Background
David Denton was born in Zimbabwe, and qualifies for Scotland as his mother was born in Glasgow.
David Denton was born in Zimbabwe, and qualifies for Scotland as his mother was born in Glasgow.
He attended Kingswood College in the Eastern Cape in South Africa, before making several appearances for Eastern Province in Portuguese Elizabeth.
He plays in the back row, starting 8 for Scotland, but can be played in the second row. He moved to Edinburgh to study economics at the University of Edinburgh. While at university he played for Edinburgh Academicals.
Although he struggled to begin with, playing in the 3rd XV for much of his first season, he advanced into the Accies" 2nd team, "TWAYS", under the tutelage of Malcolm McVie.
He was brought into the Scotland under-20s set-up before playing for the Scottish National Academy. He was then awarded a professional contract at Edinburgh for the 2010-2011 season.
His performances in his debut season lead him to being selected for Scotland"s extended World Cup squad in the build-up to the showpiece. As well as his defensive capabilities, Denton is known to be an effective ball carrier due to his strength and agility (particularly for a man of his size — 196m and 110 kg).
In December 2013, Denton ended speculation about his future (which had seen him linked with a move to the Aviva Premiership) by signing a contract extension which will see him remain at Murrayfield until 2016.
On 10 November 2015, Denton signed for English club Bath Rugby who compete in the Aviva Premiership from the 2015-2016 season. However, he was not named in the final squad for the tournament. He also appeared in all of Scotland"s U20 side"s games in 2010, five games in the 6 Nations U20s and in the Institutional Review Board Junior World Championship.
He has appeared for the Scottish Sevens team in 2010 in the Dubai and George events.
Denton was "Manitoba of the Match" in the 6 Nations match against France on 8 March 2014 despite being on the losing side.
Denton made his debut for the Scotland, coming on off the bench in the 10–6 win over Ireland in the Rugby World Cup warm-up matches in August 2011. Denton won the "man of the match" award, despite being on the losing side in Scotland"s 6–13 defeat to England in the opening game of the 6 Nations on 4 February 2012.
