‘David Nucifora’s plan for Scottish talent simply has to work’

Scotland can’t copy that but they can be inspired by it. Up and down the country you’ll hear testimony from club folk about the deficiencies of Scottish rugby’s talent identification and the woolly thinking on player development.

You’ll hear them talk of their own talented players who have slipped through the net. Allow for exaggeration of the merits of their local heroes, but they can’t all be wrong. Many of them are almost certainly right.

From Seb Stephen, the 19-year-old Glasgow hooker, to Freddy Douglas, the 20-year-old Edinburgh openside phenomenon, the landscape is reasonable.

Max Williamson, Alex Samuel, Macenzzie Duncan, and Patrick Harrison are only 22.

Gregor Brown, Euan Ferrie, Ben Muncaster, Jamie Dobie, Gergor Hiddleston and Harry Paterson are 23.

There are excellent young players at Glasgow and Edinburgh. Nucifora’s prime job is to deliver a system that produces more of them. More players and better prepared players in a sustainable model.

In his reimagining of the pathways and the pursuit of new heads of nutrition, rehab and physio, athletic performance and sports science, performance analysis, operation and logistics and coach development, the SRU are throwing a lot of money at Nucifora’s new world.

It’s a world that will still include non-Scottish qualified players at Glasgow and Edinburgh, but a strong case will need to be made each time.

Foreign players getting in the road of young Scots is something that Nucifora railed against in Ireland. His hard-line approach upset a lot of people in the provinces. The flak appeared to be water off a duck’s back.