Batley Bulldog David Scott has made a breakthrough for homegrown Scottish rugby league players by becoming the first of them to win the Dave Valentine Award as the outstanding member of the senior international squad.
The rapid emergence of the 22-year-old from Stirling epitomises that of the national team as a whole since he established himself in the course of the campaign that transformed their standing in the sport.
A convert from rugby union, who had been told he may be too small to make it in the 15-a-side game, Scott had been given a taste of senior international rugby league as a teenager, but was the last player drafted into the squad that contested the 2013 World Cup.
At that tournament they defied the odds in reaching the knockout stages where they put up a highly commendable performance against then defending champions New Zealand, who recently established themselves as number one in the world rankings.
Injuries having allowed him to claim a place in the side by the end of the pool stages the head-to-head match-up of the little Scottish winger with the Kiwis’ near 18-stone man-monster Manu ‘The Beast’ Vatuvei summed up what was almost literally the David and Goliath nature of a contest Scotland ultimately lost 40-4.
However he was also part of the squad which won the following season’s European
Championship to earn a place against New Zealand, Australia and England in the Four Nations tournament which takes place this autumn and will serve to give them a benchmark for what is required at next year's World Cup on the Gold Coast.
He is the 12th winner of the player of the year award that is named in honour of the Borderer who played rugby union for Scotland in 1947 before switching to league where he captained Great Britain to victory at the sport’s first ever World Cup, but the first to emerge from within the domestic game, having previously won the Scotland Under-18s Player of the Year Award in 2011 and Under-16 Award in 2009.
The award is given based on each player’s contribution to Scotland’s international campaign and Scott received equal votes from the six-man management team as Bradford Bulls’ forward Dale Ferguson, meaning head coach Steve McCormack had the casting vote. Ferguson’s Bradford team-mate Danny Addy came third with Widnes forward Ben Kavanagh the only other player to receive a nomination.
“Davie was outstanding for us,” said the man who gave Scott his senior debut in 2011 when he was still a teenager.
“He started on the wing against Wales but we moved him to full-back when we put Oscar Thomas in the halves and he responded brilliantly. That final game in Avignon said it all to me. Davie was behind a backline of four teenagers but he was calm, organised and laid his body on the line for his country. He is the perfect example to all the kids coming through: dedicated to Scotland, serious about his rugby and doesn’t worry about where he’s come from or what size he is.
“He’s now an experienced Championship player who’s getting better and better. Davie shows there is a pathway for teenage players in Scotland.”
Having played rugby union to representative level, Scott started playing rugby league as a teenager at Easterhouse Panthers and showed enough potential to be signed by Hull KR. After a year at Craven Park, he spent a season with Featherstone Rovers, before moving on to Doncaster and has now moved to another Championship club Batley for the 2016 season.
He now has 13 senior caps and succeeds former Super League ‘Man of Steel’ Danny Brough in winning the Valentine Award will spend 2016 with Batley Bulldogs under head coach John Kear, who led Wales to the European Championship last autumn.
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