EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REPORTS
BILL LOTHIAN
WATSONIANS today blasted Scotland\'s professional teams, accusing them of denying fringe players the chance to play Premiership rugby.

The attack came from president Morris Duncan after learning that full back and captain Alan Nash could be out for up to six weeks with a hamstring injury while centre James Easton is likely to be sidelined for three weeks.

Duncan said: \"Because Edinburgh, Glasgow and Borders appear to be have withdrawn the facility of player release it now seems we might have to look to the southern hemisphere for cover, whereas we\'d prefer to use Scottish-qualified talent.\" Edinburgh coaches were unavailable for comment.

Watsonians, who openly admit to paying players in a situation that flies in the face of the governing body\'s insistence that the club scene is \"amateur\", feel the Scottish Celtic League teams have been too hasty in rejecting a system which worked well last season when the likes of Duncan Hodge and Hugo Southwell were able to appear in the Premiership to mutual advantage.

Duncan, who hopes to have a new back registered for the Capital derby with Heriot\'s on Saturday week, added: \"It seems Edinburgh and their counterparts were banking on a bigger back-up team fixture list but, despite this not materialising, the situation remains the same with no pros released to the Premiership at any stage.\"

Ideally, Watsonians would have bolstered their team ahead of Saturday\'s trip to champions Hawks, but Duncan added: \"Fortunately we have flexibility in our ranks as Scotland\'s player registration scheme requires a week to elapse before fielding a newcomer.\"

This article was posted on 29-Aug-2006, 11:31 by Hugh Barrow.