The cupboard looks less bare

At last it looks as tho Scotland is starting to produce some serious candidates for the flyhalf berth, having been lacking a player in the position of serious calibre for the best part of a decade since the retirement of Gregor 'Toonie' Townsend: Scotland's 10s. As the Scotsman article says, Jackson and Parks are likely to be on the plane to New Zealand, and both pro district teams appear to reasonable cover in the playmaker role - Glasgow with young Duncan Weir, just returned from a successful stint captaining the U20s in Italy at the JWC, and newly recruited Scott Wight, who guided Melrose to club success over the last couple of seasons; and Edinburgh with Phil (Good) Godman, on his return from injury, the highly promising Matthew Scott and youngster Gregor Hunter. On top of that lot, theres hope that Alex Blair will be given a chance to resurrect his career at Sale (don't really get why Geech at Bath, Brush at Glaws, or London Scottish haven't come in for him), and hopefully Harry Leonard will return from his experience in New Zealand a real prospect too: Leonard on MacPhail scholarship. Out of this talent, I'd love to see Scotland unearth a second 5/8th style inside centre - a Jim Renwick-style player would do nicely

Having read the article, it very much sounds like Matthew Scott could be your answer to a second 5/8th style inside centre. 6ft 2 and 15st, and known as a running fly half more than a kicking fly half. Could be a great understudy to James King next year.

Agreed on Alex Blair - could solve some problems at Bath in particular.

Aye the 10 position looks like it could develop into an area of strength and tough competition.

My thoughts on Desperate Dan have been made abundantly clear on other threads / posts straddling both 606 and 606v2 so I won't go into them again. It is something of a releif though to see him being "phased out". Almost certainly at the moment Jackson is the man in possesion of the 10 shirt.

Godman has a chance at 10 now for the Burgh after his long lay off. Laidlaw is likely to be in the World Cup squad so he has a good chance to throw down a marker in Laidlaws absence and recover some form.

Same goes for Weir who has been an able deputy thusfar and the experience whilst Jackson is in NZ will be invaluable to him. If Weir plays a blinder I would not be surprised to see Jacko make the switch to 13 or 12 and let Morrison slip out to 13.

As for the others, Hunter / Scott I would be guessing since I have not seen them play. However I am grateful that some people have taken notice of Eck Blair and he is getting a crack down south with Sale. I reckon the Burgh management will rue the day they let him slip away.

I actually think Parks will retire from international rugby after the World Cup. It would give him the chance to focus on the Blues, where he still needs to win over the fans, and frankly it's unlikely that he'll start many more games for Scotland I think now that Jackson has won the jersey, and Godman is fit again. I would be a good time for him to bow out. I reckon Hines will do likewise.

I really do hope that Alex Blair proves the Edinburgh management wrong. It would be fantastic if he could win a spot in the Premiership next season somewhere, and both Bath and Sale are unconvincing at 10 currently.

I've got high hopes for Blair too, but not sure he's the solution for Bath or Sale. He's a back up at the mo, nothing more.

That said. I've no doubt the move south will do him good.

Out of the goldfish bowl and away from some of the criticism written about his brothers... criticism that really cant have done him any good, especially when he had an injury.

Imagine Sunday lunch around the Blairs last year. Mike hounded by everyman and his dog post Lions, and David miffed enough to give it all up for teaching.

One 'true' benefit is that Alex's move allows space for some of the faces ASBO and the Scotsman talk about.

An unproven, potential benefit will be if Alex secures a contract somewhere else and becomes an option for Scotland.

Whatever happens Scotland will need them all over the next 2/3 years because we need strength in depth and competition breeds competitive players

Yes, it's certainly true that they're all unproven, and it's unlikely that all will still be in the picture in even two years. However, what's refreshing is that there is such an abundance of names in the frame, and places at the professional sides for them.

The situation at Glasgow is perfect, with two good young players battling it out for the jersey. In the next couple of years I'd like to see the same happen at Edinburgh, with Godman being phased out and two from the youngsters (plus Laidlaw) fighting it out. As you say, competition is a necessary ingredient to improvement, and hopefully Edinburgh and Glasgow can get some serious competition going at 10 (and hopefully 12 as well).

Good article, Asbo, and encouraging too. My only concern is that we have had heaps of players who have had "potential" but haven't translated that ionto the finsihed product.
We can only guess at the step up involved from the Scottish club scene to pro level. Remember Calvin Howarth? - he walked on water in the club game, only got a few starts with Glasgow and ended up seeing out his days in Italy if I remember correctly.
From what I can gather, not everyone's body can handle regular intense training and the bumps and bruises that come with playing at pro level.
I know that, when I was playing seriously (well, by my standards), I would have 3 pre-season training sessions a week, go to the gym a couple of times and play squash once a week and I continually had a cold as my body was trying to recover from exercise and i was just totally run down.

Well the Glasgow boys have just been to a marine training camp, so that should sort the Parks' from the Strokosch's.