Scotland 6N lookahead

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Fixtures

07/02 France V Scotland - 17:00
15/02 Scotland V Wales - 15:00

28/02 Scotland V Italy - 14:30

14/03 England V Scotland - 17:00
21/03 Scotland V Ireland - 14:30


6N standings last 10 years

2014 - 5th, 1 win
2013 - 3rd, 2 wins
2012 - 6th, 0 wins
2011 - 5th, 1 win
2010 - 5th, 1 win
2009 - 5th, 1 win
2008 - 5th, 1 win
2007 - 6th, 1 win
2006 - 3rd, 3 wins
2005 - 5th, 1 win

Squad

FORWARDS: Hugh Blake (Edinburgh Rugby), Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Blair Cowan, Geoff Cross (both London Irish), David Denton, Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby), Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Castres), Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby), Jim Hamilton (Saracens), Rob Harley, Euan Murray, Gordon Reid (all Glasgow Warriors), Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan), Ben Toolis, Hamish Watson (both Edinburgh Rugby), Jon Welsh (Glasgow Warriors).

BACKS: Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors), Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby), Alex Dunbar, (Glasgow Warriors) Dougie Fife (Edinburgh Rugby), Stuart Hogg, Peter Horne (both Glasgow Warriors) Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester), Sean Lamont, Sean Maitland, Henry Pyrgos, Finn Russell (all Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby), Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Tonks, Tim Visser (both Edinburgh Rugby).

Unavailable through injury: Adam Ashe (neck), Chris Fusaro (ankle), Grant Gilchrist (arm), Tyrone Holmes (face), Ruaridh Jackson (knee), Duncan Taylor (hamstring), Duncan Weir (arm).

LordDowlais wrote:Just out of interest, how many of the Scottish national side are actualy Scottish ? By this I mean, people who have lived in Scotland for the majority, or all their lives, also, how many of these SQ players do you have at your two pro clubs ?

Of the starting XV against Tonga 12 Scottish born and bred.

All but cross , Gray and Laidlaw play in Scotland, but they used to.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:Just out of interest, how many of the Scottish national side are actualy Scottish ? By this I mean, people who have lived in Scotland for the majority, or all their lives, also, how many of these SQ players do you have at your two pro clubs ?

Of the starting XV against Tonga 12 Scottish born and bred.

All but cross , Gray and Laidlaw play in Scotland, but they used to.

I am talking about the whole squad, not the starting XV. Sorry, if I did not explain it clearly.

7 of the bench born and bred. 5 play in Scotland

RDW_Scotland wrote:7 of the bench born and bred. 5 play in Scotland

So is that just 12 players from the whole thirty man squad ?

George Carlin wrote:

Captain_Sensible wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:So not that bad really..

7 out of eight forwards who are not Scottish, starting for one of your TWO regions is very bad, really. Injuries or not, you only have two regions/pro clubs, and you are filling them with NSQ players, I would not be happy with this if the Welsh regions feilded that many NWQ players in one game, and you wonder why Scotland's main game of the 6n is Italy ? Come on, the SRU need to do better than this.

There is a difference between NSQ and not Scottish-born. Four of the players in the pack vs Cardiff are the latter, and still qualify to play for Scotland (Grant, Denton, Atkins and Toolis). Another (Sutherland) is Scottish born, so only three are NSQ.

Given our low player numbers, it isn't surprising that the SRU has to bring in SQ'd players from abroad. The establishment of national academies should help increase player numbers, but this will take time.

Glasgow's predominantly Scottish squad balances this out a little, Dowlais. It's true that the Exfoliators of the East rely on foreign importants, but Glasgow don't.

Out of a squad of 47 registered players, only 6 are NSQ at the moment and some of these will become SQ over the next year or so. Of Glasgow's first choice 15, I would say that there are only 3 players (Leone Nakarawa, Nikola Matawalu and Joshua Strauss) who are NSQ and Strauss will become SQ next summer.

just on that point GC, it's not as if Edinburgh is much worse than Glasgow.  Out of the squad of 49 (although Nikki Walker is still listed so lets say 48), only 13 are currently NSQ .  Granted it's over double what Glasgow have, but it's not a massive number.  With Nel & Cornell both likely to become SQ.

