'It could be a 10-year international career': Scotland celebrate capture of ex-England age-grade player Redpath

Scotland boss Gregor Townsend has expressed his delight that ex-England age-grade midfielder Cameron Redpath, the 21-year-old son of former Scottish scrum-half Bryan, has declared his Test rugby allegiance to the land of his father. 

Born in Narbonne during his 49-year-old father's stint playing in France in the late 1990s, Redpath Jnr has come into his own since his move in England from Sale, another of his dad's old clubs, to Bath where he has thrived in recent months. 

Redpath, who appeared for England U20s as recently as the 2019 World Cup in Argentina and then trained with Eddie Jones' Six Nations squad last spring, has made 15 appearances since his switch from the Sharks but it has only been in recent weeks that he made up his mind about who to try and play for at Test level. 

Scotland made an approach to try and include him for last year's Autumn Nations Cup but Redpath turned them down, pleading for more time before he had his mind made up. 

Now that decision has been made and Townsend was thrilled to welcome him into the 35-strong Scottish squad that will begin its Six Nations campaign away to defending champions England on February 6.

"I have been trying to sell Scotland to him for the last couple of years but he came to a decision on his own," explained Townsend when asked at his squad announcement media briefing about how Redpath came to the decision to turn his back on England. "His dad played and captained Scotland. I played alongside his dad but that has not been a factor.

"It's been what he feels is right for him now and for the next how many years. It could be a ten-year international career he has got ahead of him if it goes well and he continues to improve. 

"We are delighted that he has committed to us. It's an unusual situation that his family is all Scottish, Dad played for Scotland but Cam has been brought up in England and has played English age-grade rugby. It would have a tough decision. I'm sure it has been weeks if not months thinking about it but we can't wait to work with him next week. 

"We had spoken to him for a while and we did offer him the opportunity to come on board with us in the autumn. He didn't feel it was the right time to commit to either country but he is now in a position where he has had made that decision and we're delighted. 

"He is already an excellent player. We have high hopes for what he can do in our squad and at that next level of playing international rugby.

"We see him very much as part of our Six Nations campaign. He has played really well for Bath this year and has had regular game time which has been a key factor in his development. He probably wasn't getting that many games, partly because of an injury, some years ago at Sale but he has regularly featured for Bath and played really well."