Scottish Rugby Union Plans To Recruit Potential Int'l Players

The Scottish Rugby Union announced a "bold plan" to recruit potential int'l players "from all around the world" and said that England would be the "biggest battleground," according to Owen Slot of the LONDON TIMES. The competition for Anglo-Scottish talent officially commenced when the SRU employed three scouts, all of whom are former Scotland int'ls, two of whom are full-time, to "scour England for Scottish-qualified players." Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend named Jason Robinson as an "example of the sort of player who had previously slipped through the net." The 2003 World Cup winner was "dual-qualified through his Scottish mother, but Scotland did not know." Townsend said, "Now we would have the meeting, we would have the talk. Back then, it was too late." Scotland is spreading its reach "far beyond England," however. It established a network in South Africa, Japan and Australia. Former Scotland int'l Cammy Mather "is in place in New Zealand" (LONDON TIMES, 10/20).