Three of the best young players in Scotland bound for South Africa

The three highly- rated 18- year-olds will spend five months immersed in South Africa’s renowned rugby culture at the high-performance training facility at Stellenbosch University from the end of January.

Angus Wright currently plays for Stirling County as a prop, beginning his rugby journey in Essex before his family relocated to Scotland where he played for Dollar Academy from 2017. Angus has played for Scotland Under-18s and is expected to break into the Scotland Under-20s squad in the next couple of years.

Oliver Furness started out at Peebles Rugby Club at nine years-old and has progressed to playing in their first team across the second and back row. Oliver has impressed the Under-18s coaching staff and has progressed though the pathway, playing for Edinburgh Under-18s in their inter-city matches against Glasgow. Oliver has already had to overcome adversity, returning from an ACL injury sustained early in his career.

Centre, Sandy Renwick began playing mini rugby at Edinburgh Accies at a young age before joining Heriot’s and North Edinburgh Vikings. Schooled at George Heriot’s, Sandy has shown leadership skills, being named as vice-captain for the 1st XV last season. Renwick has already trained with Edinburgh Under-20s and Scotland Under-20s as well as featuring for the Heriot’s first team this season.

The Macphail Scholarship was established 20 years ago, as a partnership between The Robertson Trust and Scottish Rugby. This will be the last year the scholarship is supported by The Robertson Trust.

Created in memory of ex-Scotland Internationalist John Macphail (1949-1951), the Scholarship was developed for talented young players and has also played a key role in the development of coaches, including Kenny Murray and Chris Paterson.

The scholarship ran last year with Ben White, Joss Arnold and Jack Craig recipients. The previous year Callum Smyth was involved and he featured for

Emerging Scotland in their match against Italy Under-23s recently.
Previous recipients of the Scholarship include current Scotland players Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray and Finn Russell.

The latest group of players become the 18th set of recipients of the programme.

Scottish Rugby Technical & Operations Director, Stephen Gemmell, added: “The Macphail Scholarship has become a key part of the development of the young players lucky enough to be selected.

“This year marks the culmination of a 20-year partnership between the Robertson Trust and Scottish Rugby. Together we are proud to have developed a consistently valuable experience for the most promising players in the country to experience best practice abroad and accelerate their development early on in their careers.

“We’d like to thank The Robertson Trust and Macphail family for their consistent commitment to benefit the careers, on and off the field, of these young players.

“In recent years the players have been based in South Africa and as the home of the Rugby World Cup champions, the facilities, coaching, playing level and culture they are exposed is outstanding.

“The scholarship has played a vital role in the careers of our professional and international players and we know this next set of players will have similarly positive experiences. This will be the last year the scholarship is funded by the Robertson Trust and we’d like to thank them for all they have done to make it possible.

“We are in ongoing discussions with the Macphail family as to how we can work together to maintain the scholarship in years to come.”

Jim McCormick, CEO of the Robertson Trust said: “We are proud to have played a part in the development of the best young players and coaches in Scotland for the last 20 years.

“As we prepare to pass the baton to new funding partners from next year, we take great pride in seeing the players benefit from the experience and progress in their own careers following their time on the scholarship. We would like to wish Angus, Oliver and Sandy every success during their time in South Africa and in future.

“Playing in South Africa represents a great opportunity for them to develop as players and people. We look forward to following their progress.”

John Macphail Rugby Scholarship recipients

2025: Angus Wright, Oliver Furness and Sandy Renwick
2024: Ben White, Joss Arnold, Jack Craig
2023: Guy Kirkpatrick, Monroe Job, Callum Smyth
2020: Mikey Heron, Cole Lamberton, Adam Scott
2019: Thomas Jeffrey, Jacob Henry, Kristian Kay
2018: Angus Fraser, Andrew Jardine and Guy Kelly
2016: Patrick Kelly, Ross McCann, Mike Blair (coach) and Calum Forrester (coach)
2015: Callum Hunter-Hill, Ben Robbins, Ben Cairns (coach) and Duncan Hodge (coach)
2014: Adam Ashe, Ewan McQuillin, Don Caskie (coach) and Kenny Murray (coach)
2013: Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Finn Russell, Shade Munro (coach) and Alex Duncan (coach)
2012: Jonny Gray, Gregor Hunter, Chris Paterson (coach) and Ben Fisher (coach)
2011: Grant Gilchrist, Harry Leonard, George Turner and Ian Monaghan (coach)
2010: Finlay Gillies
2009: Lewis Niven
2008: Roddy Grant
2007: Kevin Bryce
2006: Graham Hogg
2005: John Barclay