Edinburgh fend off Premiership suitors with new Freddy Douglas deal

Teenage Scotland flanker Freddy Douglas has revealed why he has turned down Premiership high-fliers Bristol Bears to sign his first professional deal with hometown club Edinburgh – and the former Wallabies great he hopes to ultimately emulate.

The 19-year-old openside became Scotland’s youngest cap in 61 years when he came on as a replacement to make his Test debut against Portugal last month, before he had even played a senior game for Edinburgh.

That club landmark arrived last Saturday as Douglas replaced Magnus Bradbury for the final 15 minutes of the capital side’s 50-33 United Rugby Championship win over Benetton.

It capped a “pretty mental” few weeks for the Edinburgh-born back-rower, who also made his Scotland A bow – from the start - against Chile a week after his senior debut.

Now Douglas has penned a two-year deal to step up from the Edinburgh academy on a full-time basis from next season, despite admitting he considered what the likes of Bristol had to offer.

“It is lovely to be wanted, do you know what I mean?” he said. “So it was nice, but staying in Edinburgh was an offer I couldn’t really refuse. I would always try and stay here unless something bad happened.

“Edinburgh is my home town. It’s where I live and where I’ve grown up my whole life, and it’s always been my dream to play for Edinburgh. I love it here, it’s a really good environment, so there’s not really much point leaving, to be honest.”

His new deal is the culmination of a whirlwind few weeks but Douglas appears relaxed and level-headed despite the increased interest and focus on him since his 16-minute cameo against Portugal.

“I try and stay calm,” he said. “I’d say I play my best rugby when I’m calm and relaxed. But inside I was overjoyed, to be honest. It was a pretty mental few weeks - it all just happened so quickly.

“It wasn’t, like, super-tough. Obviously playing and going up those levels was hard, but everyone around me was supportive and we managed really well.

“The other back-row guys were always available if I wanted to chat to them and go through anything. We did individual stuff after training and it was all super-helpful.”

One of those Scotland players, the current incumbent in the No 7 shirt, is Rory Darge, who has enjoyed a stratospheric rise of his own over the past three years.

Douglas admits the Glasgow openside has been an inspiration of late, but his role model as a schoolboy at Stewart’s Melville College in Edinburgh was an 83-cap Australian rugby icon who retired in 2020.

“Growing up it was always David Pocock,” he said. “I always wanted to be like him, because when he was playing he was, in my opinion, the best player in the world. His ability over the breakdown is something that eventually I want to emulate.

“So he’s a big one. And then I think just the work-rate of Rory Darge - he’s been so class the past few years for Glasgow and Scotland. He just gets through so much work and I eventually want to emulate that as well.”

Douglas has only played 112 minutes of senior rugby to this point, plus a few outings for Edinburgh’s A team, but within a few days of being called up to the senior Scotland squad in late October for the Autumn Nations Series, Douglas was already being hailed as “world-class” by national forwards coach John Dalziel.

When he was sent on in the final quarter of the 59-21 romp against Portugal on 16 November, it also put an end to any concerns he may be tempted to throw his lot in with either England or Ireland, who he is also qualified to represent.

Asked if it was ever a temptation, his response was unequivocal. “Nah. Scotland, only ever Scotland. I would hate myself if I went anywhere else.”

While Douglas didn’t discuss the decision over his own future with Gregor Townsend before deciding to commit to Edinburgh, he did have a meeting with the Scotland head coach and his defence specialist Steve Tandy at the end of the autumn campaign to discuss his progress and areas to work on.

“We were just going through stuff from training, the Portugal and Chile games,” he said. “There’s a few things I need to do.

“The speed and the physicality that they [Scotland] play at means you have to adapt so quickly. So I think just training and then getting a chance to play, I’ve just grown and grown and become so much better.”

Not that Douglas is assuming he will return to the senior set-up when the Six Nations comes around. Having played for Scotland’s Under-20s in their own Six Nations campaign earlier this year and also helped them to victory in the World Rugby U20 Trophy in July, securing promotion back to the top tier at that level, it may be his development will continue with the U20s for another campaign yet.

More immediately, he will get his first taste of European club rugby this Friday when Edinburgh travel to face Gallagher Premiership side Gloucester in the opening round of the Challenge Cup.

“Another big challenge,” noted Douglas, who has seemed unfazed by everything thrown at him to this point. “Gloucester seem to be a class team. They’re coming off a big win against Northampton. I’m looking forward to it: it will be another great wee exposure and good experience.”

A European home game against French Top 14 side Bayonne follows and an annual festive URC double-header with Scottish rivals Glasgow looms large before two more Challenge Cup rounds in the new year precede the start of the Six Nations.

But as last Saturday showed, it doesn’t pay to look too far ahead in professional rugby. At 35-0 up, Edinburgh were cruising at half-time against Benetton but an early second-half barrage of points from the Italian side made for a testing debut when Douglas was sent on before the hosts restored order late on to seal an important five points.

“When you’re warming up on the sideline and you see the score slowly changing, it is a bit like ‘oh my God’,” he said. “But it was really important to stay calm and stick to the strategy, stick to our game-plan. Maybe for the first five minutes I was a bit shocked, but then as I got into the game, I was much better and stayed calm.”

As for his goals for the rest of the year and into 2025, Douglas added: “I would love to keep playing for Edinburgh. It’s a dream come true playing for the club, so try to get as many minutes as I can here and then hopefully playing for the (Scotland Under-) 20s.

“If I get a (senior) call-up, then lovely, but I’m thinking at the moment about 20s and hopefully getting a really good Six Nations campaign.”