Latest Lions call-ups 'a big carrot' for Scotland squad

BBC News

a day ago

Scotland's latest three British and Irish Lions call-ups should be "a big carrot" to the remaining squad as they face Samoa in the final game of their own summer tour on Friday, according to coach Pete Horne.Winger Darcy Graham left Gregor Townsend's Scotland camp on Monday to join eight compatriots in the Lions squad. Prop Rory Sutherland and hooker Ewan Ashman will follow him after facing Samoa and could feature for the Lions in next Tuesday's match against a First Nations & Pasifika XV.Scrum-half Ben White had been drafted in as injury cover a fortnight ago and scored one of the Lions' tries in Saturday's 48-0 win over an Invitational Australia-New Zealand select.
Rather than dwell on Scotland's depleted resources, Horne suggested: "It was nice - it gave a bit of energy to our meeting this morning. Obviously, all the boys were delighted."Gregor made a really good point in the meeting. Look at what Ben did at the weekend there. He had a cracking game. He put himself right in the mix for potentially getting involved in some Test rugby."And there's no reason that our guys can't go over there and make a quick impression and, before you know it, you can play a critical part in the Lions series. So it's exciting for them."It's another little reminder to some of our boys as well. A lot can change in a week. A lot can change in a couple of days. So there's still a big carrot there for some of our fellows as well that are playing on Friday night."Indeed, Graham's Lions call came three days after being sent off in Scotland's 29-14 defeat by Fiji and he is now part of Andy Farrell's squad only after being cleared of suspension following a disciplinary meeting.Horne recalled that "we were all gutted for Darcy" when the Edinburgh wing was deemed unfortunate to miss out on the initial squad."Everyone loves him," he said. "We all know what he can do and how he's a world-class player - and we were devastated he didn't make it."But he was really cool. I'm sure he'll be straight into training as soon as he lands and showing everyone just what he's all about. And he can end up having a big part to play."Scotland's loss in Fiji was a major setback to their hopes of rising the one place needed in the World Rugby rankings to secure a top-six seeding in December's World Cup draw."It's not something we've kind of focused on too much so far, to be honest," Horne said. "We were all gutted with the result and the manner of the defeat. There's also nothing worse than finishing a tour and finishing the season off the back of a defeat, so everyone will be desperate to right some wrongs and go well this weekend."It'll be cool playing at Eden Park. We've never won there before either, so I'm not sure if that's something that we'll maybe dip into later in the week."