With this team selection, Frank Hadden has no option but to win
KEVIN FERRIE, Chief Rugby Writer February 05 2009
Being right is not always what it is cracked up to be, even in this line of work.

It is one thing listening properly to what the coaches are saying and being informed on what is taking place at training. Quite another to be delighted with what you are hearing.

With one exception, we at The Herald guessed right when predicting the Scotland team yesterday morning, but in doing so acknowledged that it was a selection very few would agree with.

A team with real problems turning pressure into points has, then, decided to start the RBS 6 Nations without the following players: n Chris Paterson - Scotland's all-time record points-scorer who is also just two short of matching the national try-scoring record in Tests;

Thom Evans - The Magners League's leading try-scorer with six this season, including a hat trick when Glasgow Warriors visited Bath in the Heineken Cup;
Dan Parks - The Magners League's record points-scorer, whose goal-kicking was crucial in Glasgow's epic defeat of Toulouse.
Worse still, while it may have been predictable, it is still hard to believe that no room has been found for either Evans or Parks in the entire 22. Similarly, Al Kellock, praised by his coaches for the way he led Glasgow's response to defeats by Edinburgh and Newport recently as they claimed major wins in the ensuing matches, has been left out, with Jason White pressed into action in the second row.

So much for the claims of Frank Hadden, Scotland's head coach, that the Warriors' win over Toulouse had forced him into a rethink.

The explanations also took a bit of swallowing. If, as was suggested, international experience outweighed form when it came to the wing positions, then how about full-back, where Hugo Southwell - like Thom Evans, in exceptional form - was preferred to Paterson?

Following the team announcement a colleague said he had interviewed Frank Hadden a couple of weeks ago and had been struck by how much weight the Scotland coach placed on Warren Gatland's decision to start with 13 Ospreys in his Wales team in last season's tournament.

Consequently, the journalist had written an article in which he suggested that players from Edinburgh, the club Hadden used to coach, would be favoured on every close call. "Even doing that, though, I didn't consider Simon Webster coming in because it never occurred to me that it was close between him and Evans on form," he noted.

In explaining the choices, Hadden said Lamont and Webster were picked because they have a good track record of scoring tries for their country. Their combined haul is 15 in 72 matches.

Ironically, yesterday's team announcement was made in Murrayfield's Smith and Wallace Suite, named after Scotland's grand slam wingers of 1925.

Ian Smith and Johnny Wallace scored 35 tries in 42 Tests.

Of course that was a different era but, taking it forward to the modern day and current form, Thom Evans has scored nine tries in all competitions this season. That compares with the combined haul from the selected back-three of Lamont, Webster and Southwell of 10. Hardly an over-powering exhibition of finishing ability.

The great thing about controversial selections is that it means those making them are heroes when they are proved right.

If Scotland win on Sunday, the selection by the management will have been sensational and will demonstrate that they have an understanding of the game that far outstrips that of the commentators.

However, this team simply have to win. Such are the apparent selectorial gambles, they have to be right.

No-one will, or at least should, offer consolation or accept excuses if they fail, because some of these omissions look almost as bad as when John Barclay was left out of the team that lost the first Test in Argentina last summer.

Back then the selectors should have been choosing between John Beattie and Ally Hogg at No.8. Instead, it appeared that Edinburgh's Hogg was guaranteed selection in that back-row, whereasthe selectors were deciding between Beattie and his Glasgow clubmate Barclay.

There is no question over Hadden's commitment to the cause or his determination to make the right decisions for the right reasons. He has, though, always had a tendency to prefer players he brought into the professional game.

A further aspect of that is that Gregor Townsend, the new backs coach, spent much more time with the Edinburgh players prior to being called into the national team management last month.

The impression is that the pair have selected those they are most comfortable with. Every Scottish supporter must hope they are still feeling comfortable with their decisions come Sunday evening.

This article was posted on 5-Feb-2009, 08:14 by Hugh Barrow.