A FLAT plane battery may have made sure the triumphant Glasgow Warriors were a bit late in making it home, but they were back in time to find out who has made it into the Scotland training squad for the Rugby World Cup.
According to Al Kellock, their captain, just the experience of getting their hands on those winners' medals will do wonders for the mood of the national squad when it does get together.
"Those guys are going be in a fantastic place," he said. "When you pull on a Scotland jersey, what happens at club level will affect you.
"We can put out players who are used to winning games. It's the same mentality that I talk about Jonny Gray and the other boys having. Were they to play Ireland in the World Cup, the fact that they are looking over at somebody like Paul O'Connell - he has a phenomenal record but Jonny can he confident in his own ability because he knows what he has got to do to outplay him and win for Scotland. That has got to help."
The training squad, expected to be in the mid-40s will be announced by Vern Cotter later this morning and already it is clear that the Glasgow side are going to make up nearly half of it.
There are few of the Scottish-qualified players in the squad who will miss out on selection for the bigger squad - which has been the biggest part of the headache for Gregor Townsend, the head coach, as he works out how to handle the half-dozen games that clash with the World Cup. Even Josh Strauss, who will not qualify until the eve of the World Cup, may be included.
At least one fear has been averted, with the English clubs pulling back from a threat to enforce the letter of the law when it came to releasing foreign players for World Cup training camps. If they had stuck to their guns it would have been the week before the opening warm-up game before the Exiles in England would have been released.
"Premiership Rugby is pleased to confirm that we have come to an agreement with World Rugby to release all our players called up by any nation for the Rugby World Cup from this week," said a Premiership Rugby spokesman. "We had to ensure all our clubs and players are properly protected when players are released on international duty."
They made it clear, however, that the deal only covers the World Cup, and it will be back to business as usual for future release requests, which means one three-day training camp before the Six Nations and no release of players outside the official three-week window over next summer.
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