Impressive Ed Kalman gets Scotland call

GLASGOW may not have beaten Heineken Cup champions Leinster on Sunday but prop Ed Kalman was smiling yesterday after his fine performance against the Irish front row helped to secure him a call-up to the Scotland squad for the forthcoming RBS Six Nations Championship.

The 29-year-old was one of the unfortunate players to have his development virtually shut down when the SRU decided to scrap the Border Reivers team to save costs in 2007. He was switched to Glasgow but struggled to win a first-team place despite a number of good performances when called upon.

Since the World Cup ended in October, he has been third choice tighthead prop behind Mike Cusack and Moray Low but with that pair injured he stepped up to the plate in Sunday’s Heineken Cup match with Leinster.

Kalman formed a memorable propping partnership at the Borders as a physics degree student who had studied rocket science alongside fully-trained doctor Geoff Cross, which contrasted with the reputation of props as being a tale of brawn over brain.

He will slot in behind Euan Murray and Cross as the third-choice tighthead in the Scotland squad, though Alasdair Dickinson is expected to provide the bench cover for both sides of the scrum.

Kalman is therefore more likely to add to his 12 Scotland ‘A’ caps when Scotland and England meet at Netherdale on Friday, 3 February, but from third-choice at Glasgow to the verge of a Scotland cap is still an impressive advancement.

The 6ft 2in 19-stone prop is a product of the Whitecraigs club and played in the Glasgow southside club for ten years from the age of eight.

While at Belmont House School in Whitecraigs, he played for Glasgow Schools and went on to have two seasons in the Glasgow under-20 team from 2000 to 2002.

He has also played professional club rugby in England with Newcastle Falcons and Leeds Tykes and was in a winning Cambridge University team in the 2005 Varsity match.