A teenager from Kincraig made his American Football debut for Scotland at the weekend.

Toby Haworth (16) who attends Kingussie High School, was selected to play defensive end for Scotland U19s in their clash with SGS Sport American Football Academy in Bristol.

Scotland lost the game 26-0 on Saturday after they struggled to get their offence working.

This was always going to be a tough fixture for Scotland as the SGS Academy is an educational institution dedicated to taking American Football athletes to the professional level.

Haworth, playing defence, made a positive impact throughout – adding to his player stats a fumble recovery and a superb tackle on the SGS quarterback – known as a sack – causing a major loss of yards.

The teen said after the game: “We were obviously disappointed with the result but we felt defensively we played well against a very well drilled side.

“And pulling the Team Scotland jersey on for the first time was pretty special.”

What made his debut all the more remarkable was that Haworth only started playing the sport five months ago.

As an aspiring professional rugby player, he is part of the Glasgow Warriors U18 squad and is a contracted player with Scottish Rugby.

Taking up American Football with the Highland Wildcats in Inverness offered him a fun way to relax from the pressures of rugby whilst at the same time developing a new skillset that complements his rugby abilities.

The Highland Wildcats themselves had a very successful season. They were crowned Scottish champions and reached the British final, the ‘Britbowl’ in Leeds, narrowly losing to the champions Rushmore Knights, 26-22.

That was their only loss of the season.

Haworth finished his rookie season with an impressive stat sheet of touchdowns, sacks and point-earning ‘safeties’ and it was these statistics, together with a strong performance in the selection training camps that brought him to the attention of the selectors.

Scotland play again in a home fixture on Sunday 13 October at Meggetland Sports Complex in Edinburgh, against England Team North to complete the regional series.

Tickets are available from https://www.eventbrite.com by searching for “Team Scotland U19”.

Highland Wildcats in Inverness welcome male and female players of all abilities and run U16 and U19 teams. They can be found and contacted on Facebook.

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