Harking back to Saturday nights as a loon, eh? The crossover episode we never saw. Captain Ally Hogg = Boss Hogg, geddit? Meanwhile below you will find the newly announced Scotland A team to face Italy A. Could Scott MacLeod use this as a springboard to launch himself back towards the full team and offer Hadden two fit locks? Would he bother using them anyway? Cairns, Lamont and Hogg are joined in the demoted ranks by Moray Low and Simon “Malkovich” Webster. It’s an interesting choice of Ruaridh Jackson at 12 (with Dewey away on Sevens duty), given he is likely to be more of a NZ style second five-eighths – those Kiwis love their fractions – than a Frank Hadden style battering ram 12 like Dewey, Henderson or Morrison. Could this be a sign of things to come? It’s good to see him getting continued exposure and I hope it continues for Glasgow. Goggsy has given great service to Scotland in the past, but shouldn’t the A-Team be locked in their shed, building a Scotland team for the future (out of some cabbages and a disused tractor)?
S Jones (Newcastle), S Webster (Edinburgh), B Cairns (Edinburgh), R Jackson (Glasgow), S Lamont (Northampton), G Ross (Saracens), M McMillan (Glasgow), Ed Kalman (Glasgow), S Lawson (Gloucester), M Low (Glasgow), S MacLeod (Edinburgh), D Turner (Glasgow), A Hogg (Edinburgh, capt), J Beattie (Glasgow), A MacDonald (Edinburgh)
Substitutes: F Thomson (Glasgow), K Traynor, C Hamilton, S Newlands, G Laidlaw, D Blair (all Edinburgh), C Kinloch (Glasgow).
The game is at McDiarmid Park, Perth, this Friday night, 7.30pm. And unless I am much mistaken, tickets will be free as they are for all this season’s A, U20 and Women’s games.
