Michael Maltman’s teaching qualification will come in handy when he meets Moseley team-mate Mike Ellery on the IRB Sevens circuit.

Like Ellery, who is on the brink of a move to the England squad, Maltman will be leaving Billesley Common at the end of the season to pursue a career in the short-sided version of the game.

However, unlike Penrith-born Ellery, Maltman will be wearing the blue of Scotland having signed a deal that for the next two years will have him trotting the more salubrious parts of the globe and getting paid for the privilege.

That might seem a far cry from the Post Graduate Certificate in Education he is currently working towards at Nottingham Trent University, but it doesn’t mean the pedagogy he has acquired over the last few months will go entirely to waste.

Certainly not when Ellery shows up with his Red Rosed shirt some time next season.

“Scotland is where Sevens was invented so when we play England I will hopefully school him,” Maltman quips.

“One-on-one, the chances are he would gas me but it’d be different in a scrummaging situation. He is going to have reverse lights on and is going to be beeping as he goes backwards.” You can take the boy out of Scotland...

Maltman’s ascent to the Sevens set-up should come as no surprise. Within a couple of months of arriving at Moseley in 2010, the 21-year-old had turned in a string of abrasive and precocious performances that attracted the attention of coach Graham Shiel.

Nothing official came of that interest although Maltman continued to mark his first season at semi-professional level by making the second-most appearances of any Moseley player.

This season has not been quite so fruitful, indeed the youngster has started just 14 matches as competition in the back row intensified and his return to studying occupied his time.

“I have been surprised at how difficult it has been to manage the two,” he admits. “Having had a year out you forget how much commitment is required.

“So many times I’ve had work to do for the next day’s lessons before I can even go to the gym and I have struggled with that. But, fair play to the boys who have started this season, they have done an absolutely fantastic job.

“Especially Neil Mason. I think last season I didn’t get to see him at his best but this year the real Wag has been something to behold.

“Last season was fantastic for me personally. The step up into semi-pro rugby was brilliant, playing a really high competitive standard. Until you’ve played in the Championship you just don’t realise how physical it is.