THE HERALD REPORTS

Edinburgh include Murray and add to confusionKEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer January 26 2007

Intrigue surrounded Scott Murray\'s inclusion in Edinburgh\'s side for tonight\'s Magners League clash with Connacht.

On the one hand, Lynn Howells, Edinburgh\'s coach, claimed he had simply selected from those \"available to him\" on a weekend when, by protocol, the national team management can demand that players be left out.

On the other, he asserted that no such requests had been made. That would make Howells\' omissions of Chris Paterson, Hugo Southwell, Marcus Di Rollo, Dougie Hall, Dave Callam and Simon Taylor extremely considerate of him.

continued...
The reality surely lies somewhere between, as the two management groups talk sensibly to one another, but Murray\'s involvement tonight, hints at Scotland\'s most capped forward - he was dropped for the second Test in South Africa last summer before making an impressive comeback in the autumn - still having something to prove.

Then again, the Scottish selections for these matches make something of a mockery of the now standard request made to the media this week by Frank Hadden, the national coach, not to flag up what his likely team for next week\'s RBS 6 Nations opener at Twickenham might be.

To do so would be un- professional on the part of journalists, while his request would make more sense if he was not committed to naming his team on Tuesday.

Any notion that Brian Ashton, England\'s new head coach, will rely on the Scottish press to do his analysis and deduction for him is silly.

Even more than usual, the way injured players have been coming back on stream reduces such analysis to guesswork.

Will one match back for Borders be enough for Chris Cusiter to force his way into Scotland\'s starting line-up after two months out?

Will two be enough for Rob Dewey to stake his claim?

Who would now say with confidence what the second-row will be from Murray, Al Kellock and (rested tonight), Scott MacLeod and Jim Hamilton (both outwith Hadden\'s area of control in Llanelli and Leicester respectively)?

In the back row, could Ally Hogg surprise himself by doing enough tonight, having played very little rugby this season? If not, what combination of John Beattie, Kelly Brown, Callam, and Taylor is the obvious choice?

Out wide, captain Chris Paterson\'s kicking assures him of his place, but Hadden justifiably reckons Scotland have never had such an array to choose from in the back three.

Southwell is rested, Simon Danielli is not, but needs game time, Webster is just back from injury so plays, Sean Lamont and Nikki Walker are outwith Scottish control.

All of which also makes it very difficult to assess the performances of the Scottish teams, relatively under-resourced as they already are.

In professional sport, records of two wins in 17 matches, which is the Reivers\' lot this season, or two in their past 10, Edinburgh\'s current run, should put coaches under extreme pressure.

That Howells at Edinburgh and Steve Bates at the Reivers are not, as yet, is a measure of the understanding of media and public of the difficult environment in which they work. Both, though, are too smart to doubt how quickly that situation can change unless they start winning soon.

This article was posted on 26-Jan-2007, 08:33 by Hugh Barrow.