Sorry, 4 of the bench play in Scotland, but all but 2 of the bench play or used to play in Scotland

LordDowlais wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:7 of the bench born and bred. 5 play in Scotland

So is that just 12 players from the whole thirty man squad ?

No, 19 of the 23 man squad on Saturday were sq born and bred

Someone else will have to comment on the wider training squad!

LordDowlais wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:7 of the bench born and bred. 5 play in Scotland

So is that just 12 players from the whole thirty man squad ?

Scottish born players highlighted in bold

SCOTLAND 2014 VIAGOGO AUTUMN TEST SQUAD

FORWARDS: Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors), Johnnie Beattie (Castres), Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Blair Cowan, Geoff Cross (both London Irish), Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford (both Edinburgh Rugby), Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors), Grant Gilchrist CAPTAIN (Edinburgh Rugby), Robert Harley, Jonny Gray (both Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Castres), Scott Lawson (Newcastle Falcons), Kieran Low (London Irish), Euan Murray, Gordon Reid (both Glasgow Warriors) Alasdair Strokosch (USA Perpignan), Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors).

BACKS: Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors), Chris Cusiter (Sale Sharks), Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), Dougie Fife, Tom Heathcote (both Edinburgh Rugby), Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Gloucester), Sean Lamont, Sean Maitland, Finn Russell, Henry Pyrgos, Tommy Seymour (all Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Taylor (Saracens), Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby), Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors).

Invited to train with the squad: Allan Dell (Edinburgh Rugby), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby).


Not considered through injury: David Denton (returning from injury, Edinburgh Rugby), Ryan Grant (returning from injury, Glasgow Warriors), Ruaridh Jackson (knee, London Wasps), Ross Rennie (knee, Bristol Rugby), Matt Scott (shoulder, Edinburgh Rugby), Jon Welsh, Ryan Wilson (both returning from injury, Glasgow Warriors).

Also, I am not asking where they are born, I am asking if they are players who have gained residency.

So, basically, 26 out of the 34 players named in the main initial squad were born in Scotland.

That's pretty good numbers - don't see what the problem is here.

Looks like I was wrong about Watson, for some reason I thought he was born in Scotland.  Decrease any number I have posted by one.  Also worth mentioning that Harley was apparently born in Crewe...at least according to Wikipedia, no idea when he moved to Scotland though, might have just happened to be in Crewe when he was born.

EWT Spoons wrote:Looks like I was wrong about Watson, for some reason I thought he was born in Scotland.  Decrease any number I have posted by one.  Also worth mentioning that Harley was apparently born in Crewe...at least according to Wikipedia

I would still count him as Scottish born, though. He did all his growing up in Scotland, and was developed in our youth system. Can’t say that about Heathcote, mind, even though he was born in Inverness.

Captain_Sensible wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:7 of the bench born and bred. 5 play in Scotland

So is that just 12 players from the whole thirty man squad ?

Scottish born players highlighted in bold

SCOTLAND 2014 VIAGOGO AUTUMN TEST SQUAD

FORWARDS: Adam Ashe (Glasgow Warriors), Johnnie Beattie (Castres), Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Blair Cowan, Geoff Cross (both London Irish), Alasdair Dickinson, Ross Ford (both Edinburgh Rugby), Chris Fusaro (Glasgow Warriors), Grant Gilchrist CAPTAIN (Edinburgh Rugby), Robert Harley, Jonny Gray (both Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Castres), Scott Lawson (Newcastle Falcons), Kieran Low (London Irish), Euan Murray, Gordon Reid (both Glasgow Warriors) Alasdair Strokosch (USA Perpignan), Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors).

BACKS: Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors), Chris Cusiter (Sale Sharks), Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors), Dougie Fife, Tom Heathcote (both Edinburgh Rugby), Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Gloucester), Sean Lamont, Sean Maitland, Finn Russell, Henry Pyrgos, Tommy Seymour (all Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Taylor (Saracens), Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby), Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors).

Invited to train with the squad: Allan Dell (Edinburgh Rugby), Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby).


