IN one of those coincidences from which conspiracy theories emerge, this was the weekend where Simon nudged the Scotland selectors — Simon Taylor, Simon Webster, Simon Cross, take your pick. All of them shone and at least two of them did enough in Edinburgh’s 41-33 win over Leinster Lions to climb into the Scotland squad against Italy in the RBS Six Nations Championship next Saturday.
Attention was focused on Taylor, a Scotland talisman in recent years and a certainty for the British Isles squad if he remains fit, making his return from the kind of knee injury that would once have ended a player’s career. After 11 months of frustration on the sidelines and a unique one-week loan deal with Saracens to ease him back, he was back at Murrayfield, back in the Edinburgh shirt and back making a case to the national selectors.
Perhaps he was not at his sharpest, but he was sensible enough not to try to be too flash. He was solid and workmanlike, carrying the ball through the middle of the Leinster pack, tackling aggressively and linking effectively. He will be more prominent in games to come but, for now, just getting through an hour of rugby was satisfying enough with his try, a 32nd-minute drive through the forwards, a bonus.
“It’s great to be back,” Taylor said afterwards. “The pressure was more to come through the game and not get injured or make an idiot of yourself. I don’t think I had an incredible game. We will see how this week goes with training with Scotland. I have missed just being able to play at all. You watch Scotland from the sidelines and, of course, you wish you were out there.”
The headache for Matt Williams, the Scotland coach, is not whether to bring Taylor back, but how to accommodate him. Do you put him on at the start and see how long he lasts, or do you leave him on the bench? If he starts, he will probably slot back in at No 8 with Allister Hogg moving to flanker and Jon Petrie dropping to the bench.
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The game should have seen another of his colleagues also win a national recall, with Webster’s all-round performance on the wing in stark contrast to Sean Lamont’s guddling the week before. He fielded the ball well, covered intelligently and on a set-piece angled run through the backs spotted the gap and went for the tryline with the kind of conviction that has been missing from Scotland’s back play. The unlucky one will be Cross, the flanker, who looked the part but is up against world-class competition.
Edinburgh made hard work of clinching victory despite playing some of the best rugby seen at Murrayfeld this season. Seven tries should have been more than enough to romp home, with Alasdair Dickinson, the exciting young prop, claiming two of them and coming within a foot of a hat-trick, but every time Edinburgh pulled clear, they found the self- destruct button, getting kicks charged down and failing to deal with the variety of chips and up-and-unders from David Holwell, the Leinster stand off, to concede five tries.
It means that Leinster lost further ground on the Celtic League leaders, with Neath-Swansea Ospreys doing all the hard work in the opening half hour to lead the Borders 27-3 before the Scots decided to start playing to their potential. The rest of the game saw the Scots in charge but their only reward was a Charlie Hore try and conversion, matched by a late touchdown for Andrew Millward, the prop, to ensure maximum points for the Ospreys.
It was enough to extend their lead over Munster, who left it late yesterday before running out 25-19 winners against Glasgow, who went ahead in the first minute with a Calvin Howarth penalty and held it until the 53rd minute when Rob Henderson, the Ireland international, manufactured a try for James Storey, his fellow centre.
Dan Turner, the Glasgow lock, collected the Scots try with Howarth converting and adding four penalties, including a late shot to claim the loser’s bonus that eased them back in front of Edinburgh in the league, though also he missed three. Alan Quinlan, the flanker, and Jason Holland, the centre, added the other tries for Munster.