Allan Massie: No point girning over the lack of a level playing field

Published on Friday 30 January 2009 21:13

THE England rugby squad are all Martin Johnson's for a fortnight before the opening of the Six Nations, and have been disporting themselves in Portugal – except for three unfortunates who have been sent home to get "game-time" with their clubs, which, they will doubtless be reflecting sadly, means no game-time for them against Italy on 7 February.

Meanwhile, Frank Hadden will be deprived of a third of his squad this weekend, as they return to be available for their clubs in England and France.

Tough luck, and both Frank and the SRU chief executive Gordon McKie have been muttering darkly about there being no level playing field. They're quite right of course, but there's no point in girning. If Scotland, like Italy, are in this position, it's entirely because we have failed to make a success of the domestic professional game. If Johnson is in a different position from Hadden, and a stronger one, it's first because all his squad are contracted to English clubs, and the RFU has paid handsomely for their release. Likewise France, Wales and Ireland all enjoy greater access to their players, and control of them, than we do, for similar reasons. That's how it is, and how it will be until we have three professional clubs all strong enough on and off the field to ensure that the Scotland squad is almost entirely home-based. Since this isn't going to happen for some time, we might as well stop complaining and make the best of things as they are.

Meanwhile, down below Hadrian's Wall, the media have been going wild about Northampton's Ben Foden. Without yet having made his first full international appearance, he is being hailed as the greatest thing since... well, since Danny Cipriani was the greatest thing a few months ago. He's even been called "Rugby's Beckham", though, given that Cipriani pranced off to the Armani fashion show in Milan with his girlfriend a couple of weeks ago, that title is probably still his. When I've seen Foden he's looked a very good player but, as many have discovered, sometimes painfully, there's a wealth of difference between starring for your club and starring for your country. Edinburgh have had few better players than Brendan Laney, often a match-winner for them, but he rarely reproduced his club form in a Scotland jersey.

Hadden has more immediate problems than the absence of that level playing field, more agreeable ones, too. In several positions the question is: who does he leave out? Hugo Southwell has been playing so well – the best rugby of his life – that there is a possibility he will start at 15 with Chris Paterson relegated to the bench. That would be risky, for Paterson is our best goal-kicker and, going into an international without a top-class goal-kicker is like trying to win Wimbledon without a good serve. Those who have been reading the Stuart Bathgate/David Ferguson memories of the last decade will need no reminding of how often we have suffered from the lack of a reliable goal-kicker.

You may get away with omitting Paterson if Dan Parks is at 10, for, while Paterson is a 85/90 per cent kicker, Parks is at least a 75 per cent one. But if Phil Godman is at fly-half it changes. His goal-kicking has improved, but remains in the 65/70 per cent range; not good enough.

Otherwise, it's the choice in the centre and the back-row that will be most contentious. I'd guess Graeme Morrison has played himself in at 12, but at 13? Ben Cairns or Max Evans? One would like to see them both on the field. As for the back row, John Barclay, now a prime Lions candidate, is a certainty, and I'd never omit Simon Taylor, if fit, from any team I was selecting. Which leaves one to choose from three or four at No6.

Sleepless nights, Frank?