Dalziel impressed by young captain Bartle
SINGLE-MINDED London Scottish skipper Rory Bartle is destined for the top, according to forwards coach John Dalziel.
Lock-cum-back rower Bartle, 20, turned down the chance to represent Wales U20s in 2015 to keep his international options open, before bravely quitting Gloucester later that year for more game time in the Championship.
Under Bartle’s captaincy, Scottish have defied preseason predictions by surging into the top six.
Former Scotland U20s boss Dalziel told The Rugby
Paper: “Rory’s young but he’s been a real leader in the way he approaches his work. He’s not a guy who speaks empty words, he leads the way he plays and he’s been our top tackler and top lineout poacher.
“It was probably as much of a shock for him as everyone else when we appointed him captain, but he’s done fantastically well.
“He definitely has a future at a higher level from what we’ve seen of him and he can play middle and back row which is useful.”
Dalziel added: “Rory took a big decision not to tie himself to the Wales path and we want to see him have a big year with us. After that he’ll maybe aim for the PRO12 or Premiership and we’ve got a lot of hungry young guys with ambition to do that.”
Dalziel’s decision to leave Scotland U20s after June’s World Cup has also been vindicated.
He explained: “I had other opportunities in Scotland but felt it was the right time and it’s a positive arrangement with the SRU.
“It was an opportunity to further my career in fulltime pro coaching and working with Peter Richards has been excellent.
“I’m still centrally con this tracted by the SRU and the agreement is to the end of season, so we’ll see if that will be extended.
“But we’d like to build something special here over the next two or three years and it would be great to be a part of that.”
Last week’s dazzling 3610 win at Jersey provides hope of a top four finish.
Dalziel added: “Top eight would be a good achievement, but we’d like to eclipse that.”