GREIG TONKS believes that the fact there are so many Glasgow players in Scotland’s squad for the Rugby World Cup has helped improve the standard of training.

The Edinburgh back and his team-mates are outnumbered by the Warriors contingent, but although the two PRO12 teams have a different style of play, he is convinced that they have blended together well in the national training camp.

“They’re good guys,” he said. “Their season speaks for itself. They bring a lot of experience and quality to the team, so it’s good that there’s more competition in training.

“We’re quite clear at the outset: this is the way we want to play, this is the way we want to defend. People have a few habits or traits that they’re used to, but it’s small margins that you can alter for the team.”

Tonks is some way behind Glasgow’s Finn Russell in the pecking order for the No.10 jersey, his preferred position, and possibly also behind another Warrior, Duncan Weir.

But he can also play at full-back as well as at centre, and he hopes that versatility – combined with good performances in Scotland’s forthcoming warm-up matches – will secure him a place in the final squad of 31 when it is announced early next month.

“I’ve been playing mainly at fly-half [in training], and also a bit of full-back as well, so we’ll have to see when it comes to selection for these next few games,” he said.

“I’ve enjoyed playing fly-half and I’ve been covering full-back as well, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

“I’ll be able to tell you in a few weeks whether it’s worked out or not. In the past sometimes it’s been a hindrance for me – the jack of all trades, master of none sort of thing.

“But it may work out that it actually helps. It’s not a big squad, so versatility is going to be important. It's a difficult one, but it's maybe better than being stuck in one hole.”