Edinburgh Elite Development players Grant Gilchrist and Harry Leonard, and the latter’s Scotland under-20 squad colleague George Turner, have completed the first 10 days of their stay in New Zealand as recipients of the 2011 John Macphail Scholarship.
The trio are spending 18 summer weeks as guests of the Canterbury RFU, playing for local clubs and receiving specialist coaching from some legendary Crusaders and All Black names.
The players will be keeping www.edinburghrugby.org up to date on their progress, with the first bulletin below:
“We are now a little over a week into the programme and have already settled in well, with both our families and the rugby community in Christchurch. Everyone has been very welcoming to us, especially our host families who have gone out of their way to help us get our bearings.
Due to our jet lag we did not train on the first day, with Ross (Grant's home stay) instead showing us around the city centre where the recent earthquake caused most destruction. Many buildings have been affected by the quake and will now have to be taken down as they are unstable and not safe to be inside.
Despite the severe destruction to the city centre, where we are living (Northwood), there is very little to no damage.
On our first day training we were shown around and introduced to a few people (most of whom did not need introductions), including former Edinburgh and All Black captain Todd Blackadder, Richie McCaw and Kieran Read. We are part of the IHPU (International High Performance Unit) which currently includes two Japenese wingers, a tall Russian back rower, and half-backs from Australia, America and Fiji,
We along with Nemia (the Fijian-half back) also train with the Canterbury academy, which is much more challenging.
Our first week of training was extremely enjoyable and was very beneficial to our development. Grant’s rehab is going very well, his fitness and confidence have come on greatly he’s looking to make a playing return in the next few weeks.
George has been training well and is working hard to improve various aspects of his game. Harry has also been working hard, although has had a slight setback in picking up a shoulder injury during a contact session, but with good rehab he is hoping to be fit again in the next few weeks.
George is playing for a team called Burnside and is hoping for his first run out this weekend. Grant and Harry are playing for a team called Lincoln University. Both teams are in the Canterbury Division 1 which is a high standard of rugby and will provide a good opportunity to experience rugby at a higher level every weekend.”
