Edinburgh's desire to promote young Scottish talent more quickly is evident with their first team announcement of the new Magners League season as former Selkirk winger Lee Jones claims the No.14 jersey. The Scotman's David Ferguson reports.
"The 22-year-old wondered if the professional game had passed him by when he was left out of selection drafts for successive SRU academies and pro squads, but he never gave up hope and believes now that his failure to win contracts has turned out to be so beneficial that it has played a key part in him winning a starting slot against Cardiff on Saturday.
"It is hard to believe I'm in the Edinburgh team to be honest," he said, "especially when I look back to this time last season. Then I was looking forward to starting the season with Selkirk again, was called up by the Scotland sevens squad, went for acclimatisation training in Delhi, came back to club rugby and played the whole sevens circuit too.
"Now, looking back, I think not getting picked for the academies actually helped me because it meant I could play every week with Selkirk, and that is where I was able to develop, learn to be consistent and it's where players do things to get attention from the papers.
"All these things have definitely got me this chance and I'm delighted now to be involved in pro rugby and pretty keen to make the most of it."
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