Paterson on a drip and struggling to make Test match

Published on Sunday 1 November 2009 22:40

CHRIS Paterson is battling a foot infection with a series of antibiotics in a race to regain his fitness in time to be included in Scotland's opening autumn Test match with Fiji.

Scotland's most-capped player was withdrawn from Edinburgh's clash with Newport Gwent Dragons at Murrayfield last night and it was revealed afterwards that he had spent time in hospital at the end of the week hooked up to a drip. It was the second time in three weeks that Paterson had been a late withdrawal, the 31-year-old having missed the Heineken Cup match with Ulster a fortnight earlier due to a viral infection.

Edinburgh coach Rob Moffat said: "He was on a drip in hospital on Thursday, Friday and Saturday – not overnight just in each day to get antibiotics into his system, because his foot was a mess. We hoped the first (course of antibiotics] would clear it on Thursday and he'd be OK to train on Saturday, but it didn't.

"They say you should just get five courses, and he's had four, but it is better. It's probably good for him that there's nothing for a week. He'll need that time to get back into training. t is his right foot (kicking foot], which doesn't help."

Paterson is not the only player giving Scotland coach Andy Robinson cause for concern. Alan MacDonald, another Edinburgh player in the autumn Test squad, also failed to make the game having struggled with a calf injury in the lead-up, while Ben Cairns, the Scotland centre, was taken off last night with what looked like a painful knee injury and left Murrayfield on crutches. John Houston, who could be a replacement for Cairns, also suffered a knee injury, and Moffat stated that he and Cairns will be assessed by the medics today.

Moffat was naturally more concerned about why the rest of his side failed to turn up for the first half of their final league match before the November break, blaming the first 40 minutes performance for the 9-8 defeat.

"It was a poor performance by us," he said. "The first was poor; unacceptable from this group of players. We know that and we have to make sure it does not happen again. It was better in the second half but you can't operate like that.

"You wonder why we played as poorly as we did in the first half. We certainly didn't perform at all. They (the Dragons] won the kicking game and territory game and we gave three poor penalties away and gave them a nine-point lead. We kicked very poorly; they were quite smart, drilling the ball into touch, or putting it behind us into space, while our kicks were not one thing or the other, and didn't put them under pressure.

"Conditions were not ideal to play in, but I'm not making the conditions an excuse, because you play what's in front of you. We knew what kind of day it was going to be, but made a lot of basic errors that are not acceptable in any conditions.

"We looked hesitant in the first half, not knowing whether to kick, pass or run, while they were playing for penalties by keeping the ball – they weren't going to break us down. The first-half performance killed us and that was what lost us the game."

Edinburgh's dominance was underlined in a 15-minute period in the second half they spent scrummaging and pressing the visitors' line, but Moffat insisted he backed the players' decision to take the scrum option instead of kicking penalties and continue to force the pressure.

"Give them (the Dragons] their due – they defended their line well," he added. "But this league is tight; next month it will be tight and at the end it will go down to the wire. We've now got to learn from tonight that that's not an acceptable performance from us, and that's why you lose the game."

TRAYNOR CALL-UP

KYLE Traynor, the Edinburgh prop, has been added to the Scotland squad for their three-day training camp at St Andrews that starts today. Traynor, 23, has been enlisted as a precaution following the shoulder injury sustained by Alasdair Dickinson, the Gloucester prop, in a Guinness Premiership match last month.

Scotland head coach Andy Robinson said: "Kyle has been playing consistently well for Edinburgh this season and he deserves his call-up.Alasdair will join up with us at St Andrews."

Traynor was part of the Scotland A squad that lifted the IRB Nations Cup in Bucharest in the summer. All players in the squad will be assessed medically when they arrive at St Andrews today.