Preparing to scrum against Springbok World Cup winners by day, polishing off chapters of his dissertation by night. Scott Wilson’s breakthrough season at Ulster has involved something of a balancing act.
When the province brought in three tighthead props ahead of last summer’s pre-season training – James French, Greg McGrath and Ben Griffin all arrived on deals of varying lengths, the latter pair having since departed – it primarily spoke to the need to fill the void left by Jeff Tomanga-Allen’s exit and the unavailability of Marty Moore and Tom O’Toole through the early weeks of the season.
In addition, however, the moves hardly augured well for Wilson’s prospects of being heavily involved in the senior set-up.
Yet the 21-year-old has featured consistently for both departed head coach Dan McFarland and now his interim replacement Richie Murphy.
This month he had his academy contract upgraded to a development deal and the youngster has been as surprised as anyone with his level of involvement.
“I probably started the year with the goal of getting one cap,” Wilson said.
To date, he has turned out 11 times this year, including a second start in the United Rugby Championship (URC) win against Cardiff last week.
As the season has gone on, the goalposts have moved for Wilson.
He added: “I then bumped [the goal] up to five or six and this is going into number 12.
“I probably didn’t expect to get as many starts either, so just taking it all week by week and day by day and going from there.”
Despite that win against Cardiff, results elsewhere saw Ulster fall to 10th in the table with only the top eight advancing to the URC play-offs and just four rounds of league action remaining.
As the season enters its final stretch, so too does Wilson’s degree.
Studying Health, Physical Activity and Sport at Stranmillis College, Wilson is in the last weeks of what has been a three-year course.
Striking the balance between study and the sudden increase in his rugby responsibilities has required a balancing act.
“It’s been difficult,” Wilson acknowledged.
“Coming into the crunch time of year with exams coming up, but by the end of May I’ll be done and that will be three years and some sort of backup in place.
“I stay in contact with a few from the class, but I very rarely get in (to lectures).
“The lads at Queen’s help me with my academic flexibility and they stay in contact with Stran (Stranmillis) and let them know ‘this is the craic this week’.
“They are very lenient and as long as I get the work in they are not too bad.”
“One of the chapters of my dissertation was completed when I was over in South Africa which also gave me something to do in the evenings and it was something I could use to keep my mind off the rugby.
“It’s difficult giving 100% to both, and unfortunately the university stuff has had to take the backseat but I’m nearly there.”
He admits that there were times he considered giving up not just one or the other but both only to be convinced to
“There are times when I have probably thought about giving up both,” he said.
“Times when I’ve had injuries and thought, ‘this isn’t the right space with the rugby’, and times when I’ve thought the rugby is getting too much here and I don’t know if I can do uni as well.
“Family and friends told me to stay at it and said, ‘look if you step away from it, you might regret it in a year but if you stay at it and get it done you’ll feel so much better at the end of it.’”
Now seeing the benefits of that dedication on two fronts, even more could rest on Wilson’s shoulders during the season’s run-in with fellow tighthead Tom O’Toole struggling with an ankle injury while Marty Moore hasn’t featured since February.
Ulster are five places, but just three points, behind Benetton in the table with Friday’s game carrying huge play-off implications for both sides.
“This is a big game against Treviso, they are a physical side and they’ll bring a lot of dominance around the set-piece which is obviously something we’ve been going after,” Wilson added.
“I’m looking forward to another start and another opportunity to back up a win.
“It was a tight game last week where we showed what we’re capable of and that things are going in the right direction so hopefully that’s something we can go and out and do this week.”
