Autumn Series: Scotland v Portugal: Freddy Douglas is “world-class already” – John Dalziel

FREDDY Douglas has yet to play a senior game for either club or country, but Scotland assistant coach John Dalziel has seen enough of the 19-year-old to be convinced that he is “world-class already”.

The openside flanker won his place in the national squad thanks in large part to his displays for Scotland Under-20s in the World Trophy earlier this year, and has also played for Edinburgh ‘A’ as well as for the Futures team in the now-defunct Fosroc Super Series. Dalziel believes that not only his talent, but also his aggressive attitude, mark him out as a player who merits rapid promotion, and earlier today said that Douglas will definitely feature either in Saturday’s Autumn Nations Series game at Murrayfield against Portugal or a week later in the Scotland ‘A’ v Chile match at the Hive.

The latter looks likelier given the number of more senior back-row forwards in the Scotland squad who have either yet to see action in the four-game Series, or who will be deemed in need of a run-out this weekend preparatory to being involved against Australia a week on Sunday. Nonetheless, Dalziel’s words are a clear indication of the high esteem in which the national coaching team see Douglas.

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“We’ll definitely see Freddy over the next two weekends, put it that way,” the forwards coach said. “He’s trained brilliantly.

“The guy is going to be a superstar. He’s just really impressed us hugely.

“He’s world-class already, and I think this experience is going to do him no end of good. And when he gets back to his club, he’ll kick on even further as well.

“He’s probably the most physical guy. Even today, I think he got the day wrong – I think Matt Fagerson knows all about him today. He’s been flying into everything. 

“He’s been excellent. He’s got a fantastic skill set. So he’s a good kid.

“And when the 20s trained with us through the Six Nations, he took a fight with Pierre Schoeman straight away. So he picks his enemies well.”

With Glasgow back-rows Jack Dempsey and Gregor Brown having been ruled out of the Portugal match and being doubtful for Australia, Douglas is closer to the top of the pecking order. Even so, his Edinburgh team-mate Ben Muncaster, for one, appears likely to be given his own chance of a debut first. Now 23, Muncaster made his first appearance for Scotland ‘A’ two years ago, and would have won a full cap by now but for injury.

Max Williamson is also out of the Portugal match because of injury, and Scott Cummings is suspended following a disciplinary hearing into the 20-minute red card he was issued in Sunday’s defeat by South Africa. However, Scotland still have four locks from whom to select: Grant Gilchrist, Alex Samuel, Alex Craig and Ewan Johnson.

Up front, Warriors loosehead Nathan McBeth officially remains part of the squad but is still unavailable because of injury. “Nathan came in with a little bit of a foot injury as well, and he’s still struggling with his calf a little bit,” Dalziel explained. “We have depth there. We’ve made the decision that he goes back and gets rehab rather than being here. We get updated from the Glasgow physios every week.

“So we’ll see how he is. He’s not going to be available this weekend, we’ll see if he can return for that last weekend: there’s obviously two games on that week, so if available he’ll definitely feature.”

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