Not considered through injury: David Denton (returning from injury, Edinburgh Rugby), Ryan Grant (returning from injury, Glasgow Warriors), Ruaridh Jackson (knee, London Wasps), Ross Rennie (knee, Bristol Rugby), Matt Scott (shoulder, Edinburgh Rugby), Jon Welsh, Ryan Wilson (both returning from injury, Glasgow Warriors).

and maitland pyrgos, cowan, seymour all have either scottish mother or father .

wonder how many welsh players are 100pc welsh not 50pc english or tongan

Captain_Sensible wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:Looks like I was wrong about Watson, for some reason I thought he was born in Scotland.  Decrease any number I have posted by one.  Also worth mentioning that Harley was apparently born in Crewe...at least according to Wikipedia

I would still count him as Scottish born, though. He did all his growing up in Scotland, and was developed in our youth system. Can’t say that about Heathcote, mind, even though he was born in Inverness.

I would not even question Heathcote, he has played all through Scottish age grade rugby.

LordDowlais wrote:

Captain_Sensible wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:Looks like I was wrong about Watson, for some reason I thought he was born in Scotland.  Decrease any number I have posted by one.  Also worth mentioning that Harley was apparently born in Crewe...at least according to Wikipedia

I would still count him as Scottish born, though. He did all his growing up in Scotland, and was developed in our youth system. Can’t say that about Heathcote, mind, even though he was born in Inverness.

I would not even question Heathcote, he has played all through Scottish age grade rugby.

Nope, he played u20s for England.

Captain_Sensible wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

Captain_Sensible wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:Looks like I was wrong about Watson, for some reason I thought he was born in Scotland.  Decrease any number I have posted by one.  Also worth mentioning that Harley was apparently born in Crewe...at least according to Wikipedia

I would still count him as Scottish born, though. He did all his growing up in Scotland, and was developed in our youth system. Can’t say that about Heathcote, mind, even though he was born in Inverness.

I would not even question Heathcote, he has played all through Scottish age grade rugby.

Nope, he played u20s for England.

Yes you are right, I didn't know that, although he was born in Scotland whilst his father served in the RAF.

So are we all in agreement then that there's nothing wrong with Scotland and Glasgow's Scottish-ness, and although Edinburgh have a lot of nsq players, the reality is most of them are just squad fillers and the first team has a good Scottish core?

RDW_Scotland wrote:So are we all in agreement then that there's nothing wrong with Scotland and Glasgow's Scottish-ness, and although Edinburgh have a lot of nsq players, the reality is most of them are just squad fillers and the first team has a good Scottish core?

Yes. I agree. I think the 'squad filler' thing is a problem for Embra. NSQ'd players should be the icing on the cake, as they are at Glasgow.

Captain_Sensible wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:So are we all in agreement then that there's nothing wrong with Scotland and Glasgow's Scottish-ness, and although Edinburgh have a lot of nsq players, the reality is most of them are just squad fillers and the first team has a good Scottish core?

Yes. I agree. I think the 'squad filler' thing is a problem for Embra. NSQ'd players should be the icing on the cake, as they are at Glasgow.

Exactly.

If I were a Scottish rugby fan, I would be very concerned with the amount of NSQ players padding out one of the only TWO pro sides that we had to support the national side.

LordDowlais wrote:If I were a Scottish rugby fan, I would be very concerned with the amount of NSQ players padding out one of the only TWO pro sides that we had to support the national side.

If I were a Welsh rugby fan, I would be very concerned about the prospect of Murrayfield in February.

reallybored wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:If I were a Scottish rugby fan, I would be very concerned with the amount of NSQ players padding out one of the only TWO pro sides that we had to support the national side.

If I were a Welsh rugby fan, I would be very concerned about the prospect of Murrayfield in February.

Where we last lost 7yrs ago. Look, I am not trying to bring you lot down, it's just when I watched the game on Sunday and Edinburgh had 7 forwards who were not technically Scottish, and then you have the whole squad padded out with NSQ players, if I were Scottish I would be very concerned, you are the second biggest country in the UK yet you can barely produce enough players for two squads, no wonder it is always between you and Italy for last place is the 6N.

