WE have all heard of young players being forced to quit rugby because of injury. It is altogether less common for someone to start the sport for the same reason - but that is precisely the route taken by Damien Hoyland.

A little over a decade ago, the Edinburgh winger, now 24, had other interests to occupy his time. But then fate intervened and set him off on a journey that has seen him win two caps, with the prospect of more to come this summer, when Scotland take on Italy, Australia and Fiji.

“I used to be quite good at skateboarding when I was young, and I broke my ankle being a lunatic jumping off the steps at the Sheraton Hotel when I was about 13,” Hoyland explained at the end of the national team’s three-day training camp, the first under new head coach Gregor Townsend. “I tried to get back into skateboarding but I never could: I was too scared about my ankle.

“I was 14/15 and my older brother played a bit of rugby, my dad played rugby in the past, and I went to go and watch my brother play a game for Stew-Mel 3s or something like that and I loved it. So I went to a training session at Boroughmuir High School, because Gillespie’s [his school in Edinburgh] never had a rugby team, and I just fell in love with it from there.

“I was actually quite fortunate with genetics, I think. When I was skateboarding at school I was never that quick, but after just a few weeks of training as I got a bit older I just naturally got a bit faster and a bit stronger and they stuck me out on the wing.

“I’ve always been quite small, so one thing I did struggle with when I started out was guys who were much bigger than me. But you soon catch up.

“In my first year I wasn’t confident, and I’d let everyone else do things. But when I started playing for Boroughmuir club under16s that’s when I got my confidence, and I just loved getting involved and making breaks and stuff.”

When he graduated to the professional game, signing for Edinburgh in 2014, Hoyland faced a similar problem to his early days in rugby: he could run away from the big boys, all right, but stopping them in their tracks was a more difficult proposition. In the season just ended, however, his defence has got significantly better, thanks in large part, he explained, to Pete Wilkins, who has now left his post as Edinburgh’s defence coach to take on the same role with Connacht.

“In terms of my attack it’s been there for a while, but my defence had to improve, and this year thanks to Pete Wilkins, who has helped me massively, it’s miles better now than it was at the start of the season. Matt Taylor, our [Scotland] defence coach, is really happy with how much my defence has improved. I’m in a position now where I feel I have something to offer Scotland – not just to get a strip on, but to do well in it. I’m looking forward now to getting that opportunity.”

So far Hoyland has had just those two opportunities to represent his country, as a substitute in the World Cup warm-up match against Italy two years ago, then as a starting winger in the first Test against Japan last summer. With the Singapore match against the Italians now just three weeks away, however, he is increasingly hopeful that another chance will soon present itself - if not in that game, in the two that follow in Sydney and Suva.

Of course, Hoyland is not the only back who will have such a chance. With Stuart Hogg and Tommy Seymour absent on Lions duty, and Sean Maitland having been ruled out by injury last week, Townsend’s first back three will be completely different from the one that began this year’s Six Nations. Greig Tonks of London Irish was called up on Thursday to provide cover at full-back, and Glasgow Warriors winger Rory Hughes added to the competition with Hoyland, Lee Jones and Tim Visser for the Nos 11 and 14 jerseys.

“It’s not going to be easy,” Hoyland accepted. “We’re all fighting for a starting place, so it’s good because a competitive environment is one that makes you better. It’s down to whoever performs better in that competitive environment.

“This is a massive opportunity. That’s one week down and I have two more weeks to impress Gregor and the other coaches, and try to get a starting jersey for the Italy game and push on. If I play well in any games I get then that becomes a great opportunity to kick on.”

Having said that, Hoyland added that, when Townsend has a full squad from which to pick, he sees Seymour as an automatic starter on one wing. That leaves one position for the Edinburgh man to claim; something he is determined to do.

“We have Tommy Seymour who’s right at the top, guaranteed a strip, and I’m fighting to be the other starting winger. I’m going to keep fighting until I get that opportunity, and this is a chance to kick-start that.”