Cairns takes centre stage

Published on Saturday 17 January 2009 18:33

WHAT A DIFFERENCE a year makes. Last season Ben Cairns was the 23rd man when the Scotland squad travelled to Rome in the Six Nations. Twelve months on and the young centre will be one of the first names on Frank Hadden's team sheet when the coach comes to pick his starting XV for Wales. Rarely has any player made himself so crucial to any team in such a short time.

He brings plenty to the table. Cairns is genuinely quick, favouring the outside break, and he picks his angles of run with all the precision of Pythagoras but the slight centre is no Charles Atlas and only last season he was the victim of a brutal mugging. He was set upon in public, perfectly legally, by a couple of big lads from Cardiff in the shape of Jamie Roberts and Tom Shanklin. When Edinburgh hosted the Blues at Murrayfield Cairns was pummelled from pillar to post, knocked every which way but unconscious and he determined there and then that it wouldn't happen again.

"That was a big wake-up call for me," admits the midfielder. "I probably missed two tackles on Jamie Roberts and I just fell backwards with Shanklin a few times. I have never been the biggest of centres so it's never been a real issue for me, I expect to be the smaller guy in the midfield and I've never felt like it's held me back."

Presuming Cairns runs out in Scotland's opening match of the Six Nations in Cardiff on February 8 he is likely to come across Shanklin and Roberts once again. This time the Scot won't be such a pushover. He spent much of the off-season in the gym and he had an additional eight weeks to put some muscle on his upper body after injuring his knee in a pre-season friendly against Wasps. "I am happier with where I am physically than I was last year," he insists.

It was in the second Argentina Test that the then 22-year-old came of age, spreading panic amongst the Pumas every time he touched the ball. Nick De Luca, whose undoubted talent was overwhelmed by a tsunami of nerves last season, has been shuffled one place inside by both club and country to accommodate the younger man outside him. Furthermore, Cairns was hurried back into the Scotland team for the autumn Tests with indecent haste following his pre-season injury; his third game back was against the All Blacks.

After playing fullback and wing for Edinburgh in his formative years, Cairns now looks like the answer to one of Scotland's most intractable problems. As recently as the World Cup Hadden was utilising a winger at outside centre but in Cairns the coach has unearthed the real thing. Scotland boast just one win in each of the last two Six Nations championships and having another strike runner on the field should help them improve on that recent record. Cairns' threat with the ball in hand was underlined by his back-to-back tries against Glasgow in the twin derby matches but his defensive role is possibly even more important. While the inside channels are as narrow and crowded as a souk during the sales, the No.13 patrols a large and lonely patch of grass, as he explains.

"I'd say that 13 is the hardest position on the field to defend, but then I would say that," Cairns smiles. "It's a massive thing for outside centres, they have to be able to defend because there are so many questions asked of you out there. You need to read what the opposition is going to do. If they are coming up flat then they won't be going wide and once you decide whether they can get the ball wide you know whether to slide hard or not.

"The key is communication and I am probably better at talking off the field than I am at talking on it. I want to get better but I have improved massively over the last three years and I'm pretty happy with where I am at now. I was too worried to begin with because on the field you have to demand things from people and that is difficult to do when you are the new guy on the team. The best players almost give a running commentary on their own games."

He freely admits that he is one of the more vocal characters on the field and, as such, he has been appointed one of Edinburgh's two defensive leaders, Ross Rennie being the other. When Edinburgh lost their Test players to the Six Nations last year Andy Robinson handed the captaincy of the club to Cairns who took the promotion, as he does most things, in his stride and goes one step further in claiming, "you have to be a good leader in order to be a good player".

In contrast to De Luca who suffers the occasional rush of blood, Cairns keeps his cool; he is the yin to his Edinburgh partner's yang, the ice to De Luca's occasionally fiery temperament. Cairns is too diplomatic to be drawn on which inside centre he'd prefer to play alongside come February – "I am really concentrating on my selection" – and instead he lauds both of his recent partners. "During the autumn Tests it was good to be playing with the same guys that I play with week in and week out with Edinburgh. It definitely helps to know what the other guys are going to do. Saying that, I played well with Graeme (Morrison] in Argentina and last season in the A team. Whenever we play together we play well together."

For all his good nature, and Cairns is both forthright and friendly, when the young centre focuses those narrow-set, hawkish eyes on achieving something he usually succeeds. The midfielder boasts a hard centre, he played the entire second half of the Glasgow game with a broken nose, one appendage that has seen more action than Robert Capa. He is also a natural leader in a country that produces far too few and the centre has obviously been singled out as a future Scotland skipper.

More immediately there is the promise of a Six Nations debut and the chance to give the Scottish backline the cutting edge at 13 that they have lacked since Alan Tait threw his boots in the bin. With any number of loaded weapons in the Scotland armoury, Cairns is promising an up-and-at-'em style that he helped perfect with the Scotland A team when beating Italy and Ireland last season.

"I think that's the sort of style that Scotland are looking for," says the centre with reference to the A team's 67-7 victory over the Irish in Perth. "I think we showed that in Argentina.

"It's all about running good lines as each situation needs rather than just calling a call for the sake of it. I noticed when we played them that the All Blacks are really good at playing off the cuff, playing what's in front of them rather than sticking to a set plan regardless of the situation. That's what we worked on in the autumn Tests, playing what was in front of us rather than calling moves three of four phases ahead."

In that Ireland A match every pass stuck like glue and every move came off no matter how audacious as the team grew in confidence; it is a vital commodity on an individual level, just as it is crucial for team morale. Cairns insists that the Scots squad has been bolstered by their autumn performances and that everyone knows the importance of winning that first game.

"Wales have already talked about the importance of the first game in getting momentum and it's all about gaining confidence from that first win. Confidence is a major factor for a player and it affects some more than others. I try not to let it affect me but it does. When I'm making breaks it boosts my morale and once you make enough breaks it become a habit. But once you get out of the habit it's very hard to pick it up again. I think it's like scoring goals in football."

The central figure in Scotland's rugby squad also happens to be a football fan. His dad played for Hibs' youth team and his gran still lives within sight of Easter Road where Cairns can occasionally be found on a free Saturday afternoon. "I don't have a season ticket or anything but I still watch Hibs from time to time. The trouble is that the last match I watched was the 4-0 loss to Hearts in the cup semi-final so I've stayed away since then. I also watched Manchester United play Spurs last season. I like watching the big games when I get a chance."

The coming months will determine whether Cairns also likes playing in the big games because there are a few coming up.

Gunners get Swindall deal

STEVIE Swindall is set to answer Edinburgh's injury SOS by completing a loan deal from Glasgow. And the powerful breakaway forward looks likely to make the move permanent at the end of the season.

The Gunners are in the midst of a back-row injury crisis, which grew more severe when captain Simon Cross suffered leg damage during Friday's Heineken Cup victory over Castres at Murrayfield.

Swindall has been struggling to claim a regular start with the Warriors and is sure to jump at the chance of game-time with their arch rivals. He is due to make his debut in a back-up squad match tomorrow against the Scotland Under-20 side.

Meanwhile, Sebastien Chabal admits his interest in joining Montpellier has cooled as a result of their boardroom problems. The France forward announced he will leave Sale Sharks at the end of this season and return to France for personal reasons.

But with the club's president resigning last week over Montpellier's financial situation, their future is uncertain, putting a bid for Chabal in jeopardy.