Hadden has no fears over omitted players
Scotland head coach Frank Hadden has defended his decision to head into the World Cup with three players who will have not played a competitive match since last season.
Hadden is confident his whole squad will be ready when France 2007 kicks off next month, even though not every member of his 30-man squad will have featured in the two warm-up matches.
The team for the second of those matches, against South Africa at the weekend, was named today.
Young back-row forward John Barclay – the only uncapped player in the squad - was again omitted from the 22, as were Toulouse-bound centre Marcus Di Rollo and injured hooker Scott Lawson.
Hadden had his hands tied as far as Lawson is concerned, but when asked if he was tempted to give Barclay and Di Rollo some game time against the Springboks, he said: “Yes, definitely, but we decided against it.
“We felt that John and Marcus are two different categories of player. Marcus has a lot of experience so we wouldn’t expect him to take a lot of getting up to speed, whereas we expect John to bring tremendous energy and enthusiasm when he plays.
“We can’t afford to think too far ahead. It would be fatal for us to take our eye off the ball so all we’re thinking about is this match, this weekend.
“I’ve said before that we never experiment. We select based on what we know.
“Obviously you cannot predict exactly what will happen at the weekend but you tend not to get too many surprises. There’s not a massive amount of experimentation going on.
“It is an absolute balancing act every time you sit down to select.
“This wasn’t a selection that took a long time; it wasn’t like picking the 30-man World Cup squad, when we evaluated every player and every possible combination with a fine tooth-comb.
“This is about continuing to generate the momentum that we want to generate into the World Cup.”
Hadden made only four alterations to the team which started against Ireland on August 11, a match Scotland won 31-21.
Two of those changes will be noticeable in the back row, where Kelly Brown comes in for Allister Hogg at open-side flanker and Dave Callam replaces Simon Taylor at number eight.
In the front row, Gavin Kerr has recovered from a toe injury to claim back the number one jersey from Allan Jacobsen, while Nikki Walker has been given an opportunity to show what kind of damage his pace and power can do on the wing.
“There are two personnel changes in the back row and I expect them to build on what we did last week,” said Hadden.
“I expect them to take the opportunity to show they are also in very good shape, that they have heaps of energy and enthusiasm, and that we don’t give them too much respect.
“At the top level you cannot afford to have any weaknesses – it’s about having strength everywhere – and we’re extremely fortunate with the back-row choices available.
“But I’m also happy with the competition for places in other areas, happier than I used to be. I’m just generally very happy with the squad we have available.
“For example, we’re delighted with the options we have available to us in the back three, and I expect Nikki (Walker) to play as well as he has been playing for some considerable time now.”
With under 25,000 tickets sold for Saturday’s match, Hadden was keen to encourage rugby supporters to make it along to Murrayfield for a contest which he says will not be for the faint-hearted.
“Personally, I think it could be an absolute belter,” Hadden said.
“If people are swithering about coming, they would be well advised to take the opportunity. For those who like their rugby in the raw, I think that’s what you’ll get, a powerful and passionate confrontation between two very proud rugby nations.
“I think the spectators will be in for a real treat.
“South Africa’s approach to rugby has been the same for 100 years: incredibly confrontational and physical and with tremendous pace everywhere.
“You cannot afford to make errors against the South Africans and you’ve got to be able to confront them.
“Everyone plays with a relentless aggression and in the past we’ve maybe have had difficulty coping with that. We are really looking forward to that side of the game this weekend.”
