Scotland are in good shape: Hadden
Scotland head coach Frank Hadden believes his World Cup squad is the “most competitive” he could have selected.
Hadden named his 30-man party today and it included Perpignan scrum-half Chris Cusiter who is expected to recover from an ankle injury in time for the tournament, which begins next month.
Openside flanker John Barclay, 20, was confirmed as the only uncapped player in the squad, which is captained by Jason White.
Hadden trimmed his 39-man training group to finalise the squad, with the players to miss out revealed as Simon Danielli, Nick De Luca, Alasdair Dickinson, Thom Evans, Alastair Kellock, Calum MacRae, Graeme Morrison, Gordon Ross and Alasdair Strokosch.
Hadden said: “I have selected a squad that has the ability to do something special at the World Cup and make our country proud. It is the most competitive squad we could muster.
“The decision to omit nine players from the squad was tough. I spoke with all but one of those players face to face yesterday and thanked them for their huge contribution to the preparation for the 2007 Rugby World Cup.”
Scotland squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup:
Backs: M Blair (Edinburgh), C Cusiter (Perpignan), R Dewey (Ulster), M Di Rollo (Edinburgh), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), R Lamont (Sale Sharks), S Lamont (Northampton), R Lawson (Gloucester), D Parks (Glasgow Warriors), C Paterson (Gloucester), H Southwell (Edinburgh), N Walker (Ospreys), S Webster (Edinburgh).
Forwards: J Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), K Brown (Glasgow Warriors), D Callam (Edinburgh), R Ford (Glasgow Warriors), J Hamilton (Leicester), N Hines (Perpignan), A Hogg (Edinburgh), A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), G Kerr (Glasgow Warriors), S Lawson (Sale Sharks), S MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets), E Murray (Northampton), S Murray (Montauban), C Smith (Edinburgh), S Taylor (Stade Francais), G Thomson (Glasgow Warriors), J White (Sale Sharks, captain).
