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