Hadden caught short as English clubs refuse to release ten players

THE Scottish Rugby Union has made a formal complaint to the International Rugby Board after the national team's English-based players were refused permission to attend yesterday's training session at Murrayfield.

Premier Rugby, the umbrella organisation representing Guinness Premiership clubs, instructed each of its teams not to release players for what was Scotland's first get-together of the new season.

The snub has sparked a conflict that head coach Frank Hadden had hoped to avoid after recently embarking on a bridge-building tour of foreign clubs with Scotland players in their squads.

Hadden appeared to be bracing himself for the absence of some of his exiles by naming a 50-man squad last week for yesterday's training session.

The ten Premiership players missing yesterday were Alasdair Strokosch, Alasdair Dickinson, Rory Lawson and Scott Lawson (all Gloucester), Sean Lamont and Euan Murray (both Northampton), Rory Lamont and Jason White (both Sale), Gordon Ross (Saracens) and Stephen Jones (Newcastle).

A spokesman for the SRU said: "We provided these clubs with ample notice of this short training camp and usual custom and practice has resulted in our England-based players being made available to Scotland for training camps.

"We are obviously concerned that our tried and tested relationship with these English clubs has been upset by the sudden intervention of Premier Rugby and as a result of today's non-appearance of so many players, we have made formal representation to the IRB, the world's governing body, to resolve this matter."

The SRU has urged the IRB to resolve the matter before its final preparations begin for the November Tests against New Zealand, South Africa and Canada. The results of these matches will determine Scotland's ranking going into the draw for the 2011 World Cup.

The spokesman added: "It is essential that our national squad players are suitably prepared for these games and we will be seeking further information from the IRB to ensure that Scotland has a clear understanding of the IRB's regulations governing player release for international matches and preparation.

"The IRB's first port of call is the RFU, the governing body of the game in England, and we await the outcome of their discussions with interest."

Hadden has been at pains to emphasise the importance of securing more preparation time with his players, and had been hoping to secure their release two weeks before every Test.

England counterpart Martin Johnson is able to do just that as the Rugby Football Union pay Premiership clubs for the privilege. That also applies to training get-togethers, whereas there is no such agreement with Scotland.

Indeed, it also emerged last night that Hadden would not be given the access he craves prior to Test matches, with Premier Rugby confirming they would not budge from a five-day release period.

A spokesman for Premier Rugby said: "We are sticking to those release periods and not releasing outside of those periods. I think we have to be consistent that this is the state of affairs, not just for Scotland. You can imagine similar representation will come from the Irish, the Welsh, the Italians etc."

He added: "There will be some cases where one club could lose one player but another could lose six or seven players."

As well as the absence of the English-based players, Glasgow Warriors hooker Fergus Thomson also missed yesterday's gathering as he was seeing a specialist with regard to a shoulder injury.

Meanwhile, Hadden reported that Edinburgh head coach Andy Robinson and his Glasgow counterpart Sean Lineen would be involved in Scotland's selection for the November Test matches.

Hadden – whose new assistants, Mike Brewer and Graham Steadman, will also work closely with both clubs – said: "I believe it's important that the men who see the players on a daily basis are involved in selection. I will also be tapping into Sean's intimate knowledge of New Zealand rugby and making use of his experience in that regard during the autumn Tests.

"Sean will also be involved as a specialist coach, much like Duncan Hodge our kicking analyst, during the autumn games."

Robinson and Lineen were Hadden's assistants on the two-Test tour of Argentina during the summer. At the end of the series, which saw Scotland lose one match and win one, the two assistants indicated that they did not want to continue as hands-on assistants to the coach at the same time as coaching Scotland's two professional sides.

BACKGROUND

THE stand-off between the Scottish Rugby Union and leading English clubs came to a head in February 2007 when Sean Lamont, Jim Hamilton and Rory Lawson all sat out a Scotland training session on the instructions of their clubs. The gathering had been called for the "fallow" week of the Six Nations, with no international matches scheduled.

Premier League Rugby maintained that if the SRU wanted players outside international weeks, they should pay clubs for the privilege. The tactic was in contravention of International Rugby Board regulations, but the IRB said nothing would be done to enforce the regulations unless a complaint was received from a member union.

The SRU was reluctant to take such a course of action, and instead coach Frank Hadden has tried to build a relationship with affected clubs. It appears that this has not worked, and a complaint has now been lodged. If the clubs are found to be in breach of IRB regulations, they could be barred from fielding their Scotland players for ten days.