Jamie Dobie spent the summer months training with Scotland before suffering the disappointment of being one of the last names to be cut from Gregor Townsend’s World Cup squad.
But far from feeling sorry for himself and regarding those months in the national camp as time wasted, the Glasgow scrum-half is convinced that he has returned to Scotstoun as a better player.
“I didn’t get in the final selection, but I felt that I had done everything I could have done,” said the 22-year-old, who missed out on selection in the final 33 to his Warriors team-mates George Horne and Ali Price and to Townsend’s current first choice, Ben White of Toulon. “I don’t have any regrets to look back on.
“You’re in camp all summer until they flew out to France, so 12 weeks or so. And I wasn’t looking back at opportunities that I didn’t take or where I wasn’t working hard enough. It was the coaches’ decision and I obviously don’t have the same experience as the boys who are out there at the moment. I have to respect that.
“As nice as it would have been to have made it to France, I’m still only 22. I’ve still got plenty of years left to play with the national team. But it was good to get that exposure with that extended period in camp. I feel like I’ve come back to Glasgow a better player.”
White looks set to be handed the No 9 jersey again in Saturday’s decisive pool game against Ireland, but even if that is the case, Dobie is sure that either Price or Horne could have a vital role to play off the bench. “That replacement role will just be as important in such a massive game,” he added.
“To get the win Scotland are going to have to play well for the full 80 minutes. In the Six Nations it was pretty close up until the 60-minute mark and then Ireland ran away with it.”
Dobie captained the Warriors for the first time in last week’s friendly win against Zebre. And, with Horne and Price due a rest after the World Cup, he could be getting a lot more game time over the early weeks of the new URC campaign too.
“There will be opportunities for me at the start of the season,” he said. “I need to really be making the most of them now.”
