EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REPORTS
Hadden hopes today won't be the day to make SOS call
DAVID KELSO

ANXIOUS Scotland supremo Frank Hadden will know today if he will be forced to send out an SOS for extra players to jet to South Africa in the build up to the second Test against the Springboks.

In addition to their pride being severely dented by the Durban defeat at the weekend, the coach has been left with a fresh spate of injury worries. And no fewer than four big names, including skipper Jason White, face a race to be fit for the second Test in Port Elizabeth on Saturday.
The biggest question mark hangs over winger Sean Lamont, who has taken a blow below the knee while full-back Hugo Southwell hurt his shoulder and neck while pulling off a try-saving tackle in the opening international at the weekend.

In addition, breakaway forward Donnie Macfadyen has a painful chest-bone with back-row partner White also complaining about a knee problem.

Hadden was forced to cancel yesterday's scheduled training session and explained: "We are hoping that an extra 24 hours will give us a clearer picture and a lot will depend on whether these guys can run."

Hadden has, however, opted to keep stand-by man Johnny Beattie in South Africa instead of sending him back to France to link up with the Under-21 side competing in the World Championships.

The supremo explained: "Under-21 manager John Jeffrey is comfortable with that and understands how important the situation is for us. The bonus is what a good development opportunity it is for Johnny when you consider he is a player who may well have a shot at the World Cup next year.

"This is a good place for him to be and I think everybody is aware of the bigger picture."

Meanwhile, Hadden has admitted he is jealous of rugby chiefs in Madagascar - because they have more players to choose from.

Hadden underlined the curious fact as he tried to put last weekend's first Test hammering by the super-sized Springboks behind him. The coach is convinced that his troops are just as talented as South Africa - but fall behind in terms of raw power.

Having studied the video re-run of the 36-16 defeat in Durban, he declared: "The remarkable thing is that despite being comprehensively muscled out in the set-piece, we were the side who had more gain-line crosses.

"We in Scotland actually have fewer adult players than Madagascar, so it stands to reason that we won't have so many big guys available to us.

"We would love to be two or three stone a man heavier and we are always looking for the next wave of players to be bigger and stronger than the existing group.

"Our current squad are as fit as they can be and later in the match I felt that the Springbok pack were struggling more than we were."

Hadden took an upbeat turn by adding: "Conventional wisdom says your best chance against the big guns is in the first Test, but I don't subscribe to that.

"With this group we have maybe taken a wee while to acclimatise, get up to speed, adapt to playing against a team that has been playing together for two or three years in a difficult environment.

"I would expect us to learn hugely from that."

This article was posted on 13-Jun-2006, 11:46 by Hugh Barrow.