Hadden: Godman can take kicking pressure

Frank Hadden today insisted Phil Godman could handle the pressure of kicking goals for Scotland after gambling on leaving Chris Paterson out of the RBS 6 Nations opener against Wales.

The omission of record points-scorer Paterson was the biggest surprise as Hadden announced his team for Sunday’s crunch clash at Murrayfield.

The Edinburgh full-back is widely regarded as one of the best goalkickers in the world and has been his country’s talisman for the past six years.

But having played less than two full matches since recovering from a rib injury, he has found himself on the bench.

Club-mate Godman, who keeps his place at fly-half, will need to kick better than he did in the autumn internationals if today’s decision is not going to backfire.

In Paterson’s absence, he and Dan Parks were guilty of squandering penalties that could have handed Scotland victory against world champions South Africa.

Hadden was at pains to point to statistics which show Godman’s conversion rate in all matches this season is virtually identical to that of Paterson, though he was less sure of the 26-year-old’s Test percentage.

Revealing he and his fellow selectors thought “long and hard” about leaving out Paterson, the head coach said: “The stats this year tell us that Chris Paterson is the best goalkicker in the northern hemisphere currently on 86% but that Phil Godman’s number five on 79%.

“Phil was at 86% until a week or so ago when he started having hamstring trouble. They were number one and two all season until then.”

He added: “Phil’s international percentage is excellent. I couldn’t quote you it but I’ll find it for you.

“He has a very good track record at international level.”

Hadden was also unconcerned about Godman’s recent hamstring niggle, adding: “We consider that he’s the right man to do the job and we have every confidence in his ability to do what we expect of him.”

Paterson, who is also Scotland’s most capped player, will provide cover on the bench for both Godman and Hugo Southwell, who starts at full-back.

Edinburgh prop Geoff Cross makes his debut at tight-head after Euan Murray failed to recover from a rib problem.

Also missing through injury is lock Nathan Hines (knee), with former captain Jason White deemed the best replacement, despite having spent virtually his entire nine-year Test career in the back row.

Hadden believes Cross’ selection was a no-brainer but admitted there was plenty of debate over who to play in Hines’ absence.

The head coach is confident a squad he recently described as the strongest of his near-four years in charge is now equipped to handle injuries to big-name players.

“You might say guys like Euan Murray and Nathan Hines – maybe even Rory Lamont, Nikki Walker – are potential British Lions,” Hadden said.

“But I think the fact that we can cope with that kind of injury scenario now is a real sign of the progress that we’ve made.”

As well as playing White, Hadden has gone without a recognised lock on the bench and he confirmed Simon Taylor would switch from number eight should injury strike.

The other surprise selection decision saw Glasgow’s Thom Evans fail to make even the 22, with Edinburgh’s Simon Webster given the nod on the right wing.

Hadden said: “Thom is definitely hot. He’s a young guy who’s done all we could have asked of him in the last couple of years. Make no mistake about it, his time will come.

“I’ve been saying repeatedly that we’re looking for guys who can make the tough decisions under pressure and we’ve got two very mature players available who we have a lot of confidence in.

“Thom, as a young and inexperienced player, has yet to show the maturity in that area.

“But you cannot deny his running skills, you cannot deny his bravery and you cannot deny that he’s coming up on the rails very, very quickly.”

Scotland team to play Wales in RBS 6 Nations at Murrayfield on Sunday February 8 (kick-off 3pm):

H Southwell (Edinburgh); S Webster (Edinburgh), B Cairns (Edinburgh), G Morrison (Glasgow), S Lamont (Northampton); P Godman, M Blair (capt); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), G Cross (Edinburgh), J White (Sale), J Hamilton (Edinburgh), A Hogg (Edinburgh), S Taylor (Stade Francais), J Barclay (Glasgow).

Replacements: D Hall (Glasgow), A Dickinson (Gloucester), K Brown (Glasgow), S Gray (Northampton), C Cusiter (Perpignan), C Paterson (Edinburgh), M Evans (Glasgow).