WHEN he unveiled his international squad at BT Murrayfield yesterday, the first thing to note was that Vern Cotter is clearly fond of players who bring a bit of pace and mobility to the party.

The second thing was that he either doesn't know or doesn't care about Scotland's chequered history of importing and then fast-tracking players into the Test side.

You could argue, of course, that it is not in Cotter's remit to care two hoots whether selecting this player or that is going to raise hackles in certain quarters. His job comes down to picking he best players, and then preparing them as best he can, to go out and win Test matches. Cotter likes to project himself as a pretty straightforward fellow, not inclined to become bogged down in matters that are peripheral to his core role.

And yet, when Cotter picked former Otago flanker Hugh Blake for his 32-man Six Nations squad, he was opening a can of worms that had lain mostly dormant for a few years. Almost immediately, comparisons were being drawn with the sequence of events that brought Brendan Laney, another Otago exile, to Scotland in 2001.

Laney was a powerful centre/full-back, with a solid track record of provincial and Super rugby in his home country. In many eyes, he was unlucky to have missed out on selection for the All Blacks. Ian McGeechan, the Scotland coach at the time, clearly thought so, for no sooner had Laney arrived in these parts than McGeechan told his players that he was going to select the newcomer to play against Argentina a few days later.

Cue outrage. Not just among the press and public, but also - and more significantly - in the Scotland dressing room. Four senior players - Gregor Townsend, Andy Nicol, Scott Murray and Tom Smith - formed a delegation and expressed their reservations to McGeechan. Their argument was that picking Laney before he had even played a club match would send the wrong message to aspiring players in Scotland, although they might also have mentioned that the fellow was complaining of jet lag just a couple of days earlier.

The coach backed down - though only temporarily as Laney subsequently appeared in the next match, against New Zealand. He went on to have a decent Scotland career, amassing 20 caps over three seasons, although he is probably more fondly remembered by Edinburgh fans for his workrate and his generally upbeat approach to life.

In retrospect, those who firmly opposed the idea of Laney's accelerated path into the Scotland team would agree that the player himself was not at fault. Townsend made that clear when he wrote about the affair a few years later. It was the actions of coach McGeechan and director of rugby Jim Telfer that angered the players.

Will the current crop feel the same way about Blake's sudden promotion to the Scotland squad? They will probably keep their counsel on the issue, but it is hard to believe that they will be universally sanguine about the development. Many have fought tooth-and-nail to achieve their dream of playing for their country. All will know how much they and others - parents, teachers, coaches - have put into the effort.

On paper, openside flanker Blake has leapfrogged John Barclay and Roddy Grant to find himself on the cusp of Scotland selection. Maybe he is a better player than both, but the details of his playing career to date hardly provide the most overwhelming evidence in his favour. After playing for New Zealand in the 2012 Junior World Championship, he was brought into the Highlanders' wider training squad for the following year's Super Rugby season. At the end of it, however, he was released.

Now I don't doubt Cotter's ability to recognise potential. According to the coach, Blake has a skill set that no other Scottish-qualified player appears to possess at the moment. He is quick and he wins turnover ball, and those assets are invaluable at the top level. And at 22, he undoubtedly has time on his side.

Yet that very factor begs the question of why on earth he has been thrust into the Scotland squad at this point. Cotter appears to have rewarded Blake for an impressive outing for Melrose against Hawick last weekend, which is probably not the kind of contest most Scotland fans would think of as an international springboard. In doing so, he has cast the player into the harsh and baleful glare of the spotlight, when Blake himself would probably prefer to work away in the shadows for a while.

There is nothing wrong with the old-fashioned idea that a player should pay his dues. Personally, I wish young Blake the best in becoming as good a player as he can be and in reaching the highest level possible. But I'd feel a heck of a lot more comfortable about it if he proved his worth before he got there, rather than being found out after he arrived.