At six foot one and near enough 16 stone Hamish Watson is hardly diminutive, but in a world of giants, the Scottish openside cuts a figure apart.
A throwback to the days of his one-time mentor Neil Back, the 25-year-old is compact over the ball, fierce in defence and consistently defies expectations with his explosive ball-carrying ability.
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Few would have considered Watson a British & Irish Lions contender in one of these isles’ most competitive positions when he made his debut as a replacement in defeat against Italy in the 2015 RBS 6 Nations, receiving a yellow card in the closing stages.
But such has been his impact since returning to the fold in the autumn, he is regularly mentioned among those with an outside shot and the Scotsman, who grew up in Cheshire and was schooled at Oakham in Rutland, offers something different to the vast majority of modern back-row forwards.
Superb in Scotland’s narrow 23-22 defeat to the Wallabies in the autumn, he scored his first Test try against Georgia two weeks later and even at Twickenham in Round 4, acquitted himself well.
Nine carries for 25 metres in Scotland’s 27-22 win against Ireland saw the Edinburgh openside battle his way through heavy traffic, carrying hard into the heart of the celebrated trio of Jamie Heaslip, Sean O’Brien and CJ Stander.
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Watson himself is philosophical about any size differential, insisting there are advantages that come with his physique.
“You come up against different obstacles when you’re a tiny bit smaller,” he says.
“But you’ve just got to work on other things when you are my size. It works for you on occasions as well, you’ve got a low centre of gravity for carrying which can be hard to stop. It would be nice being 6ft 10in but you’ve just got to work with what you’ve got.”
In defeat to France he made a perfect 15 tackles to add onto the 19 without a miss he made against the Irish, while it was arguably in victory over Wales that he enhanced his reputation to the greatest extent.
Up against Rob Howley’s twin opensides – who showed just how effective they can be with a monumental shift in Wales 22-9 victory over Ireland – and overcoming the disappointment of being named on the bench with John Hardie coming into start, he was exceptional.
Constantly slowing the ball at the breakdown, harrying and preventing clean ball when the turnover did not present itself, as well as stopping Welsh ball carriers dead and showing his mettle in the tackle.
“When you start the first two, then come off the bench, you try to prove you should be starting,” Watson said after victory over Wales.
“I think every player who is on the bench tries to do that – everyone wants to be starting so I just try to come on and make a difference. It’s really positive for me, it’s quite exciting for me at the moment. ‘Hards’ had a great World Cup and has just been a bit unlucky with injuries at the moment but I’m just trying to take my opportunity.
“Vern gave me my debut cap and I didn’t play for a while after that. It’s hard to take for any player, but any player will have had one or two setbacks in their career. Vern was very up front with me, very honest with me and gave me a few things that he wasn’t happy with in my game. I think I’ve got better at those things and I’m getting picked.”
With such an energetic performance against Wales, it is easy to see why the comparisons with English World Cup winning openside Back continue to surface.
One of the first to raise the link was ex Leicester flanker Ian ‘Dosser’ Smith, who coached Back during his time with Leicester in the early 90s, while Watson spent a year with Tigers academy in 2010 upon leaving school.
After leaving Leicester, he returned to Scotland – who he has supported since he was eight, hanging a Saltire on his bedroom wall during his time at Oakham – to take up a central contract with the Scottish Sevens side.
The pace, aggression and skillset required to succeed in the shortened format of the game is forever in evidence when watching Watson – his relative lack of size belied by brilliant footwork that sees him hit weak shoulders and go through the defensive line.
It was in Edinburgh, where he had been invited to join the Elite Development programme, that his path crossed with Back, who was then forwards coach in the Scottish capital.
“Dosser told me Hamish was something special,” Back told The Times. “And my respect for Ian, for his passion and spirit and knowledge of the game, is second to none. When I was at Edinburgh, Hamish was part of the senior training squad.
“He was 20 years old and hungry. He almost had a Michael Hooper-like physique on him and was an absolute pain in the butt — I say that in the most positive, respectful way. He was just so eager to learn, very coachable with a great work ethic.
“If he’d kept that up, he was always going to be successful. So I’m not surprised where he is now. I’m thrilled that Hamish has started to make a name for himself and I can smile because I was a small part of his development.”
The massive development in Watson’s play from his 2015 debut proved Back’s assessment correct and more, if he can continue to apply himself with the same fervor, the sky is the limit for Scotland’s openside.
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