EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS REPORTS

Todd: Cup success will put sport in league of its own
BILL LOTHIAN ([email protected])
SCOTLAND today stands on the brink of a rugby league boom as a consequence of the national side reaching next year's World Cup Finals in Australia.

That's the view of the only Edinburgh-based player to have figured in the vital clash when qualification was clinched at the expense of Wales.

A few days after helping Scotland see off the Welsh over two legs (37-32), and despite losing the return encounter 16-18, Andy Todd was still taking stock of the achievement - and its implications.

"It is going to be an absolutely massive summer coming up for the Scottish Rugby League Conference when, hopefully, plenty of youngsters will take the view that if I can make it on to the biggest stage of all from out of Edinburgh Eagles then they can succeed in making the grade too," said 26-year-old Todd.

To put that leap into greater perspective one of winger Todd's adversaries when qualification was clinched in Glasgow last weekend included Iestyn Harris.

Harris' remarkable journey from league transfer record-breaker (£350,000 from Warrington to Leeds in 1997) to union's Six Nations Championship as part of a £1.5million deal involving Cardiff Blues, before returning to 13-a-side roots, is chronicled in an autobiography entitled "There and Back". But Todd took such legendary opposition in his stride when having a key role in setting up one of the Scottish tries, and all he is now focused on is ensuring selection for the Finals where it has already been decided heavyweights Australia, New Zealand and England will figure in one pool alongside Papua New Guinea, with three going through. That will leave the Scots, who are almost exclusively comprised of exiles, battling it out with chief rivals France for a semi-final spot along with the remaining, yet to be decided, qualifiers. It is a challenge Todd relishes, saying: "There is so much to play for and in the short term hopefully our success can expand the Scottish Conference beyond its current six teams."

Meantime, architect Andy, who works in Livingston with Bellway Homes, will spend a few months attempting to break through into the Currie rugby union team in the Scottish Hydro Electric Premiership. "I played a pre-season friendly for Currie 1sts but with my league pre-occupation I have had to be content with reserve runs.

"Now that commitment to league has eased, hopefully only temporarily, I'll be training hard in the knowledge that playing union is as good a way as any to stay in shape. I like both codes while preferring league and there is no doubt similarities exist.

"For example more union clubs are now setting up their defence so that the ball carrier is tackled by two men as is commonplace in league, though I don't foresee a merger of the two sports.

"If that was going to happen it would have occurred a decade ago when union went open; besides each code has retained its own distinctive style," he says.

But how did Todd come to be playing for Scotland out of Edinburgh Eagles alongside a host of suitably qualified Antipodeans, many of them linked to established rugby league outfits including Hull Kingston Rovers, Wakefield Trinity, Huddersfield Giants and Featherstone Rovers?

"I came to the Capital eight years ago to study at Napier University and decided to stay on. I'd played a bit of rugby union in my native Strathaven but it was Napier which proved the catalyst for introducing me to league where I took part in trials at Carlisle which got me into the Scottish amateur team. Alternating between Currie and Edinburgh Eagles - I'll consult with the Scotland coaches about how much union I should play before the World Cup - I gained more and more experience until I got my full cap debut in France two matches ago.

"Recalled for the home leg of the Welsh match after missing out on a game in Bridgend, it was a strange feeling, I admit, to be celebrating after last weekend's loss. But it is the big picture that counts and already I am homing in on what to expect from France in the World Cup having had a taste of facing them recently."

Likely to join Todd in chasing a Finals place is the only other home based player in the current squad, Edinburgh Eagles colleague David Lynn, who was on the bench against Wales without getting on to the pitch - though his chance will surely come.

This article was posted on 7-Nov-2007, 13:13 by Hugh Barrow.