WHEN you take an international’s place in a team, you are sometimes resigned to your promotion being strictly temporary. But Edinburgh scrum-half Nathan Fowles, who has been preferred to Scotland No 9 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne in recent weeks, is determined to make the jersey his own.
What is more, Fowles is convinced that factors other than simply his own form will work in his favour. He believes, for example, that he and new stand-off Duncan Weir have a burgeoning understanding that means it makes sense for head coach Alan Solomons to persist with the two as a pair.
At 23, Fowles is the same age as Hidalgo-Clyne, and two years younger than the third scrum-half in the Edinburgh squad, Sean Kennedy, who was released to play club rugby for Watsonians last week. So time is on Fowles’s side, and he is certain that Solomons will be too provided he continues to prove his worth.
“I’m really grateful to Solly for giving me the opportunity, and as each week goes by I’m getting more and more confident and feel the partnership with Duncy Weir is growing,” Fowles said. “You saw at the back end of last season that people are going to get picked on form, and I think he’s stuck to that at the minute. All three of us gunning for it is good for the team, and it’s not just our position, it’s across the squad in many positions.
“I like it when there’s competition: it makes us all work harder. You see it in training how the boys are pushing each other all the time to achieve, so it’s healthy as well.”
Last year, Hidalgo-Clyne’s season was disrupted by the World Cup, where he got minimal game time behind Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw and Glasgow’s Henry Pyrgos. He could argue with some justification that he will never be able to get back to his best form until he is given a run of games in the team, and he appears sure to get a chance to re-establish himself at some point, given the customary coaching preference for a degree of rotation.
“It’s a long season and it does take its toll playing week in and out from September through to May, so that will play a part at some stage no doubt,” Fowles said when asked if that rotation meant that he was bound to lose his place at some point. “I don’t want to lose it, but every Friday night and every game you try to prove to Solly you’re the one he wants for next week on that team sheet.
“We’ll see how it happens. But as far as I’m concerned, once it’s mine it’s staying mine.”
Such permanence will depend to an extent on that partnership with Weir, who will himself face competition for the stand-off berth when Jason Tovey returns from injury.
“We get on really well, not just on the field but off it as well,” Fowles added. “Obviously Duncy’s been playing really well, and if I try to help him as best I can I think we’ll work well.”
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