THE man who sparked Edinburgh Rugby's opening win of the season today tipped opening try-scorer Nick De Luca to become an even bigger star under a raft of new laws.
No. 8 Scott Newlands lit the fuse for Saturday's 22-15 win over London Wasps when he exploited extra space at the scrum base, where defenders must now stay five metres back.
Newlands' slick pick-up saw the ball fed out to midfield where De Luca, w
ho is looking to build on a debut international season in any case, angled his run through a defence unable to get up quickly enough to snuff out the threat posed by the centre.
It was an encouraging moment for Edinburgh, occurring in the 46th minute.
And they went on to score two more tries with 23-year-old Newlands having roused the team as early as the fourth minute with a rampaging run of around 50 yards in laying down a selection marker for when friendlies give way to Celtic League action after Friday's visit to Bath.
Typically, though, former Selkirk and Heriot's ace Newlands preferred to dwell on both the homework done by coaches on the new laws and the finishing power possessed by the likes of De Luca.
Newlands, who has a newly completed degree in Sports Science, says: "We had talked a lot in advance about the new laws and the scrum we scored from occurred in a good position for us since Wasps had to stand back on their try-line.
"More space was created for our backs and especially those dangerous runners who are quick on their feet like Nick De Luca and Calum Macrae, who had come on before the injured Ben Cairns had really had a chance to show what he could do in the centre.
"Ben Meyer deserved credit, too, at scrum half for drawing markers after I'd initially passed to him and we found that the defenders couldn't fly up like they used to.
"The rest was down to Nick's sidestep helping take him through a gap and showing the new laws suit the style we are trying to play at Edinburgh.
"I certainly know, as someone who has played a lot at flanker, how exposed defenders can feel in the type of situation we scored our first try from with backs having to lie deeper in defence.
"The other side of that coin is more attacking opportunities which should suit us, particularly with the work we've put in studying moves in the Tri Nations competition."
Having got their season up and running, Edinburgh are now looking to become more clinical in their finishing with Newlands particularly well aware of that fact after his stunning early break deep into Wasps territory led to the first chance being squandered when play moved to the far side of the pitch.
"When I set off on my run I was being marked by (England World Cup winner) Josh Lewsey but he stood off expecting the cover defence to come across and I kept going until one opponent checked my progress and another tackled me. It was just unfortunate we did not score from that breakdown but it will be interesting to measure ourselves at Bath on Friday against our performance there last year" said the 16st and 6ft 3in Newlands.
In 2007 Edinburgh crashed 41-10 in the English west country but Newlands, who came on as a 50th-minute sub that day, pointed out: "Our World Cup players were not involved and we'll travel with extra strength in depth now. The aim is to come away with a victory as well as putting in a good performance."
If Newlands maintains his current form, surely a first competitive start for Edinburgh at Murrayfield when the Celtic League opens against Munster on September 5 must be drawing ever closer for him.
The full article contains 654 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
