ROBINSON SELECTS 11 HOME-BASED PLAYERS FOR AWAY CONTEST
Wednesday, 11 February 2009
Scotland ‘A’ coach Andy Robinson has named his side to face Ireland ‘A’ at the RDS on Friday night (13 February, kick off 7.30pm) with 11 home-based players included in the starting line-up.

Six members of Glasgow Warriors’ squad have been selected alongside a quintet of Edinburgh Rugby players while the exiles are represented by Steve Jones (Newcastle Falcons), Sean Lamont (Northampton Saints), Rob Dewey (Ulster) and David Young (Gloucester).

In the pack, Johnnie Beattie will start at the base of the scrum in a back row containing Scott Newlands and Alan MacDonald. Up front, Glasgow pair Ed Kalman and Fergus Thomson will pack down at the coalface alongside Young.

Centre Ben Cairns has been chosen to captain the team in a back-line containing three full internationalists.

Ruaridh Jackson will make his first-ever start at stand-off at ‘A’ level and the young playmaker admits he is excited about taking the next step in his career.

Jackson said: “I’ve played one ‘A’ game so far this season, but that was at full-back. Now I’m at 10, so it will be another step up on the organisational front and I’m really looking forward to it.

“From my perspective, it is going to be another learning curve during what has been a pretty good year so far.

“It is going to be a massive step for me because I’ve only had two starts for Glasgow, so it will be another chance to get some game-time under my belt at a very high level.

“It will definitely help that there are so many other Glasgow players in the team because they are faces that I know.”

When the teams met 12 months ago at McDiarmid Park, Scotland ran in an impressive 10 tries during a 67-7, but Jackson believes it will be a closer game this time around.

He added: “We got a good result last year, so this time we are expecting them to come out with all guns blazing.”

Robinson, working alongside Sean Lineen and Shade Munro, says he is aiming to maintain the standards set by the team last year; both in terms of results and in the brand of rugby employed.

Robinson said: “We are keen to pick up where we left off. We achieved some good results with a positive brand of expansive rugby last season and the plan is for the players to replicate those performances against Ireland ‘A’ and Italy ‘A’.

“Ireland ‘A’ have a strong squad with some real quality; Eoin Reddan, Shane Jennings and Andrew Trimble are all players with Test experience.”

On the injury front, centre John Houston has been ruled out of action after fracturing his hand during Edinburgh’s back-up match against Crawshay’s Welsh on Saturday evening.

Wing Andrew Turnbull returns back from Scotland 7’s duty to take his place on the bench alongside Scott MacLeod, who could experience his first taste of international rugby since the summer.

Scotland ‘A’ squad to play Ireland ‘A’ at RDS, Dublin (Friday 13 February, kick-off 7.30pm)

15 Steve Jones (Newcastle Falcons)

14 Jim Thompson (Edinburgh Rugby)
13 Ben Cairns (Edinburgh Rugby) CAPTAIN
12 Rob Dewey (Ulster)
11 Sean Lamont (Northampton Saints)
10 Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors)
9 Mark McMillan (Glasgow Warriors)

1 Ed Kalman (Glasgow Warriors)
2 Fergus Thomson (Glasgow Warriors)
3 David Young (Gloucester)
4 Craig Hamilton (Edinburgh Rugby)
5 Dan Turner (Glasgow Warriors)
6 Scott Newlands (Edinburgh Rugby)
7 Alan MacDonald (Edinburgh Rugby)
8 Johnnie Beattie (Glasgow Warriors)

16 Scott Lawson (Gloucester)
17 Stuart Corsar (Rotherham Titans)
18 Scott MacLeod (Edinburgh Rugby)
19 Steve Swindall (Glasgow Warriors)
20 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby)
21 Gordon Ross (Saracens)
22 Andrew Turnbull (Edinburgh Rugby)

This article was posted on 11-Feb-2009, 20:24 by Hugh Barrow.