Pivac delays Thomson’s debut for Scotland
Scottish rugby fans are crying foul after Blade Thomson’s Welsh club have refused to release him for a potential test debut against Wales.
The former New Zealand Ma¯ ori, Hurricanes and Taranaki forward has been named in Scotland’s squad for the November internationals but Wayne Pivac, his Kiwi coach at Scarlets, will not release him for the November 3 Cardiff clash with Warren Gatland’s Wales.
‘‘The Wales game is outside the World Rugby window,"Scotland coach Gregor Townsend told reporters in Edinburgh.
‘‘Scarlets are playing Edinburgh that weekend so it would be nice of Wayne Pivac to say to Blade ‘you are available’ but we know that is not going to happen.
‘‘The rules are definitely in place for English and Frenchbased teams and with the PRO14 it is just bad timing that our teams, Glasgow and Edinburgh, plus the Scarlets are playing that weekend otherwise it would be a free weekend.’’ Thomson, 27, is in his first season with Scarlets since leaving the Hurricanes. He qualifies for Scotland through a Wishaw-born grandfather but will have to wait until Scotland host Fiji at Murrayfield on November 10 for his test debut.
Scottish rugby fans took to Twitter to vent their displeasure at the Scarlets’ decision to hold back Thomson with some noting the Cardiff clash was being played outside the window at Wales’ request.
A Scarlets supporter also thought it was a poor call by his club despite Pivac’s team supplying 13 players to the Welsh squad.
Pivac will replace Gatland as Wales’ coach after the 2019 Rugby World Cup tournament,.
Wales Online noted that the Welsh Rugby Union expressed disappointment when English Premiership clubs refused to release Welsh players Luke Charteris, Josh Adams and Tomas Francis for a test against South Africa which fell outside the test window.
Gatland will be without five England-based players, including British and Irish Lions Dan Biggar and Liam Williams, for the Scotland test because they are not being released by their clubs.
Meanwhile Former Wales and British and Irish Lions flanker Sam Warburton says he never asked Richie McCaw to swap jerseys because he didn’t want to show respect to the All Blacks’ great.
Warburton, who retired earlier this year at 29 after a string of chronic injuries, said he had jerseys from some of the game’s greatest No 7s - including David Pocock - but never chased McCaw’s.
The man who led the British and Irish Lions to a series win in Australia and a drawn series against the All Blacks told BBC Sport’s Scrum V show that he had the jerseys of "Nugget [Wales’ Martyn Williams], Pocock, Thierry Dusatoir and Francois Louw". He explained that when he was playing he had a policy of "never asking anyone for their jersey".