Dan Parks’ international comeback ended abruptly after Greig Laidlaw’s performance in Saturday’s Calcutta Cup game was evidence enough for Scotland coach Andy Robinson.
Laidlaw for Parks at fly-half and the faith-enforced omission of Euan Murray for Geoff Cross at tight-head are the only changes in the Scotland starting team to face Wales in Cardiff on Sunday, while 20-year-old Duncan Weir and 19-year-old Stuart Hogg are on the bench.
If these guys can turn things around it will be some achievement, as the impression of confusion in the camp and policy on the hoof was underlined by the head coach’s protracted reasoning behind Parks apparently retiring, being convinced to come back for two games and then ditched again after just one.
Add in continuing questions about Robinson’s assistant Gregor Townsend and Jim Hamilton claiming he was misquoted when he said players were ”unsettled” by chopping and changing selections he wasn’t, as my recording shows and there appears to be turmoil aplenty heading to Cardiff.
It seems far from perfect conditions for Laidlaw to get his chance but he has the confidence of the coach and perhaps more importantly plenty from himself to fill the Scotland 10 jersey after a just a handful of games in the position at the pro level.
Robinson began the announcement of the team by paying tribute to Parks and detailing the plan behind him playing against England, a selection the coach firmly stressed he still believes was the right one.
”We’d been speaking to Dan about the future, and talking about retirement,” said Robinson. ”Because of the injury to Ruiradh Jackson and having two young tens who hadn’t had a lot of rugby there, I asked him to play the first two games and be involved in those.
”I picked him for Saturday because I believe Dan in the side was the way we wanted to play. I look at the possession stats, the territory stats and I believe I was right to have picked him for that game.
”But unfortunately we didn’t win and through that, the way that Greig came on and played, through Duncan’s performance for the A team and the confidence they now have, we made the decision and explained to Dan that were moving on.”
Had things gone swimmingly and victories been recorded in the two games he was initially ”covering”, Parks would probably have been asked to continue, conceded the coach.
”Ruiradh Jackson has been my 10 and we have developed him, but you discuss and make decisions as you go along,” he continued. ”We picked Dan because I wanted Duncan to play the A game, it was important for him to have that experience, and now he’s come in full of confidence. We watched Greig and his reaction off the bench.
”We needed to ease them both into international rugby. We’ve done that with Richie Gray, Jackson and David Denton, it’s all part of the evolution of the squad.”
That evolution includes continuity of selection, which explains why no other changes have been made and some would argue it’s about time.
Denton was the ninth change of No 8 in the last 11 games and the centre combination has been changed 10 times over the same period.
As for attack coach Townsend and the lack of tries Saturday’s starting XV has 414 caps but just 25 tries on their collective resume he has no plans to change the coaching team.
”The guys are hurting because of the loss and because it’s the same old story,” he continued. ”Look at the endeavour they put into the game and what they created, it hurts and frustrates them because they got themselves into great positions to win.
”We’re working on our solutions and hopefully we’ll show the worth of those this weekend.
”I’m not planning on changing the coaching team, we’ll work together as a group and the team have a good understanding of the way we play the game.”
Team: Rory Lamont (Glasgow Warriors); Lee Jones (Edinburgh), Nick De Luca (Edinburgh) Sean Lamont (Scarlets), Max Evans (Castres); Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh), Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors); Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh), Ross Ford (Edinburgh), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh); Richie Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester); Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester), Ross Rennie (Edinburgh), David Denton (Edinburgh).
Replacements: Scott Lawson (Gloucester), Ed Kalman (Glasgow Warriors), Alistair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), Mike Blair (Edinburgh), Duncan Weir (Glasgow Warriors), Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors).
Photo by Lynne Cameron/PA Wire