Rugby: Steve Shingler could face Edinburgh Heineken Cup clash

Scottish fans could, on Sunday, get a first look at the player whose presence in national coach Andy Robinson’s RBS Six Nations Championship squad has provoked a furore within international rugby.

In an added twist to Edinburgh’s bid to claim a Heineken European Cup quarter-final place with a win, it has been admitted that concluding group opponents London Irish could field Steve Shingler.

Shingler is currently subject of an appeal to the International Board after his call-up by Robinson was deemed unlawful due to the player having already been capped at under-20 level by Wales.

London Irish deliberately kept 20-year-old Shingler’s presence low key by restricting him to a brief appearance from off the bench when their qualifying hopes ended in defeat at Cardiff on Saturday.

But after appealing for “common sense” to prevail and Shingler to be allowed to represent the country of his mother’s birth, London Irish coach Toby Booth also said of his squad for Murrayfield: “He (Shingler) is in contention. He finished the game fit and well which makes him a potential because of the size of our squad and who we have got fit. We are only 60 per cent healthy at the moment so the 24 who are fit and healthy will probably go.”