MATT SCOTT handed in his final-year dissertation on Wednesday, a week after the rest of Edinburgh University's law students.

As they enjoy their Easter holiday, he has had to turn his attention to an even tougher examination.

The 21-year-old and his Edinburgh team-mates take on the smartest and most powerful operators in European rugby this afternoon when Toulouse visit Murrayfield in the Heineken Cup quarter-finals.

Scott and his colleagues will be up against a side packed with vastly experienced international performers as they attempt to become the first Scottish team to reach the semi-finals. The centre's task has been made all the more difficult by the fact he has only had three days to give the challenge his full attention.

"I'd been working on the dissertation since October or November," Scott said. "All my peers handed in theirs last Wednesday but I was given a week's extension because of the Six Nations. Now they're on holiday and they're all chilling. Last Friday, I was playing the Scarlets, a team full of Welsh grand slam winners, and this week we have the biggest game I've ever played.

"Mentally, its been tough, hard to juggle. I was promised time to study because I was just an elite development player and wasn't expected to feature, but then suddenly I was a regular and they were like, 'you can't miss this ... you can't miss that team run'.

"Pro rugby is tough mentally and boys do need time to switch off. I know people say it would be good to have something to take you away from the rugby but it's not something I can switch completely off from."

Little wonder that is the case. Scott's remarkable rate of development was rewarded during the Six Nations last month. Nick De Luca, his Edinburgh midfield partner, suffered a hamstring pull during the warm-up in Dublin and Scott was promoted from non-playing reserve to the bench.

He made history when, as a second-half replacement, he became the first apprentice professional to play for Scotland. "My full contract doesn't start until the summer so I was probably the lowest-paid player at the Six Nations Championship – that's quite something isn't it?" he says with a smile. "I was really lucky. Stuart McInally and Rob Harley have been 25th man a few times but I was fortunate enough to get a cap. It hasn't really sunk in yet, but it makes you want to be involved more."

It was not altogether the happiest occasion since Scotland were thrashed by Ireland, but Scott's emergence is something of a metaphor for the professional game. Previously he did not really believe he was good enough, but an opportunity was presented and he showed the appetite to seize it.

"I played a lot of age group stuff with guys like Tom Brown, Stuart and Rob, but they were always in the senior academy and I never felt as if I was one of those big players. If someone had said I would be capped before Rob or Stuart or Tom I would have said no chance," Scott admits.

"I've never been the most arrogant person. Especially when I was younger, I didn't necessarily want to be a Scotland player. I was quite happy playing club rugby and Under-18 rugby. Even when I was 17 or 18 I didn't really have the drive.

"It's only when it gets presented to you that you think, 'I might be good enough'. Even when I played Under-20s I never thought I would play for Scotland ... ever! No way, I never thought I'd play for Scotland.

"When I got my first Edinburgh contract I still wasn't sure how good I was. I was never that confident a player. It might surprise people to hear that, but I'm genuinely surprised I've come this far this year. There's no way I'd have thought at the start of this season that I would be capped. It's ridiculous."

Scott knows that the move from stand-off, where he caught the eye with Currie, to inside centre has presented him with a particular chance. "I've been asked by a lot of people if I want to go back to 10 or am happy at centre, but I think there is an opportunity in Scotland as that kind of player," he said.

"It's a good position for me just now. Compared to where I was at the start of the season, I feel I'm a lot more physically developed, I'm a lot more confident taking those collisions in the centre and I'm getting better with my defence in the centre.

"I think the age of having a brute of a centre... there is still a place for that kind of player, but you do need more guys who can unlock defences, which are so good nowadays. Just battering up and down might not necessarily be the best way forward.

"I'm much more comfortable now being asked to truck it up straight off the lineout, though. At the start of the season that would have been quite a daunting prospect, having been a 10 who went into a ruck once every blue moon, whereas centres nowadays are like an extra back-row.

"That was quite a hard thing. You don't get your hands on the ball as much as you do at 10 and you have to hit rucks and put your head in places you wouldn't normally put your boot. It was a bit of a change in that respect but it definitely brings you on as a player."

All of which has worked to Edinburgh's benefit as Scott has passed one test after another in his short professional career but further complications may loom in terms of his academic aspirations. His final university exams are on May 14 and 17. The Heineken Cup final is on May 19. "I've not really looked that far ahead but I would imagine that would pose some difficulties," he says.

In dealing with competing demands on his time, Scott has had to get used to solving problems others might find insurmountable. The feeling is, however, that his priorities may have shifted slightly in the past few months.