The Scottish Mail on Sunday

It’s no secret now why Blake has been fast-tracked by Scots

- By David Ferguson

THE SCOTTISH Rugby Union were still trying to keep their new internatio­nal call-up a secret yesterday, but Hugh Blake had already posted an encouragin­g indication of why he created headlines last week.

The 22-year-old was selected by Vern Cotter for the RBS Six Nations Championsh­ip just a few weeks after arriving in Scotland and that remains a major bone of contention. However, Melrose, the club to which he has been loaned by Edinburgh, are delighted to have him here.

The openside flanker, who has Scottish grandparen­ts, made his second appearance for the club in the BT Premiershi­p and, after finding himself regularly unused as mistake after mistake plagued a disappoint­ing stop-start game, emerged from 10 minutes in the sinbin to turn over Heriot’s ball and set up the Borderers for a dramatic last-gasp drop-goal, kicked by Richard Mill, that secured victory over the league leaders.

He was naturally delighted, as were Melrose, to claim a win that brings the Goldenacre side back into the pack chasing a Premiershi­p crown, but the SRU seemed less so. Blake was happy to chat to a few rugby journalist­s, along with supporters of both sides, and Melrose were keen for the new face to share his thoughts on his introducti­on to Scottish rugby.

But the Scotland team media manager was at the game and he stepped in to say that Blake was offlimits.

Melrose officials shook their heads and Blake insisted he had to listen to his employers, leaving it to captain Fraser Thomson to discuss the impact of the newcomer.

He said: ‘It’s always tough for pros to come and integrate into a settled club team, but Hugh’s been great. He is a good guy, loves his rugby and is keen just to play and help our club win games, and that’s gone down well with the boys.

‘We didn’t know he was going to be in the Scotland squad but, when we knew he was coming to us, the boys went online and had a look at his games and you can see that he is a natural No 7 with some great skills.

‘Scotland have some quality back rows and Kelly Brown is a terrific player, but we maybe don’t have those out-and-out sevens, or certainly not a lot of them, so I can understand why Vern Cotter wants to have a look at Hugh.

‘Obviously, I don’t know what the plans are for him with Scotland, but he’s only 22 and so I’d hope he has 10 years of profession­al rugby in front of him.

‘John [Dalziel, Melrose coach] talks a lot with the coaches at Edinburgh and in the Scotland set-up and I don’t think it will be long till he gets a shot with Edinburgh, and we’ll see what he does there.

‘He got yellow-carded today, but he was a key man for us throughout the game.

‘He has played at a higher level and you can see that with his organisati­on, he gets people in the right position — and he gets himself in the right position at the right time there at the end to turn over ball and break 30 metres, to put us in the position for the drop-goal that won us the game.

‘We’re delighted to have him and, if we get him again, we’ll be even more delighted, but we’ll just have to wait and see.’

Technicall­y, Blake was a Melrose player yesterday and the SRU media officials’ veto may have surprised their newcomer thrust into a selection storm — access is less restricted in New Zealand. But while he is unavailabl­e for Edinburgh, due to arriving too late to be registered for the European Rugby Challenge Cup, and suffering concussion by running into Fijian prop Jerry Yanuyanuta­wa in his first run-out for the A side, this is where Blake will start to create his reputation and, importantl­y, an affinity with the Scottish rugby public.

However, as Cotter looks into all nooks and crannies, globally, for improvemen­t on the field, it would seem that others move at a slower pace within Murrayfiel­d as the SRU prove still masterful at shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to good publicity.

 ??  ?? HUGH’S AN ASSET: Blake was an instigator for Melrose success yesterday
HUGH’S AN ASSET: Blake was an instigator for Melrose success yesterday

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