Graham and Horne ready to light up the Gold Coast
Exciting young rugby talents Darcy Graham and George Horne can light up the Commonwealth Games next month, according to Scotland Sevens head coach John Dalziel.
The 20-year-old Edinburgh Rugby winger and 22-year-old Glasgow Warriors scrum-half are two players highly regarded by Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend.
They both have Scotland Sevens experience behind them and are among a group of six pro team players – along with Glenn Bryce (Edinburgh) and Glasgow trio Matt Fagerson, Ruaridh Jackson and Lee Jones – who have been made available for the event in Australia on 14 and 15 April.
Graham came through the ranksathawickandhasamazing pace, while Horne learned his trade at Howe of Fife, Currie Chieftains and Glasgow Hawks and has a very sharp rugby brain and an incredible engine.
Dalziel,whohasworkedwith both of them at age-grade and sevens levels, said: “Young Darcy is a remarkable individual talent. He’s doing what he’s probably been doing in the streets of Hawick growing up and just loves the game and running with the ball.
“That’s the dynamic he brings and George is exactly the same. They’re both very confident flair players. They can create something from nothing and in the modern game of sevens you really need that, especially with such good defences. It’s good for all the other youngsters out there to see what they can learn from such players.”
Dalziel feels fellow young player Fagerson can use his Gold Coast selection to speed his rise to a full Scotland cap.
Fagerson, the 19-year-old back-row who has been in top
0 Scotland Sevens coach John Dalziel, who has named his Commonwealth Games squad, with captain Scott Riddell.
0 George Horne: Sharp brain. form for the Warriors of late, has been in extended Scotland squads as recently as the Six Nations. Such is his talent, Dalziel believes it will not be long before he joins older brother Zander in the full Scotland squad under the tutelage of Townsend.
“Matt Fagerson is a lad who is destined for a huge career,” said Dalziel. “We’ll look back in a few years and say that part of his making, as a full international, was his inclusion in these Games.
“He brings real dynamic power to the forwards, which we don’t have. He’s a very talented
0 Darcy Graham: Great pace. kid who played a lot of sevens as a youngster.
“He’s going to be a big, big player for the full Scotland team in years to come.
“The squad we’ve named is a sign of how seriously this is being taken, 100 per cent.”
At the other end of the age and experience scale are Lee Jones and Ruaridh Jackson.
Jones is 29 and the Games in Gold Coast will be his third, while he has eight full Scotland caps. Jackson, 30, has not played international sevens since 2006, but has 31 full Scotland caps. Dalziel, explaining their inclusion, added: “Lee has been in the Scotland squad as 24th man recently, so Gregor has looked at him and rates him. We [Dalziel, Townsend and Warriors’ head coach Dave Rennie] had a discussion about everything and for Lee to compete in his third Commonwealth Games was the right thing. He brings real experience. He can take the team out of the bubble of just rugby. We’re part of a bigger team in the shape of Team Scotland and he will impress that on the guys.
“Ruaridh is a classy operator and he gives us a right-footed kicker for restarts. He has really good experience of running a line. He was quite an easy pick for us. If you look at some of the tries he’s been creating and scoring for Glasgow, they are very relatable to what he could do on a pitch with seven bodies there.”
Dalziel will have the 13-man squad together from Monday onwards and they will play in Hong Kong before travelling to Australia.he confirmed that Olympian Mark Bennett was considered for selection, but it was felt more beneficial that he stayed with Edinburgh for their important run-in.
On day one in the Robina Stadiuminaustralia,scotland will play Papua New Guinea, Malaysia and South Africa in the pool stages.
Day two will turn into knockout rugby when the medals will be won and lost over an exciting few hours. Eddie Jones retains the backing of the Rugby Football Union despite England’s dismal fifth-place finish in the Natwest 6 Nations.
Ireland were crowned Grand Slam champions with a conclusive 24-15 victory at Twickenham on Saturday that condemned the hosts to a third consecutive defeat and their worst tournament performance since 1987.
The review into a series of results that have plunged England into crisis began yesterday morning when RFU chief executive Steve Brown attended the initial meeting between Jones and his coaching staff.
As is customary after each tournament, Jones, pictured below, must present to the RFU board and also appear before the Professional Game Board, which represents the English game’s various stakeholders.
While mourning the collapse in results, Brown insists Jones remains the right man to lead England into the 2019 World Cup.
“Eddie and his coaches have my confidence and the measure of how good they are and can be will be how they respond to these tough times,” Brown said. “The results in the Six Nations were not what we wanted, not what we expected and there is no attempt by us to dress this up. “We wanted to do significantly better and we didn’t. We’re disappointed with the decline, no question about that. Nobody would want to go from winning the Six Nations to fifth.
“We will learn from this and make sure it doesn’t happen again. No-one is patting each other on the back, they’re looking for solutions to put us back to where we were before.
“We were motoring pretty well. We have hit a bit of a bump and now is the time to regroup, reassess and get back on track.
“It’s worth reflecting that Eddie has an 86 per cent win record with England. You don’t become a bad coach or team overnight. But we have to learn and have to improve.”