What Edinburgh's Freddy Douglas must do to become 'world class seven' like Scotland teammate and Wallabies ace

Edinburgh flanker Freddy Douglas is widely considered as one of the brightest young talents in Scottish rugby at this moment in time.

The 21-year-old made his Scotland debut almost two years ago now, becoming the youngest player to represent the men’s national team since Donald White in 1963. Since then he has earned regular game time for the capital club, two more Test caps and established himself in Gregor Townsend’s squad selection plans.

Many already consider Douglas to be among the best when it comes to jackalling, a skill he has shown great proficiency at. However, the back rower is still very much a raw talent and needs to bring other aspects of his game up to the same standard to reach the levels of Glasgow counterpart Rory Darge.

The youngster has been challenged to do that by Edinburgh defence coach Brad Davis, who knows exactly how a ‘world class seven’ operates. The Australian worked with Wallabies’ ace Fraser McReight during his time at Queensland Red’s before moving to Scotland.

“I think there's always different aspects to every world-class seven,” explained Davis. “I was lucky enough and fortunate enough to work with Fraser McReight at the Reds, who everyone would say would be a world-class seven.

“But there's aspects of Fraser's game that he works on hard every day to get better. I think for Freddy, it's how he can impact the game with the ball as well and with his support player.

“I think he's got that in him. We've seen it in training, to see that come through in the game would be positive. Also, an ability to actually stop momentum in his tackles I think would be a big thing as well as being a jackal threat.

“Every week we talk about those things. Every player in our squad, they've always got areas that they want to improve, and Freddy's no different. What Freddy's doing is, I think, thriving within the framework that's there at the moment and he's having some very influential moments in the game. That's positive for the team.”

Davis joined Edinburgh from the Reds in the summer as part of Sean Everitt’s new look coaching staff at the Hive. His impact has clearly been felt in their opening three matches, particularly in their round two URC win at home to the Stormers.

The players had to dig deep and hold on for a terrific 17-13 win as the South African side threw everything at them. Several individuals have earned praise for their performances so far but the defence coach didn’t want to single anyone out, choosing to praise the entire team instead.

“Do you know what? I can't single out just one or two,” he added. “I just think everyone's taken a step forward from the first trial to where we are now.

“I think there's a greater understanding. What the boys have done from the first day I stepped foot into the building was they committed to it and they're continuing to commit to it. There's a continual sort of mindset that we want to try and get better this week as opposed to thinking where we are or what we've done.

“It's just like, let's move on. Let's prepare for this European campaign now and let's give it our best version of ourselves. I think there's an ambition that every player wants to get better.”