Hadden in tough calls for Scots

FRANK HADDEN may have sprung few surprises when naming his Scotland team for tomorrow’s World Cup eliminator against Italy — but he insisted it had not been such a straightforward selection.

The Scots will be at full strength for the winner-takes-all Pool C clash with the Azzurri in St Etienne, a match Hadden has claimed is his country’s biggest in four years.

Most of his big names who were rested for Sunday’s 40-0 defeat to New Zealand return, and only two players — Chris Paterson and Simon Webster — are retained from that match.

“This is something we have been looking forward to for a long time,” he said. “We are delighted with the final selection, but it took longer than you might think. So much so that Tuesday was put out of kilter because of the time spent on it. The bench was the area we took longest on.

The contentious areas would probably have been the midfield and the second row.

Simon Webster — a winger by trade — and Rob Dewey were given the nod in the centres, despite pressure from the fit-again Andy Henderson and Marcus Di Rollo.

In the second row, Nathan Hines will be partnered by James Hamilton, who beat off competition from Scotland’s record cap-holder Scott Murray and Llanelli Scarlet Scott MacLeod.

Murray, captain against the All Blacks, does not even make the bench.

Hadden admitted: “The competition for places in the second row is especially tight. That is a real bonus. Three are fortunate to have been selected to play in this important match.

“Scott’s performance last weekend as skipper was invaluable. But a lot of our selections boil down to freshness.”

Henderson, who also played against the All Blacks, was always likely to make way for Dewey, having only just returned from a dead leg that kept him out of the early tournament wins against Portugal and Romania.

Di Rollo put down a marker with a solid display at the weekend, but he has just been pipped by Webster.

“Andy has had a sensational summer and finished with an outstanding performance against Ireland in the warm-up games,” said Hadden, referring to the hat-trick Henderson grabbed against the Irish at Murrayfield.

“But he has been out for a long time and is not quite there yet but we are delighted to have him available on the bench. Simon did well at centre against Romania and that was partly why Marcus played well against the All Blacks.”

The Scots will start as favourites and Hadden is hoping his decision to rest his big guns against New Zealand pays off.

“I guess people will not know whether the decision is vindicated until after this weekend. I still believe it was the right decision. It was brave, but it doesn’t stop us making them.”

SCOTLAND v Italy, World Cup Pool C tomorrow: R Lamont (Sale); S Lamont (Northampton), S Webster (Edinburgh), R Dewey (Ulster), C Paterson (Gloucester); D Parks (Glasgow Warriors), M Blair (Edinburgh); G Kerr (Edinburgh), R Ford (Glasgow Warriors), E Murray (Northampton), N Hines (Perpignan), J Hamilton (Leicester), J White (Sale, captain), A Hogg (Edinburgh), S Taylor (Stade Francais).

Replacements: S Lawson (Sale), C Smith (Edinburgh), S MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets), K Brown (Glasgow Warriors), C Cusiter (Perpignan), A Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), H Southwell (Edinburgh).