Scotland Sevens international Fraser Lyle has arrived at the Athletic Ground for of the 2017/18 season.
He joins the Exiles after a three year spell at Scotstoun, where he made 8 appearances for the Glasgow Warriors. Before his spell with the Pro12 outfit, the utility back was working as an estate agent and playing amateur rugby in the BT Premiership with his hometown side Stirling County. He also played at their ground Bridgehaugh during a Warriors pre-season warm-up against Canada ‘A’ in 2016, but had no appearances in the regular season over the last year and was released at the end of last season.
Lyle was called up to the Scotland Sevens squad in March 2015, winning his first cap during that year’s Hong Kong 7s, scoring tries against Wales and New Zealand. He has earned 13 caps since then, racking up 45 points.
Talking to the official London Scottish website, the international said:
“I’m looking forward to a new challenge at London Scottish and moving to a new city. I had spoken to a few guys who have played here before and they all spoke highly of the club and the people involved. It is also a great opportunity to ease my transition into working life with a job in the city to coincide with my training.”
The signing of Lyle is a real statement of intent ahead of the upcoming season according to Director of Rugby Dave Morris:
“We are delighted to welcome Fraser to the London Scottish family. He has been in a high performing environment in Glasgow Warriors for the last 3 years so has good habits and detail in his game which has been immediately obvious to see in our training sessions.”
He added: “Just as importantly everyone I have spoken to can’t speak highly enough of Fraser as a man and his positive influence in a team environment. I would also like to express my thanks to Angus Stewart, Paul Burnell, Redgrave Partners and Ian Smellie who have been pivotal in helping Fraser transition into a career in the city and his integration into the club.”
UPDATE: In a busy week at London Scottish, the Exiles have also announced the signing of former Oxford Blue Basil Strang.
24-year-old Strang, who qualifies for Scotland, will add depth to the backline with his ability to play at fly half and in the centre. Alongside his experience of playing Varsity rugby at Twickenham for Oxford University, Strang has also appeared for Worcester Warriors in the A League, Henley Hawks in National One and, most recently, Chinnor RFC.
The 6 ft 5″ and 110kgs standoff is excited to get his first experience of pro rugby at the Athletic Ground:
9 Responses
Possibly two of the biggest Scotland qualified backs you could sign?
Always thought Lyle was underrated and unlucky to be part of a Glasgow squad stacked with quality at centre. Possibly another victim of us not having a third pro team?
Has this site been shut down or is there a silent protest going on? There is a World Cup happening right now and we are in it. Or are Y chromosomes a pre requisite for coverage?
Pretty sure Scotland aren’t actually in it – we lost to Spain in a qualifier despite having their best 6N season in a decade in 2017.
Scotland aren’t at the Women’s World Cup other than our referee Hollie Davidson who James Rhys did a piece on.
You are welcome to cover it from a Scottish point of view if you can find an angle. In the meantime we are having our summer holidays and preparing for the season ahead!
This is a Scottish rugby blog and we didn’t qualify for the women’s world cup. Maybe next time check the facts before launching into a feminist tirade.
Loving the fact that Crazyjoe got his knickers in a twist about the blogs lack of coverage of the WRWC. Obviously not very observant that early in the morning!
Can anyone explain why glasgow have such an active youtube channel but edinburgh do almost nothing on theirs ?
sure last thing i saw on edinburghs was over a month ago. glasgow must have done over 20 vids since then.
Online content for Glasgow, including use of social Media etc has been far better at Glasgow for a few years now. I once queried it with the Edinburgh Rugby twitter account and got blocked, so think they might be a bit sensitive.
Probably just down to the respective media teams. Glasgow’s back office team are a bit more established but maybe have allocated more budget to have full time team (they were recruiting recently).