Edinburgh College students selected for Scottish Rugby squads ahead of Six Nations festival
Four Edinburgh College students are on a high after being selected by Scotland’s National Rugby team for the upcoming the U18s Men’s and Women’s Six Nations festival, as well as a number of friendlies.
Developing Sporting Performance students Talei Tawake and Sam Leweni have joined up with the Women’s U18 and Men’s U18 national squads, respectively, as their 2024 Six Nations Festival campaigns begin this week.
Scotland Women’s U18s team kick their tournament off against France tomorrow (Friday 29 March) at the Stadiwm CSM in Colwyn Bay, Wales, while the Men’s U18s begin with a match against Georgia this Saturday (30 March) at the Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi in Italy.
Seventeen-year-old Talei Tawake, who recently signed for Watsonians women’s team, is looking forward to being involved with the national team for the first time as she continues her development as a talented young rugby player.
This is my first time being involved with the national team and it’s very exciting to be selected to take part in the Six Nations. Since starting on the course, it has really helped me improve in the gym and gain more knowledge on the more technical and theoretical aspects of sporting performance.Developing Sporting Performance student Talei Tawake
Watsonians men’s player Sam Leweni is now in his second stint with Scotland’s youth team after impressing in the team last season and is looking forward to building on his experience, as he works towards his dream of becoming a professional rugby player.
It feels good to be selected by the team. I joined up with the U18s last year so this is my second time being involved in the national set-up. It’s a really good environment to be involved in and I feel like I will be able to use some of my experience from last year to help the younger boys coming through. I want to keep developing and my dream is to go on to become a professional rugby player.Developing Sporting Performance student Sam Leweni
In addition, fellow Developing Sporting Performance students Hugo Alderson and Ben Malcolm were selected by the Scotland U19 Development Squad as part of development training that prepares players for the move up to U20s level. As part of the camp, Hugo and Ben both featured in a friendly match against the U18 Men’s squad.
Sam and Talei have both been outstanding students to work with showing their dedication to training and having a real drive to improve and very much deserve their national selection and everyone on the course is behind them to go and perform well now they have worked hard to make the squad. Ben and Hugo were given the opportunity to play in a development under 19s game on the back of consistency at academy training with both getting some game time and showing they are talented youngsters who are developing well.Edinburgh College Sport and Fitness lecturer Craig Jackson