Southern hemisphere move could boost Phil Godman's World Cup hopes

Published on Wednesday 2 March 2011 18:11

PHIL Godman is considering playing club rugby in Australia or New Zealand this summer in a bid to prove his fitness and form for inclusion in Scotland's World Cup squad.

The 28-year-old stand-off suffered a cruciate ligament injury in Edinburgh training in September.

Jason White, Simon Taylor and Nathan Hines, are other high-profile victims of similar injuries who experienced seven to nine-month recovery spells and, having undergone surgery in late October and now been given the all-clear to return to running, Godman is hopeful that he could be fit enough to play in May. Unfortunately, Edinburgh's season is set to end on the first weekend of that month.

"I would like to get back to playing for Edinburgh, but only if that was realistic," he said. "With the World Cup coming up I'd have to have played games to have a chance but, rather than play before I'm ready, I might go to the southern hemisphere, Australia or New Zealand probably, to get games.

"It was talked about when I had the injury, and is being talked about again now. All the (Scotland] guys will be in camp in June and July doing fitness work, but I'll have done that so my priority will be match fitness and sharpening up and, with no tours and only two World Cup warm-ups, I have to look to the south. But I'm happy with that. I obviously want to get back playing for Scotland again, and would love to be part of a World Cup, because I missed out on the last one, but I have to prove I am fit and in good form to achieve that.

"At the moment it's a case of so far, so good. The operation was a great success and the medical staff have been fantastic but I have a big couple of months starting now. I am just starting to run again and have been doing a lot more in the gym so I need to see now how my knee reacts over the next month or so. Then we will look at the next stage and where I might get games."

Godman has joined spectators at Edinburgh and Scotland games this season and, in common with most of a Scottish persuasion, he has found it particularly difficult to watch the RBS Six Nations Championship. "It is interesting seeing it from the other side, as it were," he said. "At the Wales game I sat in the crowd and watched it as a fan - not easy - but the Ireland game I watched on TV. It's strange because you share the experiences of a fan but, at the end, also understand how depressed the guys will be feeling. I was roaring at the end against Ireland to get on and score again, because I've seen the guys about and know how desperate they were to win after the first two games."

As for what he has made of the stand-off rivalry with Glasgow's Ruaridh Jackson taking his role challenging Dan Parks, he smiled and said: "It is intriguing. I've tended just to watch the game and not get involved studying the stand-offs because, having been there, you're aware of how much what everyone else does impacts on what the No 10 can do.

"It's one of these things that last year the team as a whole was playing really well, and the stand-off, rightly, who was doing well too, got a lot of the plaudits, whereas now the team are not all performing at the top of their game and the 10 gets a lot of the flak for that, so there's two extremes, but that's the way it goes. I know what that's like."As for his own hopes for a return and chance to add to his 23 caps, he added: "I don't know whether they'll take two or three stand-offs to the World Cup, so my focus is purely on getting myself back as fit and in the best condition, and play as best as I can to allow me to say to Andy Robinson 'pick me for the World Cup'.

"It's irrelevant to me how Dan or Ruaridh are playing. It will have an effect on the coaches' decisions, but I'm confident enough if fit to go in there and say 'I should be in your thoughts for the World Cup'.

"I want them both to do well because I want Scotland to do well. I'm looking forward to Twickenham. I know the pressure the stand-offs are under. That was Ruaridh's first start and I think he has done well, and Dan came on and did well against Ireland too. I don't know which way they'll go next week but the key is still how the team plays. It was the team performance that took us to wins over Ireland, Argentina and South Africa last year. We're not good enough to win games without all our guys on form but, when we do, we can beat anyone.

"England have been impressive and it's always tough there and, if we shoot ourselves in the foot and give away early tries again, it's game over. But I have no doubt that we have the players, when in top form, to match England in a one-off match."