VIDEO: Fastest man in world rugby Isles wows Melrose crowd as Glasgow claim victory

By Peter O’ Dwyer

The so-called fastest man in rugby, Carlin Isles, showed the turn of foot last weekend that has Scottish rugby fans so excited.

The American who signed for Glasgow until May 2015 in February, helped the Warriors to victory in the prestigious annual Melrose 7s tournament.

A former sprinter with a personal best of 10.13 seconds, Isles burst onto the sevens scene with the US national side in 2012 and fast became one of the stars of the seven-man code.

The Warriors overcame the Edinburgh Accies in the final to claim the title, with a large helping hand from their American ace, Fijian speedster Niko Matawalu and Scottish Sevens international Lee Jones.

Unlike Matawalu – an established member of Gregor Townsend’s 15-man Glasgow outfit – Isles is yet to grace the Rabo Pro 12 with his phenomenal speed. If he can continue to turn in performances like he did at Melrose it’s surely only a matter of time before he’s given the opportunity to prove himself at that higher level though.

He might have to brush up on his finishing before that opportunity presents itself though after a dreadful mistake in his first outing in Scotland for Ayr last month.

We’ll put it down to the exuberance of scoring –or not scoring as the case may be – his first try in Scotland. By the looks of the weekend’s performances, he’ll be crossing the whitewash plenty times in the future.