Bennett could follow new trend

IF Mark Bennett, the Scotland centre, does decide to take up a deal to play in Edinburgh, he will be part of the latest trend in Scottish rugby. Players in danger of finding themselves sidelined in Glasgow are heading to the nation’s capital.

The depth of resources at the Warriors means few players get to pick and choose their games.

Though Bennett had come back to restore his club partnership with Alex Dunbar this season, he has been anything but an automatic selection. While they have partnered each other seven times, Dunbar has played almost as many games – six – with Sam Johnson.

The direction of travel for players was, until last season, almost entirely east to west.

The most significant transfer was undoubtedly when Alastair Kellock, the lock, moved back to his home city to captain Glasgow.

He was joined in the trek west by the likes of Ryan Grant and Dougie Hall, whose careers had been stagnating in Edinburgh but took off after the move. More recently the trend has continued with the likes of Alex Allan, the prop, and Lee Jones, the wing, making the switch.

All that changed last season when it finally occurred to the guys in charge that if you have two players vying for the one international spot it is daft to have one of them playing second fiddle to the other at the same club.

So the Scots decided Duncan Weir was to stop understudying Finn Russell at Glasgow and get regular games with Edinburgh, which paid off when he was recalled to international bench duty last weekend.