Extra hours spent in training and on analysis are paying off
Liam McConnell is Edinburgh's lineout disruptor-in-chief and hopes to wreak similar havoc on the international stage in the coming weeks.
Scotland open their Nations Championship campaign against New Zealand on November 7 at Murrayfield and then welcome Australia and Japan to Edinburgh before heading to Twickenham for Finals Weekend.
Facing All Blacks would be ‘awesome’
McConnell, 21, feels he has done as much as he can to stake a claim for a place in the squad.
"I feel like I'm fit at the moment, I'm injury-free, and I feel like I'm playing decent rugby, so I can't really do any more," he said.
And facing the All Blacks is, unsurprisingly, a cherished ambition of McConnell's.
"It would be massive," he said. "There's obviously big fixtures that mean a lot to the country this autumn, so it would be awesome just to be a part of that."
Competition in the back row is fierce but McConnell is fit and firing and arguably the form six in Scottish rugby.
The flanker has played in all four of Edinburgh's URC wins, a start to the season few predicted for the capital club.
He's been dynamic in the loose and powerful in the maul but McConnell's super-strength is his lineout work. It was an area Edinburgh dominated against the Lions, largely due to the work of McConnell and his second-row colleagues Glen Young and Grant Gilchrist.
We put in the extra work that other teams maybe don't
"It's a big part of my game and a big part of the team's game as well," said McConnell. "Glen [Young] gets them - both second rows get them. It's all three of us, and we put a lot of work in during the week. We put extra hours in there that other teams maybe don't. We put the work in, and we definitely get the reward on the weekends. We've been sealing a lot of line-outs this season.
"It's big against South African teams because they're obviously good at mauls and good at strikes, so any chance you get to not let them have a clean run at you, the better.
"We watch a lot of the other teams' line-outs. Stevie [Lawrie, Edinburgh's forwards coach] sets us up well, tells us what they're likely to do, what the patterns are, and then we sit down as forwards and spend extra time there as well."
McConnell, who made his Scotland debut last autumn against the USA and won a second cap in the summer against Fiji, is now eyeing the chance to transfer his skills to the international stage.
"I hope so. I think stealing lineouts will obviously be a bit more of a challenge there. I'm sure their drills and their calls are all a slight step up, but I'm sure I could do it there as well, hopefully."
It is now a case of waiting patiently.
"I'll be staying close to my phone over the weekend and hoping for a call," he said.
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