Robinson goes west for forward thinkers

Rugby reporter

Friday 18 May 2012

It's nice to be nice, but Heineken Cup officials were surely over-egging the pudding earlier this week when they revealed a team of the tournament in which no less than four of the eight forwards were drawn from Edinburgh.

Tom Ryder, left, and Rob Harley will almost certainly each win their first cap on tour. Picture: SNS

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Alasdair Reid

No disrespect to the capital quartet of Geoff Cox, Ross Ford, Sean Cox and Netani Talei, all of whom were outstanding in Edinburgh's dramatic run to the semi-finals, but it is difficult to place too much faith in a selection in which there is no place for Ulster's Stephen Ferris, Leinster's Jamie Heaslip, or Thierry Dusautoir of Toulouse, a man who had been anointed World Player of the Year just a couple of weeks before the competition got underway.

Officially, the selection has a mathematical basis, resulting from ratings awarded to individual players after each game, but that explanation only serves to reinforce the value of some degree of subjective assessment. As, indeed, does the fact that when Andy Robinson chose his Scotland squad to take on Australia, Fiji and Samoa next month, the balance of forward power clearly rested at the other end of the M8.For while Robinson gave the nod to three Edinburgh forwards, he chose eight from Glasgow. Murrayfield regulars will be quick to point out that Allan Jacobsen has been rested and Dave Denton was ruled out by injury last week, but Robinson's selection still reinforces the impression that Glasgow's firepower over the past eight months has been more consistently effective than that offered by their friends in the east.In which light, those who have followed Glasgow will surely raise glasses to the fact that Tom Ryder and Rob Harley, two unsung stalwarts of the team, will be on the plane.Neither has yet been capped, but in a 28-strong squad, the expectation must be that both will be full Test players by the time they return to Scotland. And while both might owe their places to the misfortunes of others – Harley is a direct replacement for Denton, while Ryder is the beneficiary of Jim Hamilton's lengthy ban for fighting – they have grafted so impressively for Glasgow that it would be impossible to argue that they are undeserving of the step up.Not that Harley was taking anything for granted as he awaited confirmation of his selection earlier this week. Time was when players would scan the horizon to catch sight of the postman bearing missives from Murrayfield, but the 21st century version is that they now sit in front of their computers waiting for emails to arrive."I was not sure about being picked at all," said Harley, whose outlook may well have been hardened by the experience of being included in the World Cup warm-up squad last year but not making the travelling party. "I didn't try to second-guess things. I was just sitting nervously, clicking update, because I didn't know either way."For all that his efforts are now focused on Scotland, Harley admitted that Glasgow's strong collective performances over the past season had helped to nudge him closer to his goal of getting a cap."It is a really strong indicator when you look at the number of [Glasgow] players in the squad," said the 22-year-old. "When you have success because the team is playing well, it makes all the players in the team look better in their respective roles. Winning is a habit and if you can get the guys who are used to winning then that will help the team."Harley burst on the scene with Glasgow last season, stepping into the blindside role that had just been vacated by Kelly Brown. By contrast, Ryder has risen to prominence far more slowly, having been on the books of Leicester, Taranaki and Saracens before signing on with the Warriors at the start of this season. Ryder is a boilerhouse lock in the English tradition, but he earns eligibility for Scotland by way of his Glasgow-born father. Holding his own in a Glasgow side that also contains Richie Gray and Al Kellock was evidence enough of his potential, and he was on the periphery of Robinson's Test squad during the Six Nations.However, even as his first cap looms, Ryder is taking nothing for granted. "You get picked in the squad but then you need to make sure that you show your stuff on the pitch," he said. "It is like any squad you are in, if you play well you will stay there and if you don't you will go. "I just have to make sure that I am in the best possible shape, but I am ready and raring to go to show that I can play at international level."

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Robinson goes west for forward thinkers

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