As the latest recipients of the John Macphail Scholarship, Finn (Ayr) and Edinburgh EDP prop Alex Allan (Edinburgh Accies), will spend 15 weeks in New Zealand’s South Island, playing for local clubs in the Christchurch area and benefiting from the state-of-the art facilities and specialist coaching offered by the Canterbury RFU’s international high performance unit.
Finn, an apprentice stonemason, whose younger brother Archie is in the Scotland U18 squad and older brother, Harry, plays for West Of Scotland, is “really excited” about the opportunity that awaits.
“I feel really grateful for this chance and lucky when you think of the number of players who could come into contention.
“I’m not sure yet which club I’ll be going to but my initial objective will be to do as well as I can for that club, learn and make good contacts there.
“It’ll be a different lifestyle over there, I guess, so whatever I can learn from it and whatever I can find out that I’ll try to use to improve my game and bring back to Scotland with me is my main goal.”
Finn, a former pupil of Wallace High School in Stirling, has visited family friends in New Zealand in the past and believes his exposure to New Zealand rugby can help him “raise my game and improve my prospects of being picked in a very competitive Glasgow Warriors squad.”
The Macphail Scholarship, now entering its ninth year, was established in memory of former Scotland hooker John Macphail, who died in 2004. In Macphail’s business career, he was chief executive then chairman, of the Edrington Group, a private company that is owned by the Robertson Trust. Macphail was a trustee of the Robertson Trust for 28 years and chairman for 19 of those years.