In a ground-breaking development for Scottish rugby, 25 future stars of the game are to benefit from Winning Mentors, a new programme that will give players unrivalled access to the experience of 23 former Scottish and overseas rugby internationalists. Speaking at today’s launch in Edinburgh, Gregor Townsend, programme manager of Winning Mentors and a former Scottish rugby internationalist, revealed that Winning Scotland Foundation will implement the four year pilot in partnership with Scottish Rugby and with the support of The Famous Grouse.In a ground-breaking development for Scottish rugby, 25 future stars of the game are to benefit from Winning Mentors, a new programme that will give players unrivalled access to the experience of 23 former Scottish and overseas rugby internationalists. Speaking at today’s launch in Edinburgh, Gregor Townsend, programme manager of Winning Mentors and a former Scottish rugby internationalist, revealed that Winning Scotland Foundation will implement the four year pilot in partnership with Scottish Rugby and with the support of The Famous Grouse. Winning Mentors is one of several practical initiatives within the Foundation’s ‘Winning Scots’ umbrella, a series of programmes that aim to develop more role models who can inspire, encourage, motivate and educate other young Scots. Townsend, a former British Lion who won 82 caps and twice captained his country, outlined why the implementation of Winning Mentors is such an exciting development for Scottish sport: This partnership between Winning Scotland Foundation and Scottish Rugby will ensure some of the country’s most promising rugby talent benefit from the guidance and knowledge of some of Scotland and New Zealand’s greatest players, including former British Lions Colin Deans and John Rutherford and Sean Fitzpatrick, one of New Zealand’s most successful captains, he said Townsend continued: As a former rugby internationalist, I know if you want to become the best you have to spend time with the very best. Through this planned, highly personalised approach, Winning Mentors will help today’s young sportsmen and women find positive solutions to a host of challenges on and off the park, including how to handle raised expectations, dealing with the media, responding positively to loss of form and making informed career decisions. Our expectation is that a successful rugby pilot of Winning Mentors will lead in the future to other sports joining the programme. Henry Edwards, head of performance at Scottish Rugby, added: This is a fantastic opportunity to provide some of Scotland’s most promising young players with direct access to many of the former greats of the game. Mentoring support is a key element of our performance plan and it’s terrific to be working in partnership with the Foundation to deliver this. By inviting the stars of the past to input their in-depth knowledge and experience of rugby back into the sport, there’s surely no better way to inspire the next generation of Scottish talent to fulfil their potential. Tara Kildare, sponsorship manager for The Famous Grouse, added: As a long time supporter of Scottish Rugby, The Famous Grouse is delighted to support Winning Mentors programme. This initiative draws on the enormous wealth of rugby experience that is out there and we are honoured to be a continuing part of that community. Adding his endorsement to the Winning Mentors scheme, Edinburgh coach Andy Robinson, said: It is incredibly beneficial for our players to be able to tap into the immense knowledge of these legendary names in Scottish Rugby. These guys have been there and won it, so even if they only pass on a small fraction of what they learnt during their rugby careers then it will be a hugely valuable exercise. I’ve seen first hand how much Phil Godman has benefited from working with Gregor Townsend and I’m sure the other players will gain as much from these mentor sessions. Winning Mentors, is one of several practical initiatives within the Foundation’s Winning Scots’ umbrella, a series of programmes that aim to develop more role models who can inspire, encourage, motivate and educate other young Scots. Winning Scotland Foundation believes winning can be learned and that sport is the best training ground to give young people skills which are applicable across their whole lives. The Foundation’s programmes successfully use sport to help young people learn how to win and how to maximise their full potential. The charity is working closely with business, government, education and sport on its Culture of Winning programme to set young people on a path to self-fulfilment. The following rugby players and mentors have been selected for the initial four-year pilot phase of the Winning Mentors programme. Sean Fitzpatrick Ross Ford (hooker) (Edinburgh) Gordon Bulloch Fraser Brown (hooker) (Academy) Colin Deans Fergus Thomson (hooker) (Glasgow) Gary Callander Sean Crombie (hooker) (Edinburgh) Stuart Grimes Richard Gray (second-row) (Glasgow) Scott Murray Steven Turnbull (second-row) (Edinburgh) David Sole John Barclay (flanker) (Glasgow) Finlay Calder Chris Fusaro (flanker) (Academy) Jim Calder Richie Vernon (flanker) (Glasgow) Rob Wainwright John Beattie (no.8) (Glasgow) Stuart Reid Stuart McInally (no.8) (Academy) Andy Nicol Mark McMillan (scrum-half) (Glasgow) Roy Laidlaw Peter Jericevich (scrum-half) (Academy) Gary Armstrong Greig Laidlaw (scrum-half) (Edinburgh) Gregor Townsend Phil Godman (Stand-off) (Edinburgh) David Blair (stand-off) (Edinburgh) Moray Low (prop) (Glasgow) Ed Kalman (prop) (Glasgow) John Rutherford Alex Blair (stand-off) (Academy) Jim Renwick Nick De Luca (centre) (Edinburgh) Scott Hastings Ben Cairns (centre) (Edinburgh) Ian Jardine John Houston (centre) (Edinburgh) Tony Stanger Max Evans (centre) (Glasgow), Andy Turnbull (wing) (Edinburgh) Roger Baird Thom Evans (wing) (Glasgow) Rowen Shepherd James Thompson (full-back) (Edinburgh) Chris Paterson Tom Brown (full-back) (Academy)