How has a discussion about Scotland turned into a Wales debate??

Worth remembering we've got a lot of ex pats playing round Europe.

We can't have every Scottish player playing in Scotland as they wouldn't get gametime.

Edinburgh is a unique case, but generally in the positions we have nsq players there is a lack of Scottish options available. Give it a few years though - I'm fairly certain the nsq base will significantly decrease because we have a lot of good youngsters coming through. This season is probably too soon for a lot of them, but I hope to see them coming through next season

That, however, is a whole new debating point!

Had a look at Edinburgh, and although the NSQ players are on the high side, I don't think it is as bad as everyone thinks.

Squad list (including academy players) - 60

SQ - 46 (77%)

And more importantly, I think, what would our first choice 23 be just now and how many of those are SQ?

Dickinson
Ford
Nel
Gilchrist
Bresler
Du Preez
Watson
Denton

Hidalgo-Clyne
Heathcoat
Visser
Scott
Beard
Fife
Tonks

Sutherland, Hiltberbrand, Andress, McKenzie, Grant, Kennedy, Burliegh, Brown

17 out of 23, which I don't think is 'damaging to Scottish rugby' levels.

LordDowlais wrote:

reallybored wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:If I were a Scottish rugby fan, I would be very concerned with the amount of NSQ players padding out one of the only TWO pro sides that we had to support the national side.

If I were a Welsh rugby fan, I would be very concerned about the prospect of Murrayfield in February.

Where we last lost 7yrs ago. Look, I am not trying to bring you lot down, it's just when I watched the game on Sunday and Edinburgh had 7 forwards who were not technically Scottish, and then you have the whole squad padded out with NSQ players, if I were Scottish I would be very concerned, you are the second biggest country in the UK yet you can barely produce enough players for two squads, no wonder it is always between you and Italy for last place is the 6N.

Always is a strong word. Wales do have a Wooden Spoon in the 6 Nations as well (as do France). But yes, regarding the Edinburgh squad you have managed to pin point a valid issue, which has been aired and shared on here about a million times.

There is no question the number of NSQ players in the Edinburgh squad is wrong, and in particular the quality of some of those players questionnable. That said, the Edinburgh 1st XV is on the right side of the line in my view, and that's despite some very good SQ players leaving recently (Cross, Rennie, Laidlaw and NDL). The squad is also undergoing a period of transition, and in Turner, Sutherland, Watson, Ritchie, Bradbury and hopefully Farndale and Hoyland Solomons is gradually bringing through promising young Scottish players. Not as quickly as I would like, and there are some NSQ players I would show the door pronto, but I don't think things are as gloomy as perhaps the squad against Cardiff would suggest.

Incidentally all of the players you list as "not technically Scottish" are of course qualified and registered to play for Scotland with the exception of Nel (who will qualify) and Coman. Similarly all of the backs were Scots qualified as well, except Strauss. That's a mighty two NSQ players in the starting lineup who won't be eligible to play for Scotland (the same as Cardiff actually). If you don't like the IRB rules, then obviously that's a different debate, but I presume you take a dim view of Anscombe playing for Cardiff.....

funnyExiledScot wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

reallybored wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:If I were a Scottish rugby fan, I would be very concerned with the amount of NSQ players padding out one of the only TWO pro sides that we had to support the national side.

If I were a Welsh rugby fan, I would be very concerned about the prospect of Murrayfield in February.

Where we last lost 7yrs ago. Look, I am not trying to bring you lot down, it's just when I watched the game on Sunday and Edinburgh had 7 forwards who were not technically Scottish, and then you have the whole squad padded out with NSQ players, if I were Scottish I would be very concerned, you are the second biggest country in the UK yet you can barely produce enough players for two squads, no wonder it is always between you and Italy for last place is the 6N.

Always is a strong word. Wales do have a Wooden Spoon in the 6 Nations as well (as do France). But yes, regarding the Edinburgh squad you have managed to pin point a valid issue, which has been aired and shared on here about a million times.

