PHIL Godman, the former Scotland stand-off, has had his boots back on in the early part of this season, making cameo appearances off the bench for BT National One side Dundee HSFP. However, the 34-year-old is now primarily a coach, and and he is determined to help the current crop of young talent from the City of Discovery excel.

Godman, who played eight seasons for Edinburgh, earned 23 caps for his country between 2005 and 2010, and finished up in the professional game in the summer of last year following a stint with Newcastle Falcons. Over his two seasons with the Falcons, the former Merchiston Castle pupil gained as much coaching experience as he could at schools in and around Newcastle, and as a result he was brought into the post of head of rugby and elite sports development at the High School of Dundee last June.

Fifteen months on and Godman is loving the work he does at the school and with the local club. “I came into the job at the High School last year knowing that it would be a full-on role and with a young family too I had no real desire to pull my boots back on and play,” he said.

“There are great links between the school itself and Dundee HSFP, though, and their head coach, Colin Sangster, is such a persuasive and enthusiastic man that he managed to get me down last season to help with coaching as and when I could. I thought that was a good idea, because we want as many boys as possible to go from the school to playing for Dundee when they leave and move into senior rugby.

“In pre-season and the early part of this campaign I have been helping out with the club a wee bit more and once again Colin used his powers of persuasion to coax me back out onto the pitch. I can only see myself being involved when there are injuries or the squad is a bit stretched going forward, as I want the young players to take ownership of the Dundee first 15 and move forward as a unit. Having said that, I cannot deny that when I came off the bench against Selkirk and kicked a conversion over from the touchline it gave me a great buzz!”

One player Godman is very keen to keep working with and act as a mentor to is Ewan Fox, the Scotland under-19 cap who was in Godman’s school first 15 last season and has settled into life at senior level well. “As he plays in the same position I do, I guess I was always going to take an interest in Ewan’s progress and I think he has the potential to go onto bigger things in the game,” Godman explained.

Dundee won their first two league games then lost to leaders Falkirk at the weekend, but Godman is confident they can challenge towards the top of the table. “This division is tough and on their day most teams can beat any of the others, so it is likely going to go to the final match to see who finishes in first and in the second play-off spot,” he added. “We just have to try and keep ourselves up near the top - and if I can do my bit then so be it.”