Laidlaw and Weir are way out of slump for Scotland

IF you want to understand the damage done to Scottish rugby’s reputation by being kicked out of the World Cup before it got interesting and then finishing second in every Six Nations game, then look no further than this summer’s tour schedule. It opens with a Test match against Australia that takes place on a Tuesday evening in the rugby league heartland of Newcastle on a rugby league pitch belonging to the Newcastle Knights. If Scotland get any worse they’ll find themselves playing on the beach.

The Wallabies obviously see it as little more than a warm up ahead of their three-match series against Six Nations champions Wales, a sideshow to the main event. Since that Welsh series kicks off in Brisbane just four days after the Scotland match in Newcastle, you have to wonder what sort of side the Wallabies will field against Andy Robinson’s men – a second-string XV at best.

With the Australian Test preceding clashes with Fiji and Samoa, Robinson will hope that the momentum from Edinburgh’s run to the Heineken Cup semi-finals and Glasgow’s stuffy league form can lift his side out of their current rut. Rome and any mention of that dismal defeat to Italy will be banished.

While the two professional teams have given Scots fans something to smile about, the national side is in a period of transition with one or two old stagers feeling the heat from the next generation. Indeed, many of the old guard have already succumbed to age or injury.

Of the squad which went to the World Cup in New Zealand last season, now missing are Chris Paterson (retired), Nathan Hines (retired), Simon Danielli (retired), Rory Lamont (injured), Rory Lawson (injured) and Dan Parks (retired). In addition David Denton, Lee Jones and Kelly Brown are all temporarily out of action and out of the tour.

With just three Tests, the squad is going to be a slimline 28-strong group, which doesn’t leave much room for manoeuvre. Robinson is likely to opt for versatility with Greig Laidlaw, able to cover both half-back positions, and Rob Harley, who can do a stint at No.6 or, at a push, No.4, both likely to travel.

Robinson’s biggest headache is the front row where his first choice trio had their backsides kicked by an unheralded Ulster pack in that Heineken Cup semi-final. Jon Welsh put in a good shift for Scotland in Rome when Allan Jacobsen pulled out in the warm-up but Ryan Grant was preferred at loosehead by Glasgow yesterday evening. It would be quite a comeback for Grant if he got the nod after being rejected by Edinburgh a couple of years ago and the word from Murrayfield is that both he and Welsh will tour with Jacobsen expected to be rested.

Moray Low rather than Euan Murray should travel as the back-up to Geoff Cross on the right side of the scrum and both back-up props have every opportunity to finish the tour in the Test team.

The loss of Jim Hamilton, who succumbed to the red mist and picked up a seven-week ban for fighting in a Premiership game between his club side Gloucester and London Irish last weekend, means that either Grant Gilchrist or Tom Ryder should travel in support of Richie Gray and Al Kellock in the second row. On form it will be a close thing but the Glasgow man’s greater experience, and the fact that Gilchrist is due a break after playing in New Zealand last summer, may just swing things Ryder’s way. Sale’s Fraser McKenzie is back to full fitness but he hasn’t played since January.

Another big call is at stand-off, where Duncan Weir must surely back up Laidlaw after spending the bulk of the season keeping his rival Ruaridh Jackson bench-bound at Glasgow.

It wouldn’t be the biggest surprise if the Test team ends up with Laidlaw partnering Weir at half-back because that looks like the long-term solution.

Robinson might make do with three midfielders in the knowledge that Sean Lamont and Max Evans can both do a shift there. If so, that would mean leaving behind one of Graeme Morrison, Nick De Luca, Joe Ansbro or Matt Scott, who, despite being the least experienced, is the only one of the four who must travel.

Scotland are desperately short of back-three options and, while Dutchman Tim Visser will travel, he won’t become eligible until after the Wallaby match. Sean Lamont brings experience and Robinson should at least consider adding a little more know-how to his young backline in the form of Hugo Southwell.

The one-time full-back, now 32, took the Players’ Player of the Year award at Wasps after making 16 league starts in what was a difficult season for the London club. His big left boot would go some way to compensating for Laidlaw’s shortish kicking game and his inclusion would give Robinson the option of playing Stuart Hogg at No.13, a position that many, including former Glasgow coach Sean Lineen, see as his best.