Lamont brothers wait in wings for Scotland

DAVID FERGUSON
CHIEF RUGBY WRITER

A PAIR of brothers are expected to be selected on the wings for Scotland tomorrow when Matt Williams reveals his team to face Wales.

The national coach will drop Simon Webster and hand a debut to 22-year-old Rory Lamont, younger brother of Sean Lamont, who has played in all three of Scotland’s matches in this season’s RBS Six Nations Championship.

It will be the first time two brothers have played for Scotland since John and Martin Leslie took the field against Wales in Cardiff three years ago, but with Ben MacDougall, the uncapped Edinburgh centre, set for a spot on the bench, it is further evidence of the coach’s desire to use the final two games in this championship to try out new players.

Rory Lamont is almost two years younger than his brother and an inch shorter, but he has good skills, an aggressive approach and, as well as his brother’s pace and power in the tackle, uses tricky feet to regularly beat the first man one-on-one.

It is that kind of defence-opening ability which Williams needs as he struggles to create a more potent back division, but it undoubtedly represents a gamble as Lamont has yet to prove himself even as a consistently good performer at professional level.

While Sean, 24, has won ten caps since making his Test debut against Samoa last summer, his brother has played just ten professional games for Glasgow and so is very much in the untried category.

Rory was signed up by the Northampton academy at the age of 17, but after four years, and failing to make an impression in the senior squad, he spent a year out of the game, both to recover from a shoulder injury and complete a sports science degree. He has no experience of international rugby at any level.

The 22-year-old was, like Sean, born in Perth before the family moved south. He returned to Scotland last summer on the recommendation of his brother, first joining Glasgow Hawks but being pulled into the city’s professional squad before playing at Anniesland when his ability was realised in training at Hughenden.

It appears Rory’s elevation to Test status this week owes much to a fine display in the narrow 21-16 defeat away to Newport-Gwent Dragons in January, where he was watched by Steve Anderson, the former Glasgow coach now in charge of defence with the national squad.

It is ironic, however, that he has won a Test spot this week after a relatively poor showing for Glasgow against Ulster on Friday in a game in which he was overshadowed by Ireland youngster Tommy Bowe.

There will be questions asked of the coach on his reasons for dropping Webster after the Edinburgh wing was recalled two weeks ago to face Italy - which resulted in Williams’ first Six Nations win in eight games.

Webster, who celebrated his 24th birthday on Tuesday as the squad were told the team selection, has become one of Scottish rugby’s most consistent performers this season despite a clutch of injury lay-offs.

With Scotland playing a limited kicking game, Webster had few real opportunities to make a difference against Italy and yet has fallen victim to the chop from the 22 in the same way Simon Danielli did after the Ireland game.

This is in stark contrast to the faith being shown in Dan Parks, the inconsistent stand-off, and wing Lamont, whose form deserted him in the autumn. However, that merely underlines the personal preferences of the national coach.

He believes in Parks, and similarly was behind the signing of MacDougall from rugby league in Australia and so clearly feels he must back up his confidence in that player’s ability by calling him up at the first real opportunity.

Rory Lamont would be wise, however, to take heed of the manner in which young talents like Andy Henderson, Graeme Morrison and Marcus Di Rollo have been spoken of highly by the coach and then left out in the cold, and not look beyond this first, somewhat surprising opportunity to play international rugby.

Scotland supporters will be hoping, like Williams, that the youngster does get the chance against a sparkling Welsh back division to show glimpses of something a little bit different and more threatening.

This article was posted on 10-Mar-2005, 08:09 by Hugh Barrow.