IMPROVING

The 27-year-old has not played since 23 December when he was sent off while playing for Edinburgh against Glasgow Warriors and subsequently banned for stamping.

The ban meant that he missed Scotland’s 34-7 defeat by Wales in the showpiece opener on Saturday, but he is free to play against France at BT Murrayfield on Sunday.

Cockerill feels the New Zealand-born player with five Scotland caps is fit enough to hit the ground running at Test level – as long as he applies himself 100 per cent.

“France certainly have a big forward pack and physically it is going to be a big test for the Scotland forward pack, but Simon (pictured) is fresh,” Cockerill said. “I think that he has done well for us this season, he is durable and when he applies himself and concentrates the whole time then he can be a handful. Sometimes when he doesn’t concentrate he gets into a bit of bother.

“We have to push him and help him along the way, but Simon is a good athlete, he is slowly learning more about the set piece and getting better.

“He has a lot of potential and he has scrummaged well this year. He is certainly good enough for the Test arena. It is just whether he applies himself.”

However, it now looks unlikely that Darryl Marfo will

RICHARD COCKERILL play any part in the Six Nations tournament. The loosehead prop was seen back in training yesterday with Edinburgh, but is still three or four weeks away from playing in a match after a back problem. 2 Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill, supervising training yesterday, believes tighthead prop Simon Berghan could hit the ground running against France on Sunday.

“We have to push him and help him along the way, but Simon is a good athlete, he is slowly learning more about the set piece and getting better”