last season having exceeded his most outlandish rugby fantasies, Matt Scott begins his first campaign as a full-time professional tonight when new Italian club Zebre visit Murrayfield.

As a youngster whose potential was widely identified last year, with the caveat that he seemed short on self-belief, Scott overcame that to play a pivotal part in Edinburgh's Heineken Cup campaign which led them to the semi-final.

That resulted in him becoming the first player on an apprentice contract to represent Scotland, when he was called in at the last minute against Ireland and he went on to be one of the leading lights on a summer tour where three wins likely saved Andy Robinson's job as head coach. Given that rate of progress tonight's match could prove significant since the time has come once again to offer British players the chance to do something which they hold even more dear than representing their individual countries.

What about the Lions then Matt? "Definitely not - definitely not," he spluttered, just as he would have a year ago if you had suggested that he would by now have established himself in the Scotland squad. "I'm focusing on playing for Edinburgh and being in the national set-up towards the end of last year I'm obviously targeting playing in the autumn internationals. So my only goal at the moment is starting the season well for Edinburgh and trying to keep my place in the Scotland set-up."

Yet, for all that Scots have hardly been selected in abundance for the British & Irish Lions in the past 15 years, the carrot is there and Scott briefly let himself be tantalised.

"Stranger things have happened ... but you've just got to keep your short-term goals as the priority," he said, quickly getting back to business.

It would be profoundly ironic if Warren Gatland, the Wales and now Lions head coach, was ultimately to consider Scott for involvement considering the role the Welsh Rugby Union has already played in helping the centre into Test rugby.

For some of us it seemed very odd when, at the beginning of this year, Robinson called the relatively unknown Welsh under-21 cap Steve Shingler into his Six Nations squad, the Scotland head coach citing as his reason that the London Irish player boasted all the qualities that Scott had been displaying week-in, week-out in the RaboDirect PRO12.

Welsh objections having demonstrated that Shingler's selection had been ridiculously premature, Scott then moved up the pecking order to the position he should have occupied in the first place. Shrewd observers believe he was among the few who significantly enhanced their reputations in the Southern Hemisphere in June.

A sensible lad, who collected his law degree from Edinburgh University soon after returning from the tour, he knows the bolstering of Edinburgh's squad means that unless he protects his brand his stock can go down as well as up this season. He seems ready.

"Now I'm more confident and have that experience of playing at international level where it's a bit faster and it's a bit more physical, I'm hoping to assert myself this year and assert my place in the Edinburgh team and take on some other responsibilities - maybe some kicking which I've been working hard on, so who knows," he said.

"The more games you play at that [Test] level the more you become adapted to it and I feel as if that's a level I can consistently play well at. So I'm hoping to take that confidence and experience into the start of the season playing for Edinburgh. It's definitely helped me a lot."

That informs his view of the squad's prospects. "We've set ourselves higher standards with the target of reaching the play-offs and everyone's really focused on that, so it's been a really positive vibe," said Scott.

"Even after losing to Munster it shows the character of the squad to bounce back and beat a good Cardiff side away from home. We've put a lot more pressure on ourselves this year and we're confident in our ability to do well.

"I think we are more confident this year. We showed what we could do in the Heineken Cup last year, so why can't we do that in the league as well?"