AFTER completing a clean sweep of major sponsorship packages with Scottish rugby, BT say the measure of success for their investment will be whether the union can produce success at every level from the national side to the grassroots of the game.

"It is a long-term relationship," said Brendan Dick, director of BT Scotland. "What is key to me is the set-up the SRU have which I genuinely believe will be successful. It has profile; I am very, very pleased that all the building blocks are there. If in three of four years time the Scottish national team is beating the world but the club game is still struggling, that is not a good answer for me. A legacy of this partnership has to be strengthening club rugby."

The latest package puts the BT logo on the front of Scotland international shirts at every level for the next three seasons and follows deals to earn the naming rights at Murrayfield, the national stadium, as well as shirt sponsorship with both Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh, and backing for the domestic competitions, including the Cup which comes to a climax on Saturday with a day of finals at the stadium.

Dominic McKay, the head of commercial operations, insisted that the latest BT deal was worth more than the one with the Royal Bank of Scotland, which lapses this summer after running for five years. The extra money will be spent on projects such as the new academies and a £1.6million investment in grassroots clubs over the next four years.

The timing is just about perfect too, with Glasgow Warriors sitting pretty on top of the Guinness PRO12 with three matches to go before the play-offs and Edinburgh not only in contention for sixth spot and automatic qualification for the European Champions Cup next season, but also facing the more immediate lure of a semi-final in the European Challenge Cup on Friday night.

For Stuart Hogg, the Glasgow full-back, it is all looking positive - even the groin muscle injury he picked up a couple of weeks ago seems to be recovering and he hopes to be back in action next week. "We are in a really good place at the moment, the boys are on fire, playing really well," he said.

"We are all massively excited about the weeks ahead. The last three or four years we have been in the semi-finals and finals so we have that experience and know what it's about. We certainly want to be in among them come the end of the season.

"The thing you want to look at is that, with the World Cup just around the corner, the boys really want to put a marker down. The good thing at Glasgow especially is that we are really driven by the team."

As for Edinburgh, even the players who can't be involved in the game have been caught up in the excitement, as Sean Kennedy, the scrum-half who is out until July after shoulder surgery, pointed out.

"To see the boys making the semi-final you are just fed up at being injured," he said, though he has been able to keep some involvement by helping analysis and that kind of thing. We definitely have grown more confident in the last few months. We realise that if we play well we can beat teams that people previously might have written us off against.

"You can see that in the way we are playing, maybe not so much at the weekend when we had a bit of a stumble, but when we come up against big teams like the Scarlets who had not been beaten at home for 15 months, there was never a question in our mind that we were going to win. We now have that winning mentality, that edge. We have definitely improved as a team in that respect."

Meanwhile, Scotland World Cup prospect Rory Sutherland last night took another stride towards the big stage by clinching a full-time deal with Edinburgh. The emergence of the former Gala prop has been one of the success stories of the season for the Gunners. And as he stepped up preparations for the European Challenge Cup semi showdown with the Dragons, Sutherland admitted the speed of his rise to stardom has left him amazed. The 22 year old - who has earned a two-year deal - declared: "I never thought this time last year I'd be where I am today. I have had so much game time - I thought when I became involved I'd be lucky to be a sub a couple of times.

"The way the season's gone has been fantastic. I started in the two pre-season friendlies, then when the PRO12 started I came off the bench a few times.

"It was a challenge to get up to speed and I found I was struggling those first few games. The pace and the physicality were a bit of a shock and it took a bit to get used to the way Edinburgh play.

"One thing I've learned is that knowing your role makes the game a lot easier."

Sutherland, who made his first start against Ulster in Belfast, added: "I'm learning so much every day and having so much time with the coaches is great.

"Stevie Scott and Alan Solomons both say they're happy with the way I play but I know I still need to fine tune things."

Sutherland's first taste of international matters came when he was included in the Scotland training squad in the build up to the Six Nations and was the 24th man in the Italy clash at Murrayfield. Now he is being tipped to be part of Scotland boss Vern Cotter's plans for the World Cup in the autumn.

He added: "It was an amazing experience and great to be able to take in the atmosphere at the Italy match. I knew there was only a slim chance I'd be involved but it was great to be part of the captain's run and all the build-up."