THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS

Under-19 coach Wright criticises loss of exiles network

DAVID FERGUSON


PETER Wright, the national under-19s coach, said yesterday that it has become a struggle to find Scottish-qualified talent outside the country after the scrapping of the old exiles system by the SRU last year.

The former Scotland prop named the team to face France at Motherwell on Thursday night and after David McCall, the pacy Stewart's-Melville winger, withdrew late with a minor knee injury, he called in a new discovery, Jack Cuthbert, a 6ft 3in threequarter from Bath. In a trip south last year, Wright also uncovered a new player for the Scotland under-21 side to play France, Ryan Grant, a loosehead prop attached to the Army.


But he said finding these players had not been easy due to the scrapping of the exiles network, run by former internationals including Alastair McHarg, Eric Peters and Damien Cronin - a decision taken by Scottish clubs at a special general meeting, in favour of a new London-based academy. He said: "It took a bit of time to find out where Jack was- it is a problem just getting hold of these guys. The system's not the best down there because we don't have an academy manager at the moment; we're relying on people putting names forward.

"There is no structure there at the moment. The old [exiles] committee were doing a job and it's not up to me to decide whether they were doing a good job or not - you have to look at the players who have come through the system, really - but there is undoubtedly talent down there."

Frazer McArdell, a student at Hartpury University near Gloucester, is another exile called in after the U-19s' 15-5 Italy defeat in Rome last month. Wright added that a number of names of prospective internationals had been passed on with CVs pointing to Premiership academy attachments only for him to discover they were well short of the required strength and conditioning levels for his squad. "The difficulty is that we don't have someone down there to find these things out," he added. "When the new exiles coach gets in place we will then have someone down there able to identify players."

The new Scottish Rugby Board does appear to be changing tack with a post currently advertised on the SRU website for a new exiles development coach operating throughout England. It is unknown whether the academy created by Ian McGeechan, the former SRU director of rugby, will be re-launched - it has sat idle since the resignation of the manager just weeks into its existence six months ago.

Hawick's Graham Hogg, Murray Bringhurst from Watsonians and Gordon Reid, the Ayr prop, also step up to the Scotland under-19s side for the visit of France to Dalziel Park.

Scotland U19 (v France U19 at Dalziel on Thursday, 7pm): C Goudie (Stewart's-Melville FP); J Cuthbert (Bath), A Easson (Edinburgh & Stewart's-Melville FP), G Hogg (Hawick), C Anderson (Peebles); C Ferguson (Dundee HSFP, capt), M Bringhurst (Watsonians); A Dymock (Dundee HSFP), F Wilford (Sheffield Hallam Univ), G Reid (Ayr), R Vernon (Stewart's-Melville FP), S Turnbull (Stirling County), F McArdell (Hartpury College), D Lambart (Loughborough Univ), D Levison (Dundee HSFP). Subs: T Wright (Watsonians & Northumbria Univ), R McCallum (Ardrossan Acad), N Hart (Watsonians), D Lowrie (Hawick), J Hunter, R Curle (both Hillhead/Jordanhill), A Grove (Rugby School).

This article was posted on 31-Jan-2006, 08:53 by Hugh Barrow.