There is no question the number of NSQ players in the Edinburgh squad is wrong, and in particular the quality of some of those players questionnable. That said, the Edinburgh 1st XV is on the right side of the line in my view, and that's despite some very good SQ players leaving recently (Cross, Rennie, Laidlaw and NDL). The squad is also undergoing a period of transition, and in Turner, Sutherland, Watson, Ritchie, Bradbury and hopefully Farndale and Hoyland Solomons is gradually bringing through promising young Scottish players. Not as quickly as I would like, and there are some NSQ players I would show the door pronto, but I don't think things are as gloomy as perhaps the squad against Cardiff would suggest.

Incidentally all of the players you list as "not technically Scottish" are of course qualified and registered to play for Scotland with the exception of Nel (who will qualify) and Coman. Similarly all of the backs were Scots qualified as well, except Strauss. That's a mighty two NSQ players in the starting lineup who won't be eligible to play for Scotland (the same as Cardiff actually). If you don't like the IRB rules, then obviously that's a different debate, but I presume you take a dim view of Anscombe playing for Cardiff.....

I also think that the comment "you are the second biggest country in the UK yet you can barely produce enough players for two squads" is misleading.

Geographical size of the country is not a relevant criterion, the number of registered players each country has definitely is.

In 2011, the IRB did a survey and found as follows:
- England - 2,549,196 registered players
- France - 313,877 registered players
- Ireland - 153,080 registered players
- Italy - 66,176 registered players
- Wales - 50,577 registered players
- Scotland - 38,500 registered players

In fact, if you think about it for long enough, it's amazing that Scotland is able to compete at all.

Interestingly, accordingly to Professor Google, there are roughly 38,000 rugby union players registered in Australia. Now that is impressive!

I know for a fact those figures in Scotland are very much exaggerated too - players dual registered to clubs being counted twice, under 18 players also registering with their clubs and being counted twice etc.

Am I also right in thinking that those figures aren't adult players, but include kids too? I have a vague recollection of the adult playing nunbers being around 10k.

I'm sure there will be discrepancies in the other Unions, but Scotland's playing numbers certainly aren't anywhere near close to that number.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:

reallybored wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:If I were a Scottish rugby fan, I would be very concerned with the amount of NSQ players padding out one of the only TWO pro sides that we had to support the national side.

If I were a Welsh rugby fan, I would be very concerned about the prospect of Murrayfield in February.

Where we last lost 7yrs ago. Look, I am not trying to bring you lot down, it's just when I watched the game on Sunday and Edinburgh had 7 forwards who were not technically Scottish, and then you have the whole squad padded out with NSQ players, if I were Scottish I would be very concerned, you are the second biggest country in the UK yet you can barely produce enough players for two squads, no wonder it is always between you and Italy for last place is the 6N.

Always is a strong word. Wales do have a Wooden Spoon in the 6 Nations as well (as do France). But yes, regarding the Edinburgh squad you have managed to pin point a valid issue, which has been aired and shared on here about a million times.

There is no question the number of NSQ players in the Edinburgh squad is wrong, and in particular the quality of some of those players questionnable. That said, the Edinburgh 1st XV is on the right side of the line in my view, and that's despite some very good SQ players leaving recently (Cross, Rennie, Laidlaw and NDL). The squad is also undergoing a period of transition, and in Turner, Sutherland, Watson, Ritchie, Bradbury and hopefully Farndale and Hoyland Solomons is gradually bringing through promising young Scottish players. Not as quickly as I would like, and there are some NSQ players I would show the door pronto, but I don't think things are as gloomy as perhaps the squad against Cardiff would suggest.

Incidentally all of the players you list as "not technically Scottish" are of course qualified and registered to play for Scotland with the exception of Nel (who will qualify) and Coman. Similarly all of the backs were Scots qualified as well, except Strauss. That's a mighty two NSQ players in the starting lineup who won't be eligible to play for Scotland (the same as Cardiff actually). If you don't like the IRB rules, then obviously that's a different debate, but I presume you take a dim view of Anscombe playing for Cardiff.....

The thing with Anscombe is he has a Welsh mother, so he qualifies straight away, what I am 100% against though is him getting a dual contract and getting fast tracked into the Welsh squad. He should be made to earn his place first, I would much rather see a promising young player from the Blues academy like Cory Allen get a dual contract first.

