Redpath still has point to prove

Scotland captain Bryan Redpath flies to Australia tomorrow determined to go out on a high at the World Cup.

The veteran scrum-half has decided to call time on his international career after the tournament but, after missing the side’s warm-up games through injury, still feels he has a point to prove.

Redpath, 32, was forced to rest for six weeks following an operation to tie a tendon to his bone after sustaining an injury in the second Test in South Africa in June and it prompted some critics to write him off.

However, he is determined to prove them wrong and sign off in style Down Under.

“I am going to retire after this tournament. I said after the Six Nations that going after the World Cup was an option for me but my main concern was just to get back fit,” Redpath, who has won 55 caps, told the Daily Record.

“But now I will be retiring internationally after the World Cup and I am happy to do that.

“It is nothing specific. I have a family with three young kids, I have had 10 wonderful years of hard times, bad times and good times.

“I have enjoyed it, loved it but I am 32 now and I just see it is an opportunity to go there as captain and perform how I want to perform on a big stage.

“It is a great challenge to prove wrong, people who doubted me and I feel I have to do that.

“There have been people saying I was the past and not the present after some of these pre-World Cup games. I have no problem with that. But it is good for me. It is a good individual challenge for me.

“It builds you up inside it makes you want to play better. It makes you far harder mentally.”

Scotland will set up a training camp at Caloundra in Queensland next week in the build-up to their World Cup opener against Japan in Townsville on October 12.