Grant Gilchrist is a “born leader” and jumps straight from the footsoldiers to captain’s role as Vern Cotter was true to his professed aim of re-launching Scotland.
With less than a year left to the World Cup, Cotter has appointed the 24-year-old, only eight-times capped Edinburgh lock, who learned his rugby with Alloa in Clackmannanshire, as the new national skipper as the new head coach announced the 33-strong squad for the three viagogo Autumn Tests next month.
In doing so he also signalled the omission of two of Scotland’s mainstays of recent years, former team captain Kelly Brown and lineout captain Jim Hamilton. He also left out Max Evans and again ignored John Barclay. That’s 207 caps of experience discarded by the new man.
Gilchrist captained Scotland in the latter two tests of the summer tour against Argentina and South Africa, but at the time it was thought he was simply a stop-gap for more experienced names who missed the second half of that gruelling trip.
Instead, they’re largely out and he’s in, and still somewhat surprised.
“To be told you’re Scotland captain will never seem normal,” he admitted. “It’s something that you dream of as kid, and it’s something that I’m really passionate about.
“It’s a massive honour and something that I’m really proud of. Leading Scotland out at Murrayfield is going to be as good as you can get, and I can’t wait for the first test (against Argentina on November 8) at Murrayfield.”
In the congested battle for second row positions Gilchrist possibly wasn’t considered a first choice before now, but Cotter, coming in with his fresh perspective, spotted his qualities immediately.
“I think leaders are born and he is a born leader,” said the coach. “I quickly saw it wasn’t just line-out calling he was competent at. He is a good leader, has was with us throughout the summer tour and I saw then he could be the captain.”
And even though omitting the experienced hands and promoting a 24-year-old might look like a clean sweep, Cotter didn’t slam the door on the others just yet, highlighting that the only target was performing in these next three matches New Zealand (November 15) and Tonga (November 22) follow.
“Very tough decisions,” he agreed. “A lot of good people and good players have missed out. It goes to show the competition for places, especially at loose forwards.
“All we can say to the players that have missed out is that they are one step away from being called back through injury. All they can do is prepare themselves as best as possible, and when they get the call-up play particular well and put pressure on to make sure of selection next time.”
Barclay was outstanding for the Scarlets in Toulon on Sunday, but continues to be overlooked back home.
“We looked a John, we are aware of what he is doing,” added Cotter. “Others have been playing well in that position. We had to make some tough calls like that.”
The activity of the summer means that there’s only one uncapped player in the squad, and unsurprisingly it’s Glasgow’s young centre Mark Bennett, who starred against Bath in the ERCC match at the weekend and seems to have edged clubmate Peter Horne.
“I have known Mark for a number of years because he came to Clermont,” said Cotter, referring to Bennett’s two years stay in the academy at his former club. “He is a very talented young player who had a serious knee injury but has been very patient.
“If you look at his performance over the weekend he is what we are looking for. We are looking for people who make line-breaks, people who have a go.
“His career is progressing well and he listens, asks questions. We are excited he has done this work and he gets a deserved selection.”
The coach wants to have Alex Dunbar involved should he return from injury in the next two weeks, and may recall David Denton and Ryan Grant later in the campaign should their comebacks from surgery remain on schedule.
In the meantime, three players have been invited to camp including the 18-year-old Glasgow tight-head Zander Fagerson.
“We haven’t got a lot of tight-heads, and we want to see where he’s at in his development,” said Cotter of the former Strathallan School player. “it could be he’s brought in earlier, or later, depending on what we see.”