THE GLASWEGIAN REPORTS
Feb 10 2009 By Matthew Leslie


FORMER Scotland prop Peter Wright says some Glasgow muscle is required if France are to be beaten in Paris on Saturday.

The Glasgow Hawks boss watched in disappointment as Frank Hadden's Scots crashed at home to Wales and he insists the national coach puts some faith in his Warriors contingent.

Only two Glasgow Warriors players started the game John Barclay and Graeme Morrison with Max Evans, Dougie Hall and Kelly Brown coming off the bench during the second half.

More notable were those absentees namely leading try-scorer Thom Evans, lock Al Kellock and fly-half Dan Parks.

All three being excluded caused controversy the latter two given that Hadden had not arranged any cover for their respective positions on the bench.

Hadden was yet to name his team for Paris as we went to print but Wright says he must make full use of all his available resources.

He said: "I don't say this out of bias as I see a lot of the Glasgow boys in action but there were a good few who could have done a job for Scotland either at the start or coming off the bench."

"The Evans boys in particular. No disrespect to Simon Webster but Thom should have started ahead of him.

"After the first 15 minutes, it became obvious that Ben Cairns was going to be a passenger and it was no surprise to see Max make the impact that he did.

"Nathan Hines was a huge loss but Frank should have gone with Kellock as he was asking Jason White to play from memory moving from flanker to lock.

"Kelly Brown has played at blindside flanker all season and he should have started ahead of Ally Hogg who was playing out of position and was anonymous as a result."

The surprise substitution of Warriors openside flanker John Barclay caused jaws to drop and Wright to land himself in hot water.

He laughed: I was commentating for Radio Scotland and when John was subbed, I turned the air bluer than the Scotland shirt which might get me into a bit of trouble.

"But I was gobsmacked because John had been one of our better players as he was one of the few on to take it to the Welsh.

"His body language spoke volumes when he realised he was being subbed and you could tell he was gutted to come off."

Many passing comments from fans leaving accused Hadden, a former Edinburgh coach, of showing favour towards the capital sides players when selecting his Scotland squad.

Wright added: "I don't believe Frank has gone down that route as you would be questioning his integrity there.

"I think it is more to do with players he feels comfortable with as well as a preference for experience.

"Nine times out of 10, when any coach has to spin a coin to decide who to play, he'll go with the guy who's been there and done it.

"Admittedly though, those who missed out in this case were unfortunate to do so and could well be given their chance after last week."

This article was posted on 11-Feb-2009, 12:05 by Hugh Barrow.