THE LATE CRAIG BROWN CBE was a smart cookie – that is a fact universally recognised; and the man we knew as “Bleeper” was surely never smarter than when he took the advice of the Scottish Football Writers Association and capped a handful of players – to prove to their media cheer-leaders that they were simply not International Class.
I would like to think Gregor Townsend is taking a leagf from the Brown play-book, with some of the players he has selected for what we are contractually required to refer to as The Skyscanner Summer Tour. Let's just say, one or two of the players he has selected are quite simply not Scotland class and I fear they will be found out in the South Pacific.
The full squad is:
I accept, given the opposition, Gregor could not go flat-out for development and pick a callow squad. He was always going to have to select a core spine of the team of tried and tested experienced internationalists, but with seven first-picks on Lions duty and an eighth, Zander Fagerson, on the injured list, one or two bench-warmers are going to have to step up as starters, without ever having shown they are ready for this task.
This tour offers a real opportunity for one of the tight-heads selected to clinch his place as back-up to Zander. Personally, I'd have taken D'Arcy Rae for that role, but, he appears to be one of a handful of players whom Toony does not rate, a situation which is always going to occur when you place so much power in the hands of one man.
However, opinion in the body of the kirk at the squad announcement appears to be: Aye right! So what! The Tartan Army (Rugby Union Division) appears distinctly under-whelmed.
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