SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY REPORTS

Scots warm to challenge of the green
IAIN MORRISON
THE Scotland squad were holding an open training session at St Andrews on Thursday, and the traffic was backed up for miles. Surely a healthy sign that, despite all the brouhaha, the Scottish public would still turn up in droves to support their brave boys?

Sadly, not quite the case.

Many of the cars clogging the A91 were en route to the Women's British Open golf championship to support Michelle Wie, Annika Sorenstam and the rest that same day. Nevertheless, a healthy enough crowd of rugby supporters gathered at the Madras playing fields in front of the Old Course Hotel to watch the squad being put through through their paces in the Fife sunshine.

Frank Hadden has two immediate issues to resolve. He needs to pick a team to beat Ireland next Saturday - "It would give us the momentum we are looking for" - after which he must hand out the verbal equivalent of a "Dear John" letter to nine unlucky members of his 39-strong squad. The final World Cup selection of 30 will be announced on August 14.

The coach noted that most of the nations that had announced their squads had opted for three hookers and three scrum-halves, the two most specialised positions, but he insisted that he and his fellow selectors, Alan Tait and George Graham, had yet to make that call. He insisted that plenty of places were still up for grabs, but he would hardly claim otherwise with the first warm-up match on the horizon.

In truth, the selectors will most likely spend much of their time arguing about three key decisions. They will probably have to leave Scott MacLeod or James Hamilton out of their second-row mix; then they must choose one breakaway forward from among Dave Callam, Alasdair Strokosch and John Barclay, and one utility back from the list of Callum McRae, Graeme Morrison and Nick de Luca.

The latter player has shown up exceptionally well in competitive training runs at Nos.12 and 13, and is obviously one to watch next season, but he may be considered a little callow for World Cup duty.

Hadden has three first-class scrumhalves at his disposal, so it would be surprising if he did not take them to France. And with his hookers falling like flies, three would appear to be the bare minimum required for an arduous World Cup campaign. Dougie Hall is already out of the tournament with a ligament tear to his left knee, and last week Scott Lawson was hobbling about with his ankle encased in a medical boot.

The little Biggar man looks a serious doubt for the Ireland match, but his injury has opened the door for Glasgow's Fergus Thomson, who may be handed the opportunity of winning his first cap off the bench on Saturday - depending upon Lawson's progress.

"It was a shame about Dougie's injury," Thomson said, while fighting to prevent a huge grin breaking out at his own good fortune. "It was bad luck for him, and I would have preferred to have got into the squad under my own steam. But I am happy to be here, any which way.

"Frank said that it was pretty much down to the toss of a coin between me and Scotty Lawson for the third place (as a hooker) in the big squad, anyway, so I think I deserve my chance."

Thomson is not short of confidence in his own abilities, a welcome change from the "I'm-not-worthy" attitude of all too many Scots. But, if he backs himself, he also emphasises the self-confidence with an appetite for self- improvement that has transformed his game over the past two years.

Not naturally big, particularly fast or outstandingly strong, Thomson has made huge strides in all three areas, and he looked perfectly at home standing among the giants of the international squad last week. But above all else, a top-class hooker earns his corn at the lineout.

Modern hookers need to mirror the accuracy of Jocky Wilson at the darts board, while the opposition are, as often as not, offering their advice at full volume. It is an unenviable task, and there is no hiding now that match statistics are published almost before the players are relaxing in the showers.

One Glasgow insider described Thomson's throwing as "pretty ordinary when he arrived from Hawks", but the man himself now claims that his work at the sidelines is one of his plus points. At least part of this improvement must be down to Scotland's throwing coach, James Wade.

Wade fulfils a position with Sale Sharks, but he has been contracted by the SRU on a part-time basis, and the long hours that he has put in with Thomson are bearing dividends. Every little helps, as they say, because there is precious little to choose between Scotland's top four hookers. Ross Ford is the bigger man, Lawson a competitive dynamo, while Hall, at least according to the national selectors, is the best all-rounder. Yet the uncapped Thomson may yet emerge from the pack.

There is a precedent. Simon Danielli is now struggling with a long-term groin injury that seems sure to curtail his World Cup ambitions, but four years ago the flying winger won his first cap in the warm-up matches ahead of Australia 2003, and went on play in every match of the campaign.

At just 23, Thomson is but a babe in arms in front-row years, yet it is not inconceivable that he could do something similar if - and here's the rub - he gets an opportunity on Saturday against one of the form teams in world rugby.

"I trained a fair bit with the Six Nations squad during that tournament," says Thomson, "so this isn't an entirely new experience for me, but the intensity is much greater than you find at club level. Obviously with Scotty struggling, I might get a chance at a first cap next weekend, and if it happens I just want to grab the opportunity to shine, whether it is for 20 minutes or for five minutes I don't care. I am looking to make that crunching tackle or make a clean break to put my marker down."

He laughingly conceded that the former was more likely than the latter.

"It isn't a Six Nations match next weekend, and we have all been training harder than is normal before an international, but it's still a huge match for everyone involved. The World Cup squad is selected immediately afterwards, and every player here wants to be involved in the biggest event in world rugby. There is no way that this can be called a meaningless friendly."

The term "friendly" doesn't come into it, especially after the last time these teams met. Ireland coach Eddie O'Sullivan accused a Scottish player of the attempted murder of Ronan O'Gara who, he claimed, had been left blue in the face after being throttled at the bottom of a ruck ... blue murder perhaps?

Maybe that is why Ulster's Paddy Wallace is expected to start at No.10 for the men in green on Saturday.

This article was posted on 5-Aug-2007, 07:23 by Hugh Barrow.