Based at London Scottish in Richmond, the academy will operate on a similar basis to those already established in Scotlands home-based districts as a means of nurturing the best young talent.

The project was endorsed by Scotlands rugby clubs at the SRU special general meeting earlier this year.

Director of rugby Ian McGeechan said: Its important that all exiled Scots have the information to help them to understand the exciting step I believe were taking here which will be of tremendous benefit to the development of Exiles rugby and, therefore, inextricably, Scottish Rugby.

What we seek to do is take the existing talent identification network, established by a dedicated group of volunteer scouts over many years, and tie it much closer to the academy performance programmes in Scotland so that Exiles players and Exiles development programmes are an integral part of the entire Scottish development performance plan.

He added: We want it to be part of Scottish Rugbys long-term player development plan and it will also incorporate the selection of players into age-group teams.

We feel its imperative that the Exiles structure is absolutely integrated into our player development process with the same access to support programmes which talented players based in Scotland enjoy.

This will mean that Exiles age-grade teams will be supported and monitored by academy coaches and performance coaches from the Scottish set-up, particularly at under-19 and under-21 levels.

There will remain a very important role for the network of scouts and the expertise of the ex-Scotland internationalists based in England in the nurturing and coaching of the best youngsters from under-16 through to under-21 and those roles will be co-ordinated by the academy manager and administrator.