Scottish Exiles 2nd Newsletter

1. Scottish Rugby Exiles Newsletter Edition No. 2 January 2016
Scottish Exiles featuring for Scotland U16 in 2014: L-R: Ralph Johnson,
Jamie Ross, Alan Gregory, George Blackwell & Ben Scoular.
Where there’s a Will there’s a way
Current Glasgow Warriors back-row player, and former Scottish
Exile, Will Bordill, graduated last month from Northumbria
University with a degree in Leadership & Management.
Will played his youth rugby
with Sandbach and Preston
G r a s s h o p p e r s , a n d
captained Cheshire U16s
before representing the
Scottish Exiles at U16, U18
& 20 and Scotland at U17,
U18 & U20.
Will’s mum Janice is a
volunteer with the Scottish
Exiles and leads the North
West region from Sandbach
RFC.
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Bliadhna Mhath Ùr
Happy New Year to the Scottish
Exiles rugby community. We
hope you enjoyed the first
edition of our newsletter and
look forward to your interest
and support throughout 2016.
Programme update
The Scottish Exiles programme
is currently in full swing with
Regional Development Groups
(RDG) focusing on Scottish
Rugby’s core themes continuing
a c ro s s o u r n i n e re g i o n s
throughout the season; as well
as Divisional Camps for selected
players held in December &
January as part of Scottish
Rugby’s selection for national
selection Age Grade squads.
More details on both of these
activities are contained within
this edition of the newsletter.
Thanks volunteers!
Volunteers are the lifeblood of
the Scottish Exiles. Their role in
delivering an outstanding
programme and promoting
Scottish Rugby is second to
none. Please take the time to
acknowledge their contribution
when appropriate.

2. Scottish Rugby Exiles Newsletter Edition No. 2 January 2016
Regional Spotlight
Focus on the South West by David Clark
Greetings from the Scottish Exiles in the South West, a region that
stretches from Wiltshire to Cornwall, and also brings in players from
South Wales.
Until recently our central base has been in Wellington, Somerset,
where we have used both Wellington RFC and Wellington School and
the Sports Centre (Having Alastair Anderson, one of the Wellington
School teachers as one of our fine coaches has brought its own
benefits, apart from Alastair of course!)
However recently we held our very first session at our new more
southern location, Ivybridge RFC, where we are also working with ex-
Exile Lewis Patterson, Head Coach at Ivybridge RFC. We hope that
these two centres will see us increasing our player numbers over the
remainder of this season and next as travelling distances and journey
times become shorter.
Fortunately we have some sterling coaches to help us deliver the Exile
themes, and in Wellington we have Grant Jackson heading things up,
ably assisted by Alastair Anderson and Crawford Morton. All have
been around since the earliest days here in the south west, and have
been integral to the growth and success of the Exiles down here. They
are now ably supported, and benefiting from the organisational skills
of Peter Munro Lott, again someone who has a long association with
the Exiles; long-time, outstanding, Physio Sara Pearce, and indeed
Alastair Rhodes up in the South East!
Ivybridge is looked after by our newest coaching team of Dave Banks,
who is heading things up, Lewis Patterson, Sam Morton and James
Grant. David Clark acts as the co-ordinator for the Ivybridge sessions
and also oversees the regional requirements too.
As you might expect, everyone is passionate about the role that the
Scottish Exiles plays in Scottish Rugby, and we have had a number of
successes over the years, with hopefully more to follow in the
forthcoming selection processes.
We currently have several players that are being looked at with
interest. Firstly Ben Vellacott, originally from Ivybridge, and now
playing for Gloucester and Hartpury College. Further east we have
Dan Marek, currently playing for Bath U18 and showing great promise
there. Staying in the east, we have Adam Hastings featuring at Bath
Academy.
Turning south, Aaron Thompson is doing well in the Exeter Chiefs
Academy, whilst Exeter University is benefiting from the strengths of
Gavin Parker, Jack Owlett and Rory Lorimer.
Apart from those “named” above, we also have some very good
younger players attending our sessions who, if they continue to
progress as they are currently, will provide continuity of quality players
to provide greater challenge and competition for Scotland places in
the future.
We look forward to learning more about the other regions in future
editions and if anyone is travelling this way please come and say hello.
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Volunteers
Volunteers needed
P r o g r a m m e M a n a g e r s /
Coordinators
Working closely with the Performance
Manager to facilitate activity in the
local area and help to run events.
Requirements
• An interest in rugby development
for young players
• Availability for training sessions and
games
• Disclosure and barring (DBS) check
– part of the Child Safeguarding
policy
Pathway coaches
A coach would work with a team of
people, including a team manager and
o t h e r c o a c h e s , t o d e l i v e r a n
appropriate training and development
programme for a squad of players or
at regionalised sessions.
Requirements
• Availability for training sessions and
games
• A minimum of UKCC SRU / RFU
Level Two coaching certificate or an
equivalent qualification awarded
prior to the UKCC initiative.
• An interest in rugby and willingness
att e n d f u rt h e r p ro f e s s i o n a l
development sessions
• Disclosure and barring (DBS) check –
part of the Child Safeguarding
policy

