Hardie in line for the old heave-ho
Leaving Edinburgh may end Scotland career
JOHN HARDIE’S Scotland career hangs in the balance after Edinburgh head coach Richard Cockerill revealed his contract will not be renewed this summer.
The 29-year-old was suspended for three months by his club at the end of last year for gross misconduct over allegations of cocaine use, although he returned to action at the end of January.
The openside flanker was recently recalled into Gregor Townsend’s Six Nations squad before the Ireland match but has now been released from international duty ahead of the trip to Italy.
Cockerill denied the decision to let him leave was down to his conduct, however, saying: ‘John won’t be staying and he is the same as a lot of other guys. We have a lot of young guys coming through and, financially, we need to spread our costs.
‘It is getting value out of our budget. We have guys like Jamie Ritchie and Luke Crosbie coming through. Both can play seven and are doing well.
‘Then you have Hamish Watson, who is first choice for Scotland. Add in John Barclay, who can play along the back row and is joining us in the summer. We also have Viliame Mata, Magnus Bradbury and Lewis Carmichael, so there are a lot of good back-row players.
‘We need to get value from the squad. We are trying to get a balance in the number of forwards and backs we have and John is leaving.’
His departure from Edinburgh puts a huge question mark over whether Hardie, who has amassed 16 caps since making his debut back in 2015, will ever play international rugby again.
Townsend likes to have his key men at either Edinburgh or Glasgow Warriors so they can be rested and managed by the SRU.
Born and raised in New Zealand, Hardie joined Edinburgh from Super Rugby side the Highlanders and could decide to return home.
‘It makes sense that guys like Mark Bennett and Ben Toolis come back into our group from Scotland,’ said Cockerill, whose side face Munster at Murrayfield on Friday evening in the Pro14. ‘Guys like Cornell du Preez, John Hardie and Magnus Bradbury are also training with us because they are very important. That allows us to put a good side out on Friday.’
Hardie is eligible for Scotland through his grandmother from Low Valleyfield in Fife. His arrival was hailed as a major coup by SRU chiefs who had convinced him to turn his back on his dream of playing for the All Blacks.
Although he had never even set foot in Scotland, then head coach Vern Cotter rated him so highly he handed him a controversial call-up to the 2015 World Cup five weeks after arriving in the country. He was named in the squad ahead of the likes of Barclay, who was left at home.
His first game for the national team was in a World Cup warm-up match against Italy in Torino in September of that year. He went on to play three World Cup matches for Scotland, scoring a try against Japan and Samoa respectively. His other score came against Italy in Rome in the 2016 Six Nations.
When he returned from the 2015 World Cup, he started well at Edinburgh, but, despite his early promise, soon struggled to keep the seven jersey once Watson began to play to his full potential.
A series of injuries didn’t help and, ultimately, he ended up playing second fiddle to Watson for both club and country. Included in the Scotland training squad for the match against Italy in Rome is fly-half Adam Hastings, son of Scots legend Gavin. He is there as cover for Finn Russell and is looked on as a future international No 10.
Second-row Scott Cummings, back-row Matt Fagerson plus centres Richie Vernon and Matt Scott, who returns to Edinburgh from Gloucester in the summer, have also earned call-ups.
Meanwhile, Fraser Brown insists he is ready to challenge Stuart McInally for the Scotland hooker’s jersey after putting his concussion problems behind him.
Brown has been twice knocked unconscious this season and he was so concerned by his recurring head injuries that he went to see a specialist, who finally gave him the go-ahead to return before the game against Ireland.
He hadn’t played for 11 weeks until he came off the bench for McInally for the last 20 minutes in Dublin.
‘It was disappointing how the game went but it was nice to be back playing again,’ said Brown. ‘It has been a frustrating time for me as I had three unfortunate concussions incidents this year.’