Scottish Rugby is pleased to announce the appointment of former Edinburgh Rugby back-row, Scotland A and 7s internationalist Roddy Grant as Specialist Skills, Contact and Defence Coach on a fixed term contract.Grant will work primarily with the BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academy, while also bringing his expertise to support the coaching teams at London Scottish and Scotland Women.He said:This a fantastic opportunity to focus on an area for which I have a huge passion, working and sharing ideas with an excellent specialist coaching team to help develop the skills of the young players coming through the system.- – Roddy Grant”It’s also pleasing to continue the work I started with London Scottish back in January, keeping my hand in the senior professional environment and supporting the coaching team at Richmond, while embracing a new challenge with Scotland Women.”Through the ranks…A product of Gala, the former National Academy set-up, and a recipient of the John Macphail Scholarship, Grant (29) played throughout Scotland’s age grade sides and enjoyed a long and distinguished playing career.He graduated from the age-grades into the Scotland 7s set-up (from the 2006 World Series to the 2014 Commonwealth Games), earned 12 caps for Scotland A and represented Edinburgh Rugby 138 times, captaining the side in 2010/11 before retiring in December last year (2015), with a knee injury.Grant kick-started his coaching career at Edinburgh Accies and Merchiston Castle School before his playing days came to end, teaming up with the London Scottish coaching team for the remainder of the 2015/16 season, following his enforced retirement.He then began working towards level three of the sport’s United Kingdom Coaching Certificate (UKCC) before returning to lead an Edinburgh Rugby select to Ladies Cup glory at the 125th installment of the historic Melrose 7s tournament, having played in the tournament twice as a youngster with former club Gala.Scottish Rugby Head of Academy and Performance Programmes, Stephen Gemmell, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Roddy into the BT Sport Academy set-up, and look forward to him imparting his knowledge in this very important and specialist area.”He achieved a great deal in his playing career and has already shown an ability to transfer that playing expertise to other areas through his coaching.I’m sure he’ll be an excellent addition to an already talented group of coaches helping develop the next generation of Scottish rugby players.”- – Scottish Rugby Head of Academy and Performance Programmes, Stephen Gemmell