Matt Scott agrees move to Gloucester

Speculation has been rife since December and, sure enough, Edinburgh and Scotland centre Matt Scott has agreed a move to Gloucester Rugby at the end of the current season for an undisclosed sum.

There he will battle it out for one of the two centre berths with England players Henry Trinder and Billy Twelvetrees – as well as Tom Marshall, Mark Atkinson and Bill Meakes.

This can only be seen as a huge blow to head coach Alan Solomon’s plans, especially considering Scott has been forming a handy partnership with Ireland A cap Michael Allen in the oft problematic centres. Whilst the forwards have seen their numbers swell in recent seasons, the Edinburgh backline has been something of a mismatch affair with over half a dozen different centre combos tried out by the South African.

MATT SCOTT’S EDINBURGH RECORD:

Quite how backs coach Duncan Hodge will cope with losing his star back will remain to be seen, but surely a high profile replacement will be needed in time for next season as Andries Strauss is getting rather long in the tooth and has failed to impress so far this term. On the plus side it may give more game time for the promising Chris Dean to push on, should Solomons be willing to give the youngster a fair crack, and free up some money for new players in the process.

From a Scotland point of view it may provide the same kind of shot in the arm that Greig Laidlaw received when moving to Kingsholm, which can only be a good thing for the national team.

Here are some of the man’s best bits in the red/black and blue courtesy of Blood Sweat and Beers.

Scott was in fine form against the USA in the Rugby World Cup

Credit: World Rugby