Douglas, the young Edinburgh Rugby flanker, shot to fame in November 2024 when he was plucked from the National Talent Pathway into the Scotland squad and subsequently handed his international debut against Portugal.

All that came before Douglas, then 19, had made his professional club debut. It also made him the youngest player to debut for Scotland in more than 60 years.

But his progress since has seemingly halted. After the high of his Scotland debut came an ankle injury which restricted Douglas to just five appearances for Edinburgh.

Just one of his six appearances to date this term have been from the start – though there is a good chance that will change when Edinburgh visit Benetton on Saturday.

However, his lack of minutes meant Douglas missed out on the Scotland squad for the Autumn Nations Series.

And he admitted it was tough to watch on as others got their chance.

“Obviously you want to get as many as you can,” he said when asked about his non-selection. Douglas added: “I was a wee bit frustrated but at the end of the day, at the start of the season I wasn’t playing loads for Edinburgh so it was tough to get my name out there. It’s not really anything I can control.

“That was a bit frustrating but now getting more minutes and now trying to get my name out there obviously a bit more, hopefully just need to do myself proud.

“It’s all on me and not really any excuses now so just trying to play as best as I can whenever I get an opportunity.”

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Douglas has been playing second-fiddle to Dylan Richardson for the Edinburgh number seven jersey, with 2021 Lions tourist Hamish Watson inconspicuous by his absence despite playing a number of crucial matches at the end of last season.

Richardson was initially signed as a hooker but grew up playing in the back-row and earned his first Scotland cap there in 2021.

Douglas insisted his Edinburgh colleague has been deserving of his opportunities.

“It was never like it was never like ‘oh he’s a hooker’ and then he moves to back row which would be really quite frustrating. He was always in or around that competition at back row and I mean he looks comfortable in both places and he’s been playing really well so it’s hard to argue.”

While Douglas was overlooked, his former Scotland U20 captain Liam McConnell was given a chance by Townsend and grabbed it with both hands in the rout of USA.

“Obviously I was really chuffed with Liam, he deserves it,” he said. “Seeing some young boys, same with [Harri] Morris, getting opportunities makes me probably a bit more hungry and like want to get back into it.”

But Douglas can take great heart from one of his contemporaries at under-20 level, who has gone on to become a global star over the past 12 months. In the U20 Six Nations of 2024, he lined up directly opposite Henry Pollock, who has gone on to become a star.

He was the youngest player on the summer’s British and Irish Lions tour.

“Obviously he’s done really well for himself and just really kicked on so,” Douglas said of his former age-grade rival. “You do get a bit of perspective – it can happen very quick. It’s tough at the moment at Edinburgh because there’s so many back-rowers so it is hard to get as much game time as you’d want, but he’s done really well for himself.”

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While patience may be the name of the game for Douglas, an injury to Richardson has opened the door for him to potentially start against Benetton in Italy on Saturday.

While the team will not be officially named until Friday, that Douglas was facing the media is a good sign for the 21-year-old and, if selected, he’s relishing the chance.

“I love starting for Edinburgh,” he enthused. “I’ll just try and play my absolute best and leave everything out there. We’ve maybe not had the best results the past few weeks but we were in a similar position last year and we went away to Munster and had a real catalyst win that made most of our season after that a lot better.

“We’re trying to do similar here – get a good win away against a strong team like Benetton and hopefully we can build from that and then make something of the season.”

And after disappointing defeats to Glasgow Warriors in the derby matches, he knows Edinburgh need to put together a run of results if they are to achieve their goal of making the United Rugby Championship (URC) play-offs.

“We just need to start building some momentum and like we really need to push forward.

“Obviously the two Glasgow games are frustrating because we didn’t feel like we played awfully, we had a lot of fight and our defence was really strong and then to not get a result it was obviously quite tough.

“If we kind of build on that and our performances and hopefully actually get some proper wins under our belt, it will be class.”

And if Douglas can play his part in helping the team get results, that Scotland call could well come in time for the Six Nations.