Young Gun: Ben Vellacott – Gloucester scrum-half

It is only three weeks into 2017 but, as far as Ben Vellacott is concerned, it is already a year he'll never forget.
It all started on January 7 when he made his Premiership debut for Gloucester against Worcester and he backed it up last week with a four-try cameo for his loan club Hartpury College in Fylde.
The 21-year-old started the New Year with a bang and on Thursday was rewarded with his first professional contract at Gloucester.
It will be hard to keep up such a pace for the next 49 weeks but the youngster is working hard to add to his first team appearances.
“It's been a pretty full-on couple of weeks but very enjoyable in my eyes,” he told The Rugby Paper. “Making my Premiership debut at Kingsholm was a great event as I had longer than expected on the pitch after Greig Laidlaw went off injured just before half-time.
“The coaches showed faith in me by putting me on and I took a lot of confidence from that. I feel like it'd been a long time coming for me after playing in the Anglo-Welsh Cup but it was definitely worth the wait.
“It was brilliant to score four tries last weekend and the new contract topped it all off. I've been at the club for three years now and I love it so turning professional here was an easy decision in the end.
“It's great to have the security of a new contract sorted early in the New Year. It'll allow me to concentrate solely on my rugby from now on.
“I just want to keep it up now and see if I can get more opportunities in a Gloucester shirt before the end of the season.”
At 5ft 7in, Vellacott has not been graced with height but his 12st 6lb frame allied to devastating speed makes him one of the most threatening scrum-halves in the country ball in hand.
Running rugby is what Vellacott lives for but he understands his kicking game has to improve in order to become a regular in the Premiership and he doesn't need took far for mentors with Laidlaw and Willi Heinz happy to help next out.
He added: “There's a big link between Hartpury and Gloucester and being able to play every week in National League One gives you the confidence boost every youngster needs.
“My attacking game is what gives me an edge but I need to keep working on other parts of my game if I want to become a regular in the first team.
“Having Greig, Willi around is great for me and I've done a lot of work on my kicking game. I actually knew Greig a little bit before he came to Gloucester as the Scotland U20s squad used to train with the first team during the Six Nations.
“He was helpful then and he still is now. I've seen big improvements in my kicking this season. You just can't run all the time in the Premiership and I've got to understand that. But it'll take time and with experience I'll be able to pick my battles better.
“Then I just have to make sure it doesn't all go out of the window on the weekend when I go back to play for Hartpury and we start throwing the ball around.”