SCOTLAND and Argentina will both be missing key players from next month's two-Test series due to the French 'Top 14' over-running, but Frank Hadden remains hopeful of prising a couple more players away for the tour.
In what has become an incredibly complex web of player release in international rugby, there appears to be little chance of either nation invoking IRB regulation 9, which insists that clubs must release players for international duty at certain time
s of the year – the June tour window being one of them. This is largely due to the French league season having overrun to accommodate the Rugby World Cup in September/October, an IRB competition.
This has created a major headache for a new coach striving to get his tenure off to a winning start and a more experienced coach under pressure to keep his job. Stade Francais appear to have already ruled their players – Simon Taylor, Juan Hernandez, Ignacio Corleto and Rodrigo Roncero – out of the two-Test series, while the respective Pumas and Scotland coaches sit and wait for news on whether others may be released.
Santiago Phelan, the young Argentina coach, has more to lose in that half of the recent World Cup squad were France-based, but while Frank Hadden may only want Nathan Hines from Perpignan, Scott Murray from Montauban and Mark Rennie, the uncapped lock at Bourgoin, providing Taylor does not win a late pass out, he faces a major second row problem if he does not find success. Chris Cusiter, the other Scot at Perpignan, is still behind Mike Blair and Rory Lawson in Hadden's pecking order and so has not been requested.
Hadden stated yesterday: "We've got slots for two wingers and we're waiting for progress reports on Simon Webster, Rory Lamont and Nikki Walker, and we have left three slots for the second rows.
"Rory has had a knee op as well as the facial surgery, Nikki has a stress fracture and Simon has been suffering from a hamstring problem. I'd be surprised if all three were available, but it would be good to get two from that three."
The French league, the 'Top 14', is a lengthy competition, but having been put off until October this season by the World Cup the normal league fixtures are not due to end until the 14 June, the same day as Scotland and Argentina play their second Test in Buenos Aires. The week after the top four French clubs move into the semi-finals and final to determine the outright French champion.
At the moment, Clermont Auvergne, Toulouse, Stade Francais and Perpignan occupy the top slots, with Biarritz eight points back, Castres ten and Murray's Montauban 15, so nothing is clear-cut and no players are being offered up to tour.
Argentina have a host of players involved with the top four clubs. Patricio Albacete, Alberto Basualdo and Omar Hasan are at Toulouse, Mario Ledesma and Martin Scelzo at Clermont, the trio at Stade Francais and Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, Federico Aramburu and Sebastien Bozzi are with Hines at Perpignan. There are another three Pumas at Biarritz, and others scattered around lower-ranked clubs.
There is a possibility that Perpignan could win their next two games, against Montauban and Clermont Auvergne, and release their players to return after the tour for the play-offs. Montauban and Bourgoin are not in the play-off running, but are seeking a top seven finish to secure Heineken Cup qualification – Toulouse's achievement in reaching this year's final having earned another European spot.
Aware of the importance of winning in Argentina for the first time since 1969, an uncapped international, Hadden is clearly desperate to have a full-strength side, but is not holding his breath.
The wing berths do not rely on French rugby, but are as complicated with neither Nikki Walker, Rory Lamont or Simon Webster fit to play this weekend. Lamont is a good bet to make it, Walker is not, and Webster is tough-and-go with the hamstring which made him a late withdrawal against Wales. It may be that Chris Paterson's merry-go-round continues and he returns to the flank in Argentina.
Haddenhad been contemplating treating this as a development tour until becoming fully appraised of the new World Cup seeding plans, and importance of finishing high in the IRB rankings this year.
He stated: "Three years ago we went to South Africa with 26 players, but the matches against Argentina have added importance with the rankings in December having a bearing on World Cup seedings which is why we're going with 30 this time."
The full article contains 783 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
