Scotland will boast plenty of experience at next year's U20 Six Nations after prioritising first-year academy players in their squad last summer, among them a highly-rated lock pairing of Max Williamson and Alex Samuel.
Head coach Sean Lineen, who appointed the latter as captain at the age of 18, saw his side go winless to claim the wooden spoon from the tournament held in Cardiff.
But they will have the option to welcome back their Glasgow duo and impressive Sale Sharks flanker Ollie Leatherbarrow to their pack.
Williamson, 19, now eagerly awaits a campaign without the stricter restrictions present earlier this year.
“We had a young team and most of our players have another year where they are eligible for the U20s,” Williamson told TRP.
“The best part of it is having those guys come back, guys like Alex and Ollie will be in the pack again, and there are lots of other guys. One thing we want to focus on is having a strong pack and we need to be a lot better in our set-piece area.
“Some of that work comes from knowing Alex quite well. I lived with him last year so have spent a lot of time with him even when we weren't training.
“We're both comfortable with the play-calling and having the experience of playing in those five games together means we know what the other is thinking. He is another person to speak to and Shade Munro (Scotland U20s assistant coach) was someone I met with frequently to walk through my games.
“It was definitely worse to live with Alex than for him to live with me, I think. He is one of the messiest guys I have ever met!”
Gracing Scottish colours this summer as an U20s debutant came after Williamson had spent a week training with the senior team during the Six Nations.
“I went in for the Ireland week with the seniors during the Six Nations,” explained Williamson. “They made a group chat of about four or five guys that they needed to come in to cover for the players who had lightened the numbers by being released by Gregor to go play for their PRO14 teams.
“I arrived on the Sunday and spoke to Gregor and he asked if I wanted to stay for the week because they needed a second row. I rushed back to my flat in Glasgow, grabbed some clothes and came right back to the hotel where I stayed for the week.
“The training wasn't long, but what they did do was really intense and off the field you could see how things were just on another level from what it is at Glasgow. Everyone knew exactly what their job was and to be in a Test environment was a real eye-opener for me.”
Retained for the season as a FOSROC academy player, 2021 has been a year where the lock has rubbed shoulders with the likes of Rob Harley at Warriors and those in Gregor Townsend's set-up who took Scotland to a higher finish than England in the Six Nations.
Overseen by Scottish Rugby director of performance Jim Mallinder, Williamson is one of 30 contracted players under the FOSROC-sponsored senior academy programme split equally between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
“The way it has changed with the senior academy is training a lot more with the main team at Glasgow, which other players have told me didn't happen as much as it does now when they were coming through,” Williamson said.
“The S&C team obviously set the programmes for all 15 positions and for us younger guys, we still have a bit of bulking to do and they really support us in that way.
“It helps being able to approach more coaches and I chat with Shade a lot about all the things related to the second row.”
