‘Proper rugby pig’ - pro deal for teenage prodigy who learns from a Lion and a Springbok

The 19-year-old made his debut off the bench in Edinburgh’s win against the Ospreys a week past Saturday then followed it up with his first start in the victory over three-time winners Toulon in the Champions Cup. As if that wasn’t enough, it was announced on Thursday that he had signed his first professional contract, committing him to the capital club until the end of the 2027-28 season.

It’s been a whirlwind fortnight for the big tighthead whose abundant potential has long had him marked out as one to watch. Sean Everitt, his head coach, didn’t exactly try to douse the hype when he said Edinburgh’s mantra was “to turn local players into legends”.

Blyth-Lafferty says there is no way his family will allow him to get carried away. “At our house you need to be able to take a slagging,” he smiles.

It’s early days, of course, but there is already a big buzz around Blyth-Lafferty whose talents were honed at the city’s famous Boroughmuir club where he began playing in primary one, and continued all the way up to under-18 level, helping them win the U18 Youth Cup.

Stevie Lawrie, Edinburgh’s forwards coach, sees him as a real prospect whose thirst for knowledge will allow him to continue to develop, particularly when he is training against two hugely experienced looseheads.

“For me, he's a guy who turns up every day and has a passion about scrummaging which is probably quite important as a tighthead prop,” said Lawrie. “He's currently in an environment whereby he scrummages every day against a British and Irish Lion in Pierre Schoeman and a Springbok in Boan Venter, so that creates a pretty robust learning environment and these guys are great for helping him, but also putting the squeeze on him as well.

‘Big prospect for Scottish rugby’

“They're very, very good at getting that balance right, so for me, if he keeps working hard and he's as diligent as he's shown thus far, he's a big prospect for Scottish rugby.”

Blyth-Lafferty was up against 40-times capped France prop Jean-Baptiste Gros during the Toulon game and admitted it was a daunting prospect. But he came through well, playing the first half at the Hive before being replaced by Paul Hill.

“Starting against Toulon was unreal,” he said. “It's not something that I thought I was going to do. It was definitely a bit scary to go up against French internationals, but the guys around me and the size of the pack that we had definitely added to the confidence side of things for me to help me into the game and settle the nerves a wee bit.”

The former Firrhill High School pupil said he felt more nervous the previous week when he was sitting on the bench against the Ospreys. As it turned out, his debut proved to be of the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it variety.

“I definitely thought I was going to maybe get a bit more than, I think it was 87 seconds, but I'll just call it 90 – that sounds a wee bit better,” he smiled.

The contract feels like a natural next step for Blyth-Lafferty who is one of a number of talented young forwards in the Edinburgh squad alongside his older brother Jerry, Freddy Douglas, Liam McConnell and Tom Currie.

“I was back and forth with my agent quite a lot, just having conversations with him about what's the plan and what the next couple of months was going to look like for me,” said the prop.

“It was a bit unclear but as the weeks went on, we had a bit more clarity around what was happening. Getting the nod that Edinburgh wanted to give me a pro contract and then my agent phoning me and saying, this is what we want to do. I was absolutely buzzing to get it.”

It’s very early days of course, but Lawrie believes that Blyth-Lafferty’s attitude.

“As I said, it's about how willing he is to learn, how much he enjoys it and all the signs are there at the minute in terms of his approach,” said Lawrie who hinted that he could be involved again this weekend when Edinburgh travel to France to play Castres in the Champions Cup.

“He and his brother Jerry are proper rugby pigs, they love it. So that for me is a good start, it really is. He's very, very diligent and he wants to do well and sometimes with these young guys, you've got to pull them back a bit.

“I think he asked me that every day for three years: ‘when am I going to get involved, when am I going to scrummage against Pierre Schoeman’.

“We've just got to pick the right time for him as well, he's 19 and he's made a good start. Out in Castres, looking at their set-piece, it's big and it's probably a little bit less honest in the nicest possible way. He's going to have another wee test out in France if selected this weekend, so I think it's quite exciting.”

Such is the player’s potential, head coach Everitt has spoken about him in the same breath as South African prop legends Tendai Mtawarira, Frans Malherbe, Steven Kitshoff and Thomas du Toit.

“It does make it quite a lot of pressure for me, but I need to keep my feet on the ground and not think about it too much, just think about me,” said Blyth-Lafferty, who looks up to Kitshoff in particular.

“My family is a big part of it, for keeping my feet on the ground. My sister and my older brother, Jerry, that's their job I suppose. My dad's my biggest fan and he always loves saying ‘oh did you read that? Did you read this?’ I just kind of sit there and I listen to him. At the end of the day, I know that if I want to make it and I want to be as good a player as people think I can be, there's a lot of work to be done. There's things that I need to do.”

It’s an admirable attitude and one that should stand the teenage prodigy in good stead.