ARE WE LOSING
Chalmers concerned Scots’ search for talent abroad ‘has gone too far’ lGrand Slam hero fears lack of opportunities for homegrown prospects
IT’S a question that continues to linger. And, as 22-year-old Dylan Richardson became the latest South African to be parachuted into a Scotland squad, once again some were asking if the national side was in danger of ‘losing its identity’.
For context, Richardson does have Scottish ancestry, with his father laying claim to being from this land. Yet the back-row player was born and bred in South Africa and has played all his rugby there.
He played for South African schools and was a member of the Springboks Under-20s squad for the 2019 age-grade championship before he signed for the Durban-based outfit Sharks, which is where Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend spotted him.
For 1990 Grand Slam legend Craig Chalmers, it is too much. He believes things have now ‘gone too far’ — with the number of players brought up abroad coming at the expense of home-based talent.
‘No disrespect to him, and I really hope he does well, but why doesn’t he want to try and play for South Africa?’ asked Chalmers yesterday after Townsend had named his 36-man training squad for the autumn Test series.
‘They are world champions after all and he came through their system and was brought up there. Again no disrespect to him but him having a Scottish dad makes no difference to the fact that he learned his rugby in South Africa.
‘Does him accepting the Scotland call-up suggest he doesn’t think he will ever be good enough to play for South Africa? Are we second choice for a player aged just 22? It is not a very good look for the Scotland national team to be doing this time and time again and I feel the team is losing its identity with so many overseas players.
‘Also, what does his selection say to young Scottish players playing in the Super6 or coming through below that level? Now, I admit I haven’t seen much of that tournament but surely there must be someone coming through that deserves a call-up in his position? If there isn’t, why was the tournament set up in the first place?’
Townsend’s squad also contains South Africans Oli Kebble, Pierre Schoeman and Australian Sam Johnson, all of whom qualify through residency. Others may have blood links but have never played in Scottish rugby until this season, like the Glasgow Warriors duo of Australia-born Sione Tuipulotu, who has a grandmother from Greenock, and New Zealander Cole Forbes who has a grandfather in Aberdeen. Australian fly-half Charlie Savala has a dad from Ayr but learned his rugby Down Under and only joined Edinburgh over the summer.
‘I accept there are a lot of good young Scottish players in this squad but the balance away from Scottish players who were raised here to those who have been brought in to the national team from overseas has gone too far,’ said Chalmers. ‘I accept there will always be a few in the system but recently there has been a lot of players from abroad brought in. The balance is all wrong.
‘Now I realise it is someone’s job within the SRU to identify overseas talent with Scottish grannies but it is also someone’s job to improve the system for young players in Scotland. Clearly, that is failing when so many players from elsewhere have to be brought into squad gatherings like this one.’
The Scotland squad will meet for a two-day training camp at the Oriam on Sunday and Monday as they prepare for the opening fixture against Tonga at BT Murrayfield on Saturday, October 30.
As the game against the South Seas Islanders falls outside the international window, English and French-based players such as Stuart Hogg, Adam Hastings and Finn Russell will not be released by their clubs. Richardson of the Sharks is the only player not based in Scotland included in Townsend’s initial training squad.
The biggest shock is that Edinburgh scrum-half Ben Vellacott has not been included despite playing superbly in Edinburgh’s first three games of the season. The three nines picked are all from Glasgow, with the uncapped Jamie Dobie joining Scotland internationals Ali Price and George Turner. Sportsmail understands that the Scottish coaching team were keen to watch Dobie in action on the summer tour of Georgia and Romania, which was cancelled due to Covid.
They feel he still deserves his chance at the expense of Vellacott despite his early-season form. Other big omissions include Edinburgh fly-half Jaco van der Walt, who seems to have dropped off Townsend’s radar entirely.
Glasgow Warriors flanker Rory Darge stays in the squad from the summer after man-of-the-match performances in the opening rounds of the United Rugby Championship campaign. The likes of Ali Price, Hamish Watson and Zander Fagerson are back in the squad after Lions duty in South Africa.
Townsend was not available to answer questions on his squad selection but a short statement released on his behalf by the SRU read: ‘It has been great to see both Edinburgh Rugby and Glasgow Warriors make positive starts to their URC campaigns driven by some standout performances from both young and established players.
‘With four tough Test matches ahead of us in this year’s Autumn Nations Series it is important we bring players together early, connect with them as coaches and enable them to grow as a group before the campaign gets underway against Tonga at BT Murrayfield.
‘We’ll then move on to the challenge of facing in-form Australia, world champions South Africa and a very dangerous Japan team.
‘We are pleased with the depth we are able to call upon to make up this training squad and it provides a genuine opportunity for players to put their hand up for selection to the full Autumn Nations Series squad.’