George Carlin wrote:- England - 2,549,196 registered players

Christ on a bike, how come England are not ruling the world with that many players ? Also, with that many registered players, why o why do they need to give out caps to Fijians/South Africans/New Zealanders ect.

I assume the cost of the "licence" in England must be very cheap...

How can someone with the names "Blair Cowan" and "Roddy Grant" not be full blown Scottish???

Grant qualifies through gingerness alone!

LordDowlais wrote:

George Carlin wrote:- England - 2,549,196 registered players

Christ on a bike, how come England are not ruling the world with that many players ? Also, with that many registered players, why o why do they need to give out caps to Fijians/South Africans/New Zealanders ect.

tigertattie wrote:How can someone with the names "Blair Cowan" and "Roddy Grant" not be full blown Scottish???

Grant qualifies through gingerness alone!

tigertattie wrote:
Grant qualifies through gingerness alone!

Glove has just pished himself with excitement - finally, a benefit of being ginger!

LordDowlais wrote:The thing with Anscombe is he has a Welsh mother, so he qualifies straight away, what I am 100% against though is him getting a dual contract and getting fast tracked into the Welsh squad. He should be made to earn his place first, I would much rather see a promising young player from the Blues academy like Cory Allen get a dual contract first.

So how does that differ then from Hilterbrand, Atkins and Toolis who you described as "technically not Scottish"??

George Carlin wrote:New 7s kit is in, so presumably that means we are stuck with that foul, cash sucking jamboree for a while longer. I like the navy one. The pink one is completely appropriate given the enormous jessies that comprise our 7s team.

It's good but could they not have found a bigger BT logo?

RDW_Scotland wrote:

tigertattie wrote:
Grant qualifies through gingerness alone!

Glove has just pished himself with excitement - finally, a benefit of being ginger!

Educate yourselves! http://www.buzzfeed.com/erinlarosa/reasons-why-being-a-redhead-is-awesome

funnyExiledScot wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:The thing with Anscombe is he has a Welsh mother, so he qualifies straight away, what I am 100% against though is him getting a dual contract and getting fast tracked into the Welsh squad. He should be made to earn his place first, I would much rather see a promising young player from the Blues academy like Cory Allen get a dual contract first.

So how does that differ then from Hilterbrand, Atkins and Toolis who you described as "technically not Scottish"??

Or maitland Seymour pyrgos Cowan etc etc

Check this out from wc 2011

http://goo.gl/H46D1

funnyExiledScot wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:The thing with Anscombe is he has a Welsh mother, so he qualifies straight away, what I am 100% against though is him getting a dual contract and getting fast tracked into the Welsh squad. He should be made to earn his place first, I would much rather see a promising young player from the Blues academy like Cory Allen get a dual contract first.

So how does that differ then from Hilterbrand, Atkins and Toolis who you described as "technically not Scottish"??

What I mean is, there is a difference to somebody who has a geniune affinity to a country other than spending three years of their adult life in the said country.

So how do you know that those players don't have the affinity with the country, nor indeed any of the imported players? I take it you've asked them all yeah?

LordDowlais wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:

LordDowlais wrote:The thing with Anscombe is he has a Welsh mother, so he qualifies straight away, what I am 100% against though is him getting a dual contract and getting fast tracked into the Welsh squad. He should be made to earn his place first, I would much rather see a promising young player from the Blues academy like Cory Allen get a dual contract first.

So how does that differ then from Hilterbrand, Atkins and Toolis who you described as "technically not Scottish"??

What I mean is, there is a difference to somebody who has a geniune affinity to a country other than spending three years of their adult life in the said country.

Can open. Worms everywhere.

Also worth pointing out that the only player in the current squad that qualifies through spending 3 years of their adult life in said country is Visser....and he's been in Scotland for 5 years now!

