THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS
Lack of finance jeopardises Glasgow date with Samoa

DAVID FERGUSON


GLASGOW'S hopes of playing Samoa next month in a return to the traditional touring matches of the past could be scuppered by the Scottish Rugby Union's financial belt-tightening.

The Glasgow match had been pencilled in for Sunday 13 November, the day after Scotland play Argentina at Murrayfield, and was confirmed by the Samoans yesterday as part of their touring schedule. They also indicated that they were hoping to play another game in Scotland, on 11 November, prior to the Test match with Scotland's national team on 20 November.


The SRU declined to comment on the fixtures, but it is understood that Samoa were seeking financial assistance from the union to help with their tour and the SRU is unable to provide it.

Glasgow, however, have more immediate concerns after leaving for France yesterday, and the start of their Heineken Cup campaign, without half of Hugh Campbell's first-choice team.

With international back row of Jon Petrie, Donnie Macfadyen and Andy Wilson already out, and Calvin Howarth, the fly-half/full-back, nursing a broken ankle, Glasgow will go into tomorrow night's match with Bourgoin in the Stade Pierre Rajon minus three first-choice backs - Scott Barrow, Rory Lamont and Mike Roberts - and props Ben Prescott and Euan Murray.

Stuart Corsar, the young Aberdeen prop signed as an apprentice in the summer, goes straight in after recovering from injury, a major boost as it emerged that Lloyd Campbell-McBride, an Australian prop signed only recently to provide cover, has returned to Queensland after an old sternum injury flared up.

Campbell has picked two Scotland caps in Dan Parks and Graeme Beveridge at half-back, but an inexperienced back row in teenagers John Beattie and John Barclay, and Paul Dearlove, and new-look back three of Andy Craig, Hefin O'Hare and Colin Shaw. Shaw has to make the step-up to European rugby from Glasgow Hawks 2nds, where he played last week, while Barclay returns to the starting line-up after playing club rugby with Stirling County.

Campbell admitted: "We picked up a few injuries late on against Llanelli and, on top of our international back row, losing Rory Lamont and Mike Roberts out of the back three is a bit of a blow.

"Euan had a re-occurrence of his post-concussion symptoms, light headedness, and while he could be fit and medical advice suggests he'll be fine soon, we will take no risks whatsoever.

"We are still looking at the ERC rules to see whether we can bring anyone else in, but they are pretty tight and I don't think we can. We are down to just 23 fit players and some of them haven't been playing much recently.

"Really, we should have a back-up team and enough players to run our own second team, but we don't have the resources for that at the moment so we rely on the goodwill of the clubs as much as possible.

"The clubs are in a difficult position, especially Glasgow Hawks who are going well in their league, so there's no blame attached; it's just the system is not what it could or should be. The fact is we are still under-resourced compared to our opponents, but if we want to move forward in Scotland we have to have that back-up and have an environment where we're driving players to the highest possible standard.

"Edinburgh have slightly better resources than we have, financially, and so have been able to run more back-up games than we have. We wanted more [as Scotland's top seed] but were told no, and there was no explanation from the previous director of rugby."

However, Campbell refused to be downcast about the prospect of taking on one of France's form teams in their own backyard.

"We do have a very young squad and inexperience is something we have to deal with this season, but this is a great opportunity for these players to get European experience," he added.

"They may not have experience, but they certainly have ability and I'm sure they will rise to the occasion."

Bourgoin skipper Julien Bonnaire is out of the game after he was given a 50-day suspension yesterday following the red card he received for his part in the astonishing free-for-all battle, which included spectators, with Agen nearly two weeks ago.

This article was posted on 20-Oct-2005, 08:21 by Hugh Barrow.