Parks in possession at No10 but Scots freshen attack

Published on Wednesday 7 May 2008 23:33

THERE is a month until Scotland name their next Test line-up, but the tour squad unveiled yesterday has provided key indicators to a shifting approach to the last disastrous outing against Italy.

Dan Parks' fine form for Glasgow in recent weeks has kept him in the squad, despite a poor display in the RBS Six Nations Championship being underlined in the Rome defeat in the campaign's final fixture, but he will now come under pressure from Phil Godman, the on-form Edinburgh fly-half, as he tries again to carry his club form into the Test arena.

Crucially, he will also have fresh young talents outside him, with Ben Cairns and Thom Evans joining Nick De Luca and Graeme Morrison in providing the type of pacy attacking talents that many believe could help re-awaken Scotland's attack.

Parks is a different player working under Sean Lineen at Glasgow to that in the Scotland side under Frank Hadden lately, where the game-plan shifted throughout the Six Nations, so it is encouraging that Lineen has been promoted to assistant coach on the tour.

The former Scotland centre believes the enhanced threat of players such as Morrison – who he feels is now maturing into a Test-quality centre – as well as Max Evans, likely to be in the Scotland A squad named today, has lifted pressure from Parks to attempt aspects of play he is not good at and still enable the back line to threaten.

This, he feels, could translate into the national side with the Glasgow and/or Edinburgh centres, though he is also keen to work more closely with Godman and Chris Paterson. Paterson remains involved, but his failure to play stand-off at Gloucester since the Six Nations, and his decision to quit Kingsholm, has handed Hadden the chance to again hibernate an 'experiment' of Paterson at ten he clearly was never comfortable with.

Hadden has kept his job after two poor Six Nations campaigns, but the pressure remains intense. He had little interest during the championship in the new seeding system for the next World Cup, but now he is acutely aware of the significance that new system has thrown on to his next two matches and change may not come easily.

He has won 13 of 31 internationals in charge, which is not the worst record for a Scotland coach, but the recent run of just five wins in 15 has caused deep concern. In that time Scotland has slipped from eighth to 10th in the world rankings and that is where the significance lies. To remain seeded in the top eight for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, and have a better chance of reaching the quarter-finals, Scotland must be in the top eight of the IRB rankings in December this year.

Of the Tests before then, only the two with Argentina, currently ranked third in the IRB list, New Zealand (ranked second) and South Africa (first) will earn a rise up the table, as Canada's ranking of 15th means the Scots cannot earn points for beating them. Scotland are currently more than two victories below Ireland in eighth spot, though the Irish also face a tough schedule this summer and autumn and could fall.

Winning on tour, therefore, has deeper meaning than normal for Scotland, and to achieve that the squad has to return to scoring tries. Cairns and De Luca share the record for most tries for Scotland at Under-21 level and, coincidentally, the last time the pair wore the navy jersey together at XVs was in Argentina, with the Under-21s.

Cairns admitted: "I was delighted to get the text yesterday from Guy (Richardson, team manager] and I'm not going out there just to make up the numbers.

"At the start of the season making the Churchill Cup was the long-term goal, but as the season progressed the Argentina tour became the new goal. I was in the Six Nations training squad all the way through, culminating with being 24th man for the Italy trip, and that gave me a real taster and also an idea of where I was, and it gave me a new incentive to kick on for the rest of the season.

"I've been pleased with how I've done that and delighted to get the chance, and I hope myself and Nick get the chance to play in Argentina. We're good friends on and off the field and have clicked this season I think. We've come through the age-groups together and I remember us playing together in Mendoza in 2005. We lost against Argentina in the play-off for fifth/sixth place; they really were up for it in front of their own support, so I know how tough this is going to be.

"But it will be a great opportunity. I've spoken to several internationalists about their first match, and Nick has spoken about his experiences in the Six Nations this year, and they haven't put him or me off – he's desperate to get back out there and I'd love to win my first cap on tour. There is probably nothing that can prepare you for it, but I've played against the best players in the Magners League – Tom Shanklin, Brian O'Driscoll, Gavin Henson – so don't think I could have done much more."

Dougie Hall is a player being thrown a route back to the top level having been injured before the World Cup and forced to watch Ross Ford, Scott Lawson and Fergus Thomson push him down the pecking order. Lawson is injured and Thomson has felt the effects of a long, hard season, so the relatively fresh Hall joins Ford as the hookers on tour.

Hadden has opted against three specialists, preferring to work with two XVs. The other previously-confirmed injured personnel are Sean Lamont, Jason White, Jim Hamilton and Ross Rennie.

HADDEN'S CHOICES

TWO BACKS FROM:

NIKKI WALKER

Suffered stress fracture of fibia a month ago and not expected to be fit for at least another couple of weeks.

RORY LAMONT

Recovering from operations to fix broken jaw and tidy up knee damage, and could be back for Sale before the end of the season.

SIMON WEBSTER

Needs time to let hamstring injury recover after being hampered all season by it, but on stand-by should he be needed.

THREE FORWARDS FROM:

NATHAN HINES

With Perpignan likely to make Top 14 play-offs, but struggling to seal place before June, valuable lock is at mercy of French club.

SCOTT MURRAY

His club Montauban are unlikely to make play-offs, but are intent on securing a top-seven finish to secure a Heineken Cup place for next season, making the June games vital.

MARK RENNIE

Uncapped lock could tour if those above are not available – his club Bourgoin are running out of things to play for and Rennie is struggling for a starting berth.

ALASTAIR KELLOCK

Capped Glasgow skipper has been recovering from a knee injury since the start of the year and may be fit to tour if needed, but without match practice.