In-form 23 y/o ready to offer dual threat for Scotland as Greig Laidlaw influence revealed

Laidlaw was, of course, predominantly a scrum-half and that’s where Dobie sees his long-term future but competition is fierce for the No 9 jersey and it pays to have another string to your bow.

While Laidlaw played a lot of his early games for Edinburgh and Scotland at stand-off, Dobie’s ‘other’ position is on the wing and it was where he was twice selected to start for the national team on the summer tour of North and South America. The Glasgow Warriors player delivered from out wide, scoring one try in the thrashing of Canada in Ontario and two in the big win over Chile in Santiago.

“I’m definitely happy playing both positions now and obviously the main thing is being involved, so whether that’s at scrum-half or wing, that would be the main benefit,” said Dobie. “I still see myself as playing scrum-half the majority of the time, with the additional benefit of being able to cover the wing. And obviously on the summer tour the two starts that I got were on the wing, so I only see that as a benefit for me, being able to cover those positions.”

The 23-year-old has continued where he left off in the summer and has played in all six of Glasgow’s league matches this season, contributing three tries. He hopes to take his form into the autumn internationals and looks certain to be involved when Scotland open their campaign on Saturday against Fiji at Murrayfield.

Dobie has had to be patient at international level. A scrum-half prodigy, he made his Glasgow debut at 18 and won his first cap against Tonga in 2021. But he had to wait almost two years for his second Scotland appearance, which came in the World Cup warm-up game against Italy in July 2023. He never made the final cut for the tournament in France but went on to enjoy his best ever season at club level, helping Glasgow Warriors win the United Rugby Championship and playing more matches than in previous years.

His form was rewarded with a place on the Scotland tour and he was one of only three squad members to play in all four games. As well as the starts against Canada and Chile, he came off the bench to play at scrum-half in the wins over USA and Uruguay to establish himself in Gregor Townsend’s squad and retained his place for the autumn series during which Scotland will also face South Africa, Portugal and Australia.

“The summer was massive personally,” he said. “The confidence that it gave me to be able to play and be selected for all four of those games whether it’s from scrum-half or wing was massive. Obviously, the back end of last season was really successful for us, especially at Glasgow, so being able to carry the confidence on both personally and as a team, and being able to bring that into camp is massive.

“I think the Autumn Internationals back at Murrayfield, you can see the amount of support that we've got – three games sold out and the Portugal games over 50,000 so hopefully on its way to selling out as well – so they’re as big games as it comes. Personally, if I can be involved, obviously I've played a couple of times at Murrayfield before but never in front of a sold-out Murrayfield, so that would be an honour and the prospect of that is massive for everyone.”

Dobie’s versatility isn’t just confined to the rugby pitch. Up until the age of 14, his main sport was tennis and he is also a keen golfer and credits both sports for helping his hand-eye coordination. Growing up in Inverness, he played mini-rugby for Highland RFC but when he moved to Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh for his secondary education it was via a tennis scholarship. It was here his interest in rugby developed and watching Laidlaw leading Scotland at Murrayfield proved a big influence on the young Dobie who cites the Jed scrum-half as an early hero.

“The first one that sticks out to me is still Greig Laidlaw,” he said. “I came into rugby late, I played a lot of sports when I was younger and played a little bit of minis at Highland and then moved down to school in Edinburgh and that’s sort of where I really started playing more rugby and I was fortunate to go to quite a lot of Scotland games at Murrayfield at that stage, and Greig was obviously the starting scrum-half and the captain so I watched a lot of him when I was younger and took inspiration, especially from the way he led and the control that he had in the game, so he’s sort of the one that sticks out to me.”

Dobie will vie for the No 9 jersey with George Horne, Ali Price and Ben White over the next four weekends. It’s a talented group but Dobie can more than hold his own in such company as he has shown with his contributions for club and country over the last 12 months.

“I think the confidence in my own game has developed massively,” he said of his increased involvement with Glasgow and Scotland. “And being able to play both scrum-half and wing [helps]. I came on on the wing for all three play-off games [for Glasgow] at the back end of last season, so it was great to be involved in that and the summer tour, and then at the start of this season being involved in all the big games is what I want to be doing. Hopefully that can continue into this campaign as well.”