3. Scottish Rugby Exiles Newsletter Edition No. 2 January 2016
Scottish Exiles Divisional Camps
On 12th & 13th December, the programme held
an Age Grade camp for selected players at
Mount St Mary’s College near Sheffield (pictured).
The main purpose of the camp was to work with
identified players in preparing them for selection
matches that will take place over the coming
weeks. Mount St Mary’s has been used by the
Scottish Exiles for a number of years now and
provides an excellent, centrally-located venue for
camp related activity.
Players identified to attend these camps will
typically have 1997-1999 birthdates and are most
likely to have come through their local Regional
Development Group (RDG) and showed proficiency
in the national key themes.
Both camps were attended by the Scotland U18
Coaching team headed by Ally Donaldson. The full
Scotland U18 squad (including selected Exiles
representatives) will be announced later in January.
Other Age Grade squads will be announced later in
the season closer to the dates of their
representative fixtures.
Scottish Rugby Age Grade squads will play a number of representative fixtures in 2016. Excluding the
U20s, who will participate in the U20 Six Nations Championship, the following fixtures are currently
planned with Scottish Exiles activities aligning with each.
U19
20th March Scotland v Japan Edinburgh
27th March Scotland v Japan Edinburgh
U18
6th March Scotland v England Bridgehaugh, Stirling
20th March TBC TBC
26th March - 5th April Five Nations Ireland or Italy (TBC)
U17
4th - 17th July National training camp Valladolid, Spain
The next few editions of these newsletters will feature some of the Scottish Exiles players who have been
selected to participate in the Scotland Age Grade squads.
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4. Scottish Rugby Exiles Newsletter Edition No. 2 January 2016
Scottish Exiles playing in U18s Academy League
As well as the vital development activity undertaken within the Regional Development Groups, a key
focus of the Scottish Exiles programme is to identify and work with Scots-qualified players who currently
are enrolled in English Club academies; as well as Scottish-qualified players with Welsh academies and
further afield.
A current listing of Scottish Exiles players currently enrolled in English Club academies and playing in
the English Academy U18 League and/or AASE U18 Championship is shown below:
Bath: Dan Marek
Bristol: Players concentrating on Academy at this time
Exeter Chiefs: Aaron Thomson
Gloucester: Charlie Chapman, Eric White
Harlequins: Rory McMichael
Leicester Tigers: Players concentrating on Academy at this time
London Irish: Daniel Winning
Newcastle Falcons: Charlie Gowling, Alex Hayton, Ralph Johnson
Northampton Saints: Gregor Haldane, Alan Gregory, Fraser Dingwall, Fraser Strachan, Will Kerr.
Sale Sharks: George Blackwell, George Bordill, Jamie Ross, Cameron Redpath
Saracens: Andy Christie
Wasps: Connor Eastgate
Worcester Warriors: Alex Nisbet, Tom Dodd, Calum Jones
Yorkshire Carnegie: Hugo Tasker
Social Media & Contact
The Scottish Exiles programme has a number of media channels. These can be found as follows:
Website: http://www.scottishrugby.org/get-involved/develop/scottish-exiles
Twitter: @ScottishExiles
Facebook: Scottish Exiles Rugby Union
LinkedIn: Scottish Rugby Exiles
Email: Specific enquiries about player eligibility, volunteering and other opportunities should
contact the Scottish Exiles Manager, Rob Brierley, on rob.brierley@sru.org.uk
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