Stuart McInally, the 23-year-old Edinburgh back-row forward, is to make a positional switch to hooker as he strives to make the breakthrough into the national side.

It is a career path already travelled by Ross Ford, his clubmate and a Scotland and British & Irish Lions internationalist, and one which McInally, given his skills set, believes he can make.

"I'm very excited about this new challenge and I think if I can master the skills of throwing and scrummaging, I can add value to the pack. I'll continue to play my type of game and hopefully become like an extra back-row on the field, like so many of the top hookers.

"Ross Ford has helped a huge amount technically and also helped me make the decision, which I took several months to make. That faith, from someone who has made this change and played the game at the highest level, has given me a great deal of confidence."

McInally has represented Scotland at every age-grade in the back row and has been capped at Scotland A level, but he has only been a match-day replacement for the senior team.

Alan Solomons, Edinburgh's head coach, believes the switch can help McInally make the step-up. "I understand that Stuart is a very talented player and that there is consensus that, in the interest of the advancement of his career, he needs to make this transition to hooker, and we will do everything we can to assist this process."

Scott Johnson, Scottish Rugby's director of rugby, said: "The position of hooker, while specialist, requires a very diverse range of abilities, which Stuart already possesses: he's a dynamic and strong ball carrier and has excellent ball-handling skills."