Scotland will still tap into outside talent - Nucifora

Australia-born captain Sione Tuipulotu qualifies for Scotland through his grandmother

New Scottish Rugby performance director David Nucifora says improving the player pathway for homegrown talent is one of his top priorities, but the national team will continue to utilise players who qualify for Scotland on ancestry or residency grounds.

Scotland have been criticised in some quarters for their over-reliance on players developed outside the Scottish system.

Examples include current captain Sione Tuipulotu, who was born in Australia but qualifies through a Scottish grandmother, and Scotland's record try scorer Duhan van der Merwe, the South African-born winger who became eligible on residency grounds in 2021.

"You've got to operate within the regulations that you've got in front of you," Nucifora said.

"You've got to be creative. I think that at the end of the day, what do people care about when it really comes to the crunch? They care about winning. They care about having success.

"So you've got to find a way to meet that. And in the perfect world, you will want more players coming out of the system because I think what you have to do is you have to squeeze every drop out of every area that you've got access to, to be able to build a winning team.

"So if it's the pathway and producing local players, we've got to make sure we're doing absolutely everything we can to make them the best that they can be.

"If there are other avenues through using exiled players or whatever it may be, we've got to be the best at that as well."