Inside Scottish Rugby role in Glasgow Warriors signing Mackenzie twins

Glasgow officially announced the signatures of Josh and James in June, and they’ll move to Scotland in late November to join Franco Smith’s men after graduating from Kingswood College in Makhanda.

The South African-born duo trained with Glasgow on their trip to the southern hemisphere in April, and they are Scottish-qualified through their grandparents.

It’s viewed as a major coup within Murrayfield that the duo has been convinced to join Glasgow, with an eye firmly on them representing Scotland, and three senior figures were involved in the process.

“That process was well underway before I got here,” confirmed academy manager Nick Ryan.

“Kenny Murray, Al Kellock and David Nucifora were all heavily involved. My understanding was that they were identified through the Scottish-qualified programme.

"They spent a bit of time here, and I think they went to school Glenalmond for a few terms, so they’d already had a few touchpoints with the environment here. All of that was done prior to me coming in January.

“Once I arrived, though, I obviously got to know the young men a bit better, and we worked through the process towards the middle of last year to finalise everything.

“They’re very exciting athletes with really good potential, but we’ve also been very clear with them that, once they get here, it’s a bit of a clean slate. I can say from first-hand experience that joining a club mid-season isn’t easy.

“From that point of view, they’re very aware that they’ve got to earn their opportunity within this environment and within the Scotland pathway generally.

“We don’t want to create a culture where people can cut corners and get opportunities before they’ve earned them. They certainly understand that, and the staff and I have been very clear about it.

“That said, we’re really excited to add two young men who’ve got good character, as well as some very good athletic potential.

They are not with the Warriors, who kick off their pre-season with a trip to Newcastle on Saturday, and will link up with Franco Smith's squad in November.

Ryan added: “Although they’ll miss the first part of the season, the club, Luke (O’Dea) and I have been in pretty constant dialogue with them around their strength and conditioning, and making sure they’re reasonably across what we’re doing here day to day.

“We’ve already inducted them into the environment remotely, so they’ve got a good sense of what the club is about and the programme they’re joining.”