I'm pretty sure the Scottish RU is looking to get John Hardie (Southland) and Hugh Blake (Otago) for the world cup squad. Both qualify through grandparents. I think they're both still under contract to the NZRFU, which poses a bit of a stumbling block.

blackcanelion wrote:I'm pretty sure the Scottish RU is looking to get John Hardie (Southland) and Hugh Blake (Otago) for the world cup squad. Both qualify through grandparents. I think they're both still under contract to the NZRFU, which poses a bit of a stumbling block.

Currently being discussed here

https://www.606v2.com/t55409p750-glasgow-and-edinburgh-ongoing-banter-thread-v-the-fun-continues#2850774

Can't see them getting into the Scotland team in the space of a year, especially since Hardie won't be joining until the summer, but he'll certainly be an asset to Edinburgh when he comes.

Blake is only being signed on a short term deal to the end of the season because we have real injury problems in the back row.

blackcanelion wrote:I'm pretty sure the Scottish RU is looking to get John Hardie (Southland) and Hugh Blake (Otago) for the world cup squad. Both qualify through grandparents. I think they're both still under contract to the NZRFU, which poses a bit of a stumbling block.

How do you rate those players, BlackCanelion?

RDW_Scotland wrote:

blackcanelion wrote:I'm pretty sure the Scottish RU is looking to get John Hardie (Southland) and Hugh Blake (Otago) for the world cup squad. Both qualify through grandparents. I think they're both still under contract to the NZRFU, which poses a bit of a stumbling block.

Currently being discussed here

https://www.606v2.com/t55409p750-glasgow-and-edinburgh-ongoing-banter-thread-v-the-fun-continues#2850774

Can't see them getting into the Scotland team in the space of a year, especially since Hardie won't be joining until the summer, but he'll certainly be an asset to Edinburgh when he comes.  

Blake is only being signed on a short term deal to the end of the season because we have real injury problems in the back row.

Fair enough. Haven't been to the club pages for a while. The article I read is the Hardie move, at least, is being driven by the Scottish team management.

blackcanelion wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

blackcanelion wrote:I'm pretty sure the Scottish RU is looking to get John Hardie (Southland) and Hugh Blake (Otago) for the world cup squad. Both qualify through grandparents. I think they're both still under contract to the NZRFU, which poses a bit of a stumbling block.

Currently being discussed here

https://www.606v2.com/t55409p750-glasgow-and-edinburgh-ongoing-banter-thread-v-the-fun-continues#2850774

Can't see them getting into the Scotland team in the space of a year, especially since Hardie won't be joining until the summer, but he'll certainly be an asset to Edinburgh when he comes.  

Blake is only being signed on a short term deal to the end of the season because we have real injury problems in the back row.

Fair enough. Haven't been to the club pages for a while. The article I read is the Hardie move, at least, is being driven by the Scottish team management.

Global recruitment like that is driven at Scotland level. At 26 there's plenty time for him to play for Scotland if he proves himself good enough at club level, but we've got good strength in depth in the 7 shirt for Scotland so there's no real need to fast track him in for the world cup having only just landed in the country a few months previously.

George Carlin wrote:

blackcanelion wrote:I'm pretty sure the Scottish RU is looking to get John Hardie (Southland) and Hugh Blake (Otago) for the world cup squad. Both qualify through grandparents. I think they're both still under contract to the NZRFU, which poses a bit of a stumbling block.

How do you rate those players, BlackCanelion?

Don't know. I've missed most of the super rugby/provincial season because of kids sport, and travel. I honestly don't know. I can't say I've heard either name much. Southland/Otago tend to produce hard nosed loose forwards that would probably fit into the Scottish style. I think Blake is a former under 20 rep.  

My guess if they want either of them it's as much about building competition for places. You need depth to the squad. I suspect an issue for Scotland is the fact that there are only 2 professional clubs and the local player base is small. It's hard enough in NZ.

Hardie has 44 Super Rugby caps whereas Blake his little experience at the top level, so we're a bit more excited about Hardie I think.

You're right about building depth - that's what this will be about - but also worth remembering that we have a lot of international players playing outside of Scotland too.

In the 7 shirt alone we have Blair Cowan, John Barclay, Ross Rennie and Kelly Brown (if picked at 7) playing in England/Wales - that's 4 of our best, most experienced breakaways!