How did a Scot end up previewing England ‘A’ (like many people I can’t bring myself to use the ‘Saxons’ name) versus Scotland ‘A’ for an England Rugby message board?   That’s a story in itself, but an even better question would be ‘How does someone who really isn’t a fan of international rugby, outside of the latter stages of the RWC every four years or an occasional 6N match, end up previewing a Churchill Cup game?’.  Whereas I have a very strong antipathy towards the meaningless summer tours that Northern Hemisphere countries undertake, I like the Churchill Cup as it seems to me to actually have a purpose.  It’s an opportunity for Canada and the USA to play international rugby, something that can only help their development, and it gives up-and-coming English and Scottish players an opportunity to show their talents – of course by adding the Maori it ensures a Southern Hemisphere victory and we all know that it’s a God-given right for anyone in a black shirt to win everything!  I’m less convinced of the rationale that puts the likes of soon-to-be-retired Neal Hatley in the team but I guess that there’s still a place for sentiment in the game, and it’s a fair reward for his efforts over the years.

Let’s start with the obvious: Scottish professional rugby is in a dire state and it can only get worse.  Its heartland lies in the Border towns and in the public schools of Edinburgh, but with the Borders professional team disbanded and the Glasgow and Edinburgh sides being barely supported by a football-loving Scottish public, a further downward spiral seems inevitable.  (When Glaws played Embra in the HC this year the travelling support outnumbered the home fans, and we rattled around in Murrayfield – all crammed into one stand so that the Sky cameras opposite us could give the appearance of there being a crowd!).

The history behind teams like Gala, Hawick, Kelso, Melrose and Selkirk is immense:  small towns, in some cases with populations of less than 10,000, that turned out huge numbers of Scottish internationals and British Lions over the years.  The Borders was the Scottish equivalent of the Welsh Valleys or the West Country – a rugby hotbed and through the mismanagement of the game it has pretty well all gone – a total disgrace.   For those who criticise the RFU, trust me, it would be so much worse if you had the SRFU running the game!

However, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t good Scottish players and the side that Frank Hadden has put out has a strong-looking feel to it despite there being eleven changes from the team that struggled to put away the USA.  The backs in particular look quite tasty but how much chance they’ll get to show their skills depends on whether the pack can hold its own.  As a Glaws fan I’ll be watching Alasdair Strokosch at 6 and replacement prop Alasdair Dickinson with particular interest as they’ll be stepping up to the GP next season.

The trouble for the Scots is that the England ‘A’ side looks much stronger on paper than the one that beat the USA in such convincing style.  That win was built on the strength of the pack and the addition of James Haskell isn’t going to make it any weaker!  It was the front five that did the damage to the USA and they remain in place.  The backs have been reshuffled pretty comprehensively with Paul Sackey, Tom Voyce, Danny Cipriani, Olly Barkley and Nick Abendanon all coming in.  If the pack performs as expected there could be plenty of opportunities for each of them to shine.  From a parochial point of view I’ll be watching keenly when the young Glaws prop, Jack Forster, gets his chance to come off the bench – the lad’s a real talent and could well be the England tighthead come the 2011 RWC.

However you look at it the Scots seem to be in for a long, old afternoon, and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised to see England run riot.  The only hopes I see for Scotland ‘A’ are the weather which might get in the way (remember the 2000 Calcutta Cup!), and the fact that the game against England ‘A’ is the only one that really matters to the Scots – they’d happily accept being stuffed by anyone if they could just see off the ‘auld enemy’ – and this might just enable their forwards to make a contest of it for a while!  Logic dictates than England ‘A’ wins and wins well – I reckon by more than twenty points. 

England Saxons: Abendanon (Bath), Sackey (Wasps), Sorrell (Saracens), Barkley (Bath), Voyce (Wasps); Cipriani (Wasps), Wigglesworth (Sale); Hatley (London Irish, capt), Paice (London Irish), Brooks (Northampton), Blaze (Worcester), Evans (Harlequins), Haskell (Wasps), Skinner (Harlequins), Dowson (Newcastle).
Replacements: Thompson (Newcastle), Forster (Gloucester), Mercey (Saracens), Croft (Leicester), Crane (Leicester), Dickson (Newcastle), Mordt (London Irish).

Scotland A: Rory Lamont (Glasgow), Danielli (Borders), Kydd (Northampton), De Luca (Borders), Webster (Edinburgh); Godman (Edinburgh), McMillan (Wasps); Smith (Edinburgh), Thomson (Glasgow), Kalman (Borders), Hall (Dragons), Rennie (Bourgoin), Strokosch (Edinburgh), Beattie (Glasgow), Macfadyen (Glasgow, capt).
Replacements: Lawson (Glasgow), Dickinson (Edinburgh), Hamilton (Borders), Barclay (Glasgow), Chrystie (Borders), Morrison (Glasgow), MacRae (Borders).

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