WHICH Scot is likely to go furthest in this year’s European Champions Cup? Friday night’s inspired win over Leicester has heightened the hopes of the Glasgow Warriors squad, but they might just be surpassed by a player who has yet to take any part in the competition.

Andy Cramond, now 22, has just begun his third season with three-time European champions Toulon. As yet he has had little first-team action - no surprise given the quality of the squad - but he is hopeful of getting his chance over the course of a campaign in which the club again expect to be competing for honours at home and abroad.

The former Scotland Under-20s lock, born and raised in Edinburgh, so far remains a member of Toulon’s Academy squad. But he is convinced that he was right to expose himself to what was initially an alien rugby environment, and is sure he has become a better player since moving to the south of France.

He arrived at the club the season after it had achieved the historic double - the Heineken Cup, as the Champions Cup was previously known, and the Top 14. The quality of the players around him may have been intimidating at first, but the cosmopolitan nature of the squad made it easier for him to adapt quickly, he was taken under his wing by former All Blacks lock Ali Williams, and the pace of life in the Mediterranean city was to his liking.

“I felt ridiculous on the first morning coming from university to train with Toulon - surreal!”, Cramond said last week, as Toulon prepared for yesterday’s Champions Cup Pool Three game against Saracens, the club who succeeded them as winners of the trophy at the end of last season. “It’s a totally different way of living in France - slower and calmer than Great Britain.

“Ali was a kind of a mentor in my first year. He helped me get pointers, improvements and tips.

“It’s hard to guess how much improvement I’ve had [since then] as it’s a totally different class of players I was up against in Scotland. But I feel like a better player - more confident.”

Williams’ advice stood Cramond in good stead, and he made his debut off the bench in September 2014 towards the end of a big win against Brive. After a long spell back in the academy, he was again a substitute in a match in Lille, and this time came on after just 10 minutes. He acquitted himself well, but in a tackle in the last minutes of the game, he collided with a team-mate’s head and was knocked out, losing his two front teeth in the process. “I can’t remember the match,” he admits.

Cramond knows he might need to rely on injuries to others before he gets his chance to compete for the first team in Europe, and he is open to the idea of going out on loan to a smaller club to gain experience. But whatever happens, he remains committed to doing all he can to ensure the club’s success, and is sure they can again contend for honours at home and in Europe.

“Toulon have won the Champions Cup for three out of the previous four years, so they’re always going to be favourites. Even with a few injuries in the squad, the club still has plenty of good players.

“The media said we were off to a shaky start in the league, but we only lost the first two games and we’re sitting fourth in league at the moment. It was a difficult start, but we handled it well. I’m hopeful of finishing as a top-four team.”

Yet however Toulon fare this season, and whatever fate awaits him at the club, Cramond will always be convinced that he made the right decision in leaving Scotland behind and moving to France. The offer when it came was an unexpected one, but he did not have to think too long before deciding to accept it.

“When I was playing under-20s, a French agent contacted me through Facebook asking if I was keen to come to France the next season. The opportunity to come to Toulon to play with the best players in the world was too good to miss.”