Hadden hopeful as France clash looms

Scotland head coach Frank Hadden heads into his third RBS Six Nations championship absolutely convinced his players can come through the campaign with flying colours.

Hadden’s side start with a tricky home match against France on February 3, and they will be desperate to avoid the Wooden Spoon they finished with last year.

But Scotland’s ambitions are for a top-half finish, which they managed in 2006 after victories over France, England and Italy, and Hadden believes his squad is set up for high achievement.

“We were training yesterday in absolutely atrocious conditions, we had some injuries, we had some illness, we have some uncertainty about who’s going to be there tomorrow, but I’m still looking round and thinking this is a very good squad,” he said.

“It’s taken some time to build, there’s been a lot of work gone into it.

“We’ve addressed positions where we thought there wasn’t much competition and put a lot of effort into individuals to try to get them up to speed, and I’m really happy now with the competition we’ve got.

“You know, for a country as small as ours to have so many quality players available is a real boost for us.”

Phil Godman is among the players Hadden hopes to see fulfil his obvious potential in international rugby.

The 25-year-old Edinburgh stand-off faced Wales and Italy in the Six Nations last year but he has not featured since Scotland sank to a desperate low with their Murrayfield defeat to the Azzurri.

Godman missed the World Cup but has shown good club form this season and Hadden said: “I always knew Phil had the ability to play at this level, and last year I kind of forced him on a wee bit too quickly with the hope that he might make the World Cup.”

Dan Parks and Chris Paterson both featured at number 10 during Scotland’s run to the World Cup quarter-finals, with Parks starting all but the New Zealand match at Murrayfield when Hadden sent out virtually a fringe XV.

“We were absolutely delighted with Dan,” said Hadden. “The fact that Dan and Chris and Phil are all in good form is a real bonus for us.”

Hadden nevertheless senses Scotland’s players are still hurting from their World Cup elimination by Argentina.

The Scots had targeted the last eight, but once they reached that stage they were hungry to go one step further and were convinced they could beat the South Americans.

“I think there was a real sense of disappointment over our World Cup,” Hadden said.

“We felt we had an opportunity to go further than we’ve been for some time and I think the players still feel that frustration, and I think they’re pretty determined at the next available opportunity, which is the Six Nations, to show what they’re capable of.”

Scotland Rugby announced a new sponsorship deal with brewers Belhaven today, which will bring in a six-figure sum over the next three years.

A winning start to 2008 is what Scotland now crave, and having beaten France in their opening match of the 2006 Six Nations, they know what it takes.

With Marc Lievremont installed as the successor to former coach Bernard Laporte, Hadden admits it is difficult to prepare for how the visiting team might play.

“We’re not quite sure what the French are going to bring because they’ve got new coaches and they may have new players, we don’t know what their squad is yet,” he said.

“But we’re at home and that’s very important, we’ve got a sell-out on a Sunday, which we haven’t done for some time and we’re determined to give our supporters the best possible start to the championship.”