding to claim back-to-back wins over England Saxons, at Newcastle on Friday night, tying him to Scotland.