‘A’ team hope Irish eyes won’t be smiling

Feb 22 2008 Gordon Bannerman

THE Scotland A squad went through their paces yesterday at McDiarmid Park.

And rugby returns to the Perth stadium this evening as the Scots face their Irish counterparts with a 7.30pm kick-off.

Scotland A coaches Andy Robinson and Sean Lineen have selected another talented 22 as fans get a chance to assess emerging talent and debate who deserves a call-up to Frank Hadden’s first XV.

But seven years after being handed his first A cap, 29-year-old Roland Reid is back on the wing.

A versatile player who can play either on the wing or in the back-row, Reid enjoyed an impressive A debut back in 2000, when he started in the back-row for the 37-24 win against Samoa at McDiarmid Park – before going on to win his first cap on the wing against Tonga in November 2001.

Commenting on his return to the fold, Reid said: “It’s great to be back involved with the A team.

“I’ve got some fine memories of my time playing at this level and McDiarmid Park is where I first pulled on an ‘A’ shirt so it’s pretty exciting to be heading back up to Perth.”

Looking ahead to tonight’s game, coach Robinson added: “I was really impressed with how the players responded when we first got together and we’ve continued to progress in training.”

“The game against Italy saw us front up to a very powerful side and post a good result so we’re looking to continue in that vein in front of a home crowd up at McDiarmid Park.”

The Scotland line-up is: 15 Calum MacRae (Edinburgh),14 Simon Danielli (Ulster) 13 Ben Cairns (Edinburgh) 12 Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors) 11 Roland Reid (Edinburgh) 10 Phil Godman (Edinburgh) 9 Rory Lawson (Gloucester) 1 Alasdair Dickinson (Gloucester) 2 Dougie Hall (Glasgow Warriors) 3 Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors) 4 Craig Hamilton (Edinburgh) 5 Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors) 6 Mark Rennie (Burgoin) 7 Alan MacDonald (Edinburgh) 8 Johnnie Beattie (Glasgow Warriors). Substitutes: 16 Scott Lawson (Sale Sharks) 17 Craig Smith (Edinburgh) 18 Dan Turner (Glasgow Warriors) 19 James Eddie (Glasgow Warriors) 20 Mark McMillan (Wasps) 21 Gordon Ross (Saracens) 22 Max Evans (Glasgow Warriors).

It is pay at the gate for tickets – £10 for adults and £5 for concessions (under 18s, students & OAPs) – which can be purchased by calling the Ticket Hotline on 0131 346 5100 or by logging onto www.scottishrugby.org

Supporters who buy their ticket for the A game before noon today will be automatically entered into a ballot to win the opportunity to buy tickets to Scotland’s Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield which takes place on Saturday, March 8.

FORMER Perthshire pair Tom Bury and Neale Patrick are in the Scotland U20 side for the 6 Nations match against Ireland at Dubarry Park tonight.