Eight years and 862 points since a Scot scored

Published on Saturday 13 June 2009 00:27

IF NATHAN Hines scores for the British and Irish Lions against Western Province this afternoon, he will break a duck which now stretches back over eight years.

It was on 8 June, 2001, in the opening match of the tour to Australia, that Simon Taylor scored for the tourists – the last time to date that a Scot has done so.

The rest of that tour, and all of the 2005 one to New Zealand, went by without another Scot getting on the scoresheet. Including the drawn warm-up game against Argentina four years ago and the quartet of matches played to date on the present tour to South Africa, 24 matches have gone by since Taylor's try.

A total of 862 points has been scored in those games, each and every one by either a Welshman, an Irishman or an Englishman. If we include the tries that were scored after Taylor's touchdown in the 116-10 rout of Western Australia, that total comes close to 900.

It should be said, of course, that the principal reason for this dearth of Scottish scorers is simply the dearth of Scots representation in the last three touring parties. In 2001, for example, the only Scottish back in the tour party was Andy Nicol, who was called up as a late replacement. Scott Murray and Tom Smith were the others in the original party besides Taylor, while Gordon Bulloch was also a replacement.

Four years on, and our representation on the New Zealand tour was smaller. Bulloch and Taylor were there again, although injury ended the latter's participation before he had even played a game. Chris Cusiter was the only other original selection, and Jason White arrived later as a replacement.

So far this year there are four Scots again. Hines and Euan Murray were the only two included in Ian McGeechan's initial squad, but Mike Blair and Ross Ford have since joined them.

Blair was the only one of the quartet to play in the first game, the 37-25 win over the Royal XV. In the second match, against the Golden Lions, Hines started while Ford and Murray came off the bench.

Those two substitutes were in the starting line-up for the following match, last Saturday's narrow win over the Cheetahs, while Hines came off the bench and Blair was an unused replacement. In Wednesday's 39-3 victory over the Sharks, Blair came off the bench and was the only Scot involved.

The recent record of merely marginal involvement is in stark contrast to previous eras, when Scots were not only represented in greater numbers, but also turned up regularly on the scoresheet. The record for most points scored for the Lions on a South Africa tour, for example, is still held by Andy Irvine, who scored 156 in his 15 appearances in 1974. Irvine's 27 penalties from those games are also an individual record.

Gavin Hastings holds the record for the most penalties scored in a single Test for the Lions, having succeeded with six in the Christchurch Test against the All Blacks in 1993. Going further back, Angus Cameron scored four conversions against the Springboks in 1955, and that remains a record for a single match between the Lions and South Africa.

It will be noted that Irvine, Hastings and Cameron all had the benefit of being nominated place-kickers, an advantage which will not be available to Hines this afternoon. He could always try the odd drop-goal, of course, but a barge over from a five-metre lineout is a much more likely source of points for the big lock.