Lamonts refreshed and raring to go on return to Test arena

Published on Tuesday 10 November 2009 21:22

THE swings and roundabouts of international rugby have been clear this week with the replacement of one set of brothers for another in the Scotland squad for the forthcoming Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn Tests.

The last time Scotland ran out Thom and Max Evans dominated the headlines, twin gems in Frank Hadden's stuttering final RBS Six Nations campaign. With Max just finding his feet after six months out injured and Thom not quite hitting the heights of consistency demanded by the Scotland coaches this season, Andy Robinson has taken his own step back to the future with the return of Rory and Sean Lamont to spearhead his first autumn series.

Sean last started a Test in February, but played twice in the past two years, Rory's last game was against Canada a year ago – their last game together being against Argentina in the 2007 World Cup. The pair boast 54 caps between them, and 13 tries, but believe they can count on one hand the number of times they have started and finished a Test match together largely due to injury since Sean, the elder by 21 months, made his debut in New Zealand in 2004 and Rory followed eight months later at Murrayfield.

They could only sit back and watch as the Evans boys moved on to centre stage last season, but now the Lamonts are back due to successful moves to the Scarlets in Wales, for Sean, and leading French side Toulon, for Rory, though the older brother was the more surprised to get the call.

"I certainly was surprised," said Sean. "Rory's been on good form, but with the strength in depth in the back three I was surprised I got in, but I've been enjoying myself in Wales and the move has definitely reinvigorated my love for rugby. It was something I needed to do because I was not quite firing at the end of last season. The rugby wasn't going well and I thought that might be off the back of my injury."

The 28-year-old revealed that Scotland's new coach had played a crucial part in helping him improve his game by solving a lingering issue from his knee reconstruction of 2007-8.

"It wasn't until I got dropped (by Scotland in the 2009 Six Nations] and started working with Andy with Scotland 'A' that someone highlighted the fact that I wasn't running into contact as hard as I should. I never realised that; I thought I was running full pace, but Andy picked up that I was putting the handbrake on once I reached contact.

"It must have been a subconscious thing I think from the injury. I knew the knee was stronger than it had ever been – the way they do the operation the new ACL is twice or three times as thick as the original – so I felt fine and confident in the knee, but perhaps subconsciously there was something putting the brake on, and I never realised that until Andy highlighted it on the video with the A's. And that is pretty much a big part of my game – hitting contact hard and fast – and explains why I got dropped in the first place.

"There's nothing you can do to correct that technically; it's about confidence and getting your head right on the field, and the move has helped that too. Fresh ideas always help when you're a bit stale, and working with Nigel (Davies] and the boys at the Scarlets has helped reinvigorate me, and instil the confidence again.

"It's just the change sometimes when you get stale somewhere and lose confidence in yourself, and fall into dips."

Rory has also suffered through injury, spending the first eight months of 2009 out of action with a smashed ankle, but he believes his return owes less to a reinvigoration on the French coast and more to simply playing every week in what he has long stated to be his preferred role of full-back, something denied him by coaches and injuries.

He said: "It's just nice to be playing again and stringing a few games together. I've already played 14 games this season. After I established myself as full-back at Glasgow I moved to Sale and had to play a season on the wing. In the second season Philippe (Saint-Andre] gave me the full-back shirt and I really enjoyed it, but then I injured my ankle just as I was hitting peak form. I think Andy (Robinson] sees me as a 15, which is where I want to play so that's encouraging.

"But, I'm competing with Mossy (Chris Paterson] and Hugo (Southwell] as well, who is playing well for Stade, so I'm delighted to have ben given the nod for this game."

The Lamonts are excited by the presence of debutant centre Alex Grove, at least from what they have seen on video, and are hopeful of a good supply of ball, but Sean warned against under-estimating the Fijian threat.

He added: "A lot of their boys have been on fire and they have a lot of individual talent – they are above us in the world rankings just now but if they had more time together they would be even higher. Our clips of them date back to the 2007 World Cup so there's a bit of a question-mark over exactly what they'll bring, but we know they are talented, so we've got to be very aware. But it's good to be back."