Five young Scots join London Scottish squad

The new recruits are part of a controversial partnership

London Scottish have signed five young players on development loans from Scottish Rugby.

The governing body and the English Championship club re-established a performance partnership after a disagreement over the summer.

The five players are hooker Cameron Fenton, back-rower Ally Miller, scrum-half Hugh Fraser, centre Tom Galbraith and wing Ben Robbins.

They were part of Scotland's squad for the World Rugby Under-20 Championship.

They started training with London Scottish this week and head coach Peter Richards told his club website: "The guys have been brilliant and all look like great prospects, so we are excited to have them with us for the 2016/17 season.

"There is great competition among the group for places in our match-day squad, so the addition of these players can only add to what is a very promising year ahead for London Scottish."

Scottish Rugby had announced in May that it had ended its agreement with the Exiles after only four months.

Ben Robbins was an athletics champion and professional footballer with Livingston

But the arrangement was re-established the following month with a reduced financial commitment - and player numbers - from the governing body.

Pro-team, academy and age-grade players will be made available to London Scottish to aid their development, while Scottish Rugby head of international age-grade rugby Sean Lineen has become the club's part-time director of rugby.

Wing Robbins was and Under-17 British 400m champion, won the famous New Year Sprint in 2013 and was a professional youth footballer with Livingston before committing himself to rugby with the Scottish Rugby Academy in 2014.

He said: "Hopefully we can make a difference to the team and make it an exciting season for everyone involved."

Scrum-half Fraser, who was previously on the books of London Irish, said: "I've seen a few Championship matches and it will be a great test for us."

Hooker Fenton has been part of the Glasgow Warriors squad for two years and made his debut against Munster in February.

Miller, a product of George Watson's College, captained Edinburgh's Under-20 side, while centre Galbraith has experience of playing for Upper Clutha in New Zealand.