The broken foot suffered by Australian-based James McManus may have looked a potentially crippling blow for Scotland's Rugby League World Cup bid, but the team's management turned the situation to their advantage yesterday in naming his replacement.
David Scott may be even less well known in his homeland than Banff-born McManus, the Newcastle Knight who finished this season as joint leading try scorer in Australia's National Rugby League, represented New South Wales in this season's State of Origin series and was considered to be a contender for a place in the Kangaroos squad. However, the inclusion of the 20-year-old Scott in his place means the Scotland squad's credibility is enhanced with the inclusion of a genuine homegrown player.
Raised in the town which boasts the country's finest youth rugby set-up, Scott was naturally introduced to the sport at Stirling County but his opportunity to play on the big stage came via a less-trodden path, away from Scottish rugby's more established code.
Scott is among five youngsters from Easterhouse Panthers who have benefited from the club's linkage to Hull Kingston Rovers by being invited to their Super League academy, and his call-up to the national squad is the strongest evidence so far of the quality of the work done at the Glasgow club.
He earned it with a series of late-season performances. A move to Featherstone Rovers turned into a loan spell at Doncaster where he rattled up some 90 points in just seven appearances, resulting in him signing - only last Friday - a full-time contract with the club for next season.
A thrilling weekend continued when he was told he was in the World Cup squad. "I've had a look at the squad and there are some real superstars in it," he said yesterday. "I'd like to think I'll get a game because I'm going into it with a lot of confidence after the way the season ended, but just training with these players will be crazy."
The squad could receive a huge lift tomorrow since Danny Brough, the Huddersfield Giants half-back who is the team captain, is widely tipped to pick up the British game's greatest individual honour by being named the 2013 'Man of Steel' and his presence alone will imbue belief. He is by no means alone in doing so since Brough is one of 10 Super League players in the 23-man squad, while there are four players from the NRL including Scott's only fellow Scots-born squad member, Matt Russell, who is now with Gold Coast, but originally hails from Scotland's west coast in Irvine.
That statistic goes some way towards explaining why the 13-a-side version of the game has struggled to gain attention hereabouts, as with most parts of the world other than its heartlands in the North of England and Australia. There is a slightly artificial element to their World Cup given its huge reliance on the grandparent rule in assembling teams representing the countries outwith those boasting the two main professional leagues.
However Scott's inclusion in the Scotland squad is latest evidence yet that a pathway to Super League can be created. "I was at Stirling County for five years but when I started at high school I felt the set-up just wasn't for me. I went to GHA but I still wasn't enjoying it as much and then I saw the Challenge Cup final on the telly and really fancied trying league," he explained. "I got my mum and dad to take me along to Easterhouse and after that I played union through the winter and league through the summer.
"I got into the Scotland under-18 squad at union, but Hull KR had shown an interest and I knew that if they offered me something, which they did, I would have to go."
Those looking to promote rugby league in Scotland are optimistic that, young as he is, Scott can become an ambassador for them and he is very enthusiastic about the prospect. "I think it's only right that I take any opportunity I can to get back there and share the experiences I've had with everyone at the club because I couldn't have done this without them," he said.
It is a measure of the task facing Scott and his team-mates that Scotland have won just a single tie at a World Cup finals tournament, against Fiji just five years ago, but drawn with Tonga, Italy and the USA they are fancied to reach the quarter-finals and a meeting with defending champions New Zealand at Headingley.
"Tonga will probably be the the biggest challenge," said Scott. "So we have to make sure we are ready to do the business since that's our opening match and we need to win all three to be guaranteed going through; but Italy and the USA are winnable games and we have a huge incentive with the chance to face the Haka. I'd like to think we'll be going in with a lot of confidence that we can do it, though, because a lot of our players have had successful seasons."
The tournament gets under way on October 26 and Scotland play their opener against the Tongans on October 29 in Workington.
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