Hadden keeps locks guessing who will make cut

Published on Tuesday 10 March 2009 22:26

FOUR Scotland second rows will discover this morning which two have made the cut for Saturday's starting line-up to face Ireland in the RBS Six Nations Championship, who is on the bench and who will be left out.

Frank Hadden, the head coach, made two expected changes to the side that lost to Italy in returning Chris Paterson to full-back in place of Hugo Southwell, whose performance against the Italians opened the door for his Edinburgh rival, and prop Alasdair Dickinson coming in for the injured Allan Jacobsen in his preferred loosehead position.

But the intensity of training sessions yesterday held the key as to what second row combination would emerge to take on the formidable Irish pairing of Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan. The favourites are still Jason White and Jim Hamilton, with Nathan Hines claiming the bench spot from Alastair Kellock. However, that hinged on how Hamilton and Hines coped with a double session – a fierce morning of scrummaging followed by teams runs in the afternoon.

Hadden explained: "We are putting Nathan and Jim through a couple of fairly strenuous days – four training sessions, each progressively tougher as time goes on. We won't know till the end of that whether they will be available for selection or not, so we have decided not even to think too much about that.

"We were happy with what Jason and Al Kellock did against Italy and we would be happy for them to play against Ireland. But we have two very experienced international players coming back into the mix and we need to have a closer look at them before we consider them as available for selection."

When pressed on whether he viewed Hamilton and White as his preferred option, and whether he was ruling out Hamilton and Hines both returning this weekend after one missing the past three weeks and the other the last two months, he said: "That's not how we're thinking. We're thinking of assessing it on the basis of what happens today.

"Last week I felt that way (it was too early for Hamilton and Hines], but having watched them in training and putting themselves back in the mix that has changed. The two days of training are going to be a big shock to their systems so we'll wait and see how they cope with that.

"This is a tough decision, but we don't shy away from those. We want to have these tough decisions. We have got a bit of depth and have guys pushing each other for selection. Until we have guys pushing each other they're not going to raise their own bar and until the players raise the bar the team can't raise the bar either."

There is a knock-on effect on the bench, but Hadden revealed that that was not a straight selection choice either. He has left a traditional space for another forward and one for a back, with Nick De Luca, Ben Cairns and Simon Webster vying for the latter – Rory Lamont is definitely not in contention yet – but the reason for the delay there is that the coaches are considering a five-two split, forwards to backs, depending on who wins selection at lock. That leaves the possibility of having two front rows, a lock and two back rows, with Kelly Brown also in the mix for bench spots.

Hadden added: "We're hoping to make the decision tonight (Tuesday], but we may have to wait for a doctor's opinion tomorrow morning. There's no problem – it's not subterfuge and we're not pulling the wool over anyone's eyes, but I'm not too unhappy that Ireland don't know yet what the second row is going to be."

Such is the depleting front row stocks, Hadden has also gone for tighthead Moray Low on the bench, clearly believing the more versatile Ed Kalman to be some way from Test standard, which means injury to Dickinson would probably force Euan Murray to move across.

One man delighted, however, is Dickinson, a skilful, explosive loosehead who did what was asked of him in the tighthead role against Wales and France, suffered physically and mentally as a result, and has no desire to return to that side of the scrum.

"Tighthead was always going to be a massive struggle and it was," he said. "I didn't perform well in the last two games so I've got a big point to prove.

"I take my rugby very seriously and if you don't perform personally and the team don't win it's a real kick in the ass. I pride myself on my work ethic and I hate to lose, so I've had a few sleepless nights, but I'm definitely looking forward to this weekend.

"I've worked hard at Gloucester on my loosehead technique. It's still going to be a massive challenge but one I'm looking forward to."

Ironically, Dickinson will now face his biggest opponent of the championship, in 35-year-old Irishman Johnny Hayes, but giving up three inches in height and two stones is a different proposition when scrummaging with a hooker the size of Ross Ford inside and daylight outside. Elucidating the clear desire running through the squad to atone and make a mark in the final two games, Dickinson added: "We've been working hard over the last month or so and sometimes you don't get the reward for the effort you put in.

"Before Italy everybody was getting pretty p***ed off at losing and it was sheer determination that won that. We have to keep that, but also our discipline and improve the performance to win this week.

"You can't overestimate how much a win does for confidence, but we realise Ireland are the in-form team and that this is a huge challenge. Because we won against Italy the expectation is higher now to perform and win – not just from press and fans, but from ourselves."

• News on which locks have been selected in the side and on the bench will appear on Scotsman.com as soon as it is revealed.

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