AFTER almost 18 months of waiting, Scotland have landed one of their main Kilted Kiwi targets and brought him straight into the national World Cup training squad within hours of arriving in the country and without having played a game in the northern hemisphere.
For John Hardie, a 26-year-old openside flanker, the decision to come north represents the ultimate gamble since he arrives without a club contract or any guarantee he will get one.
Hardie has been a regular with the Highlanders, recently crowned the Super Rugby champions, for the last five years, though he missed this season's play-off matches, including the final, after damaging a rib in the final match of the regular season.
He is highly rated in New Zealand and only a few months ago still felt he had a shot at a place with the All Blacks once Richie McCaw retired. After being left out of the most recent training squads, however, he has decided to commit to Scotland, his qualification coming from a grandmother from Culross in Fife, and is understood to be hoping to sign a deal to stay in Europe.
If he is capped in the World Cup warm-up matches – as seems likely after Vern Cotter, the head coach, spoke yesterday about seeing the entire squad before making a decision on the 31 for the World Cup – he will be following a similar path to John Leslie and Brendan Laney, coincidentally also former Highlanders, who were rushed straight into Scotland squads and quickly capped.
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