Kilted Kiwi to face Poms
29 Jan 2013
Former Crusaders winger Sean Maitland will make his Test debut for Scotland against England at Twickenham on Saturday.
Maitland won the Junior World Championship with New Zealand’s U20 side and played for New Zealand Maori. The 24-year-old joined Glasgow last October and qualifies to play for Scotland through his grandparents.
‘Sean Maitland is very proud to be pulling on the Scotland jersey for the first time,’ said interim coach Scott Johnson. ‘His family will be rapt because they raised him in New Zealand always reminding him of his Scottish heritage, getting up in the early hours of the morning to watch both the Five and Six Nations games on the TV.
‘He’s shown he can play footy with the best of them and the impact he’s made since arriving at Glasgow in the autumn has underlined what we’d seen of him playing for the Crusaders in Super Rugby.’
Johnson has made six changes and one positional switch to the team that lost to Tonga in November, with Sean Lamont moving from wing to centre, Ruaridh Jackson returning at flyhalf with Greig Laidlaw starting at scrumhalf. Loosehead prop Ryan Grant is back from injury, Jim Hamilton returns to the second row and No 8 Johnnie Beattie plays for the first time since August 2011.
Scotland have not won at Twickenham since 1983.
Scotland – 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Sean Lamont, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Ruaridh Jackson, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Johnnie Beattie, 7 Kelly Brown (c), 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Dougie Hall, 1 Ryan Grant.
Subs: 16 Ross Ford, 17 Moray Low, 18 Geoff Cross, 19 Alastair Kellock, 20 David Denton, 21 Henry Pyrgos, 22 Duncan Weir, 23 Max Evans.
52 Comments
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30 Jan 2013, 07:51 am
Eishh!
30 Jan 2013, 07:58 am
too many poached islanders dashed his all blacks dream,this will become the norm.
30 Jan 2013, 08:14 am
Rated this guy above Guilford from the getgo.
NZ are covered in that position though.
30 Jan 2013, 08:17 am
@wpstormerbok-3:
And I should add that I rate both, just that Zac somehow got earmarked for higher honours at a very early stage similiar to Ice.
30 Jan 2013, 08:26 am
This is just wrong.
I have no problem with the guy representing Scotland, but I do have an issue with the qualification process.
A few months in Scotland is simply not long enough to be a proper qualifying stand down.
Some time over the last year or so I guarantee his coaches comment would have been somewhat different if he had been selected for the AB’s i.e. “‘Sean Maitland is very proud to be pulling on the New Zealand All Black jersey for the first time”
30 Jan 2013, 08:27 am
@Brads-5:
how long has he been living in scotland for?
30 Jan 2013, 08:37 am
@Fern-6:
He played for Canterbury in the ITM Cup last year, and has turned out for Glasgow for the first time ever subsequently.
What does that give him, 5 months maybe?
30 Jan 2013, 08:39 am
@Brads-7:
Not right.
30 Jan 2013, 09:55 am
The “Zola Budd” of rugby?
30 Jan 2013, 10:02 am
He qualifies through his parents and grand parents. Stop looking for a reason to be negative about the situation.
30 Jan 2013, 10:02 am
@Brads-5: He qualifies through his Grandparents, same as getting your citizenship, so effectivly he is Scottish.
30 Jan 2013, 10:13 am
@Rhys7-10:
Why shouldn’t I?
South Africa have it right. You want to represent the Rainbow Nation, then be a citizen first.
This ability of walking off a plane and immediately changing your National allegiance based on hereditary sucks.
I don’t have a problem once a person is a citizen but 4-5 months being a resident is outrageous.
30 Jan 2013, 10:18 am
@goodstuff-11:
Try that again?
It is nothing like citizenship.
You cannot honestly believe Maitland is eligible to take the oath right at this minute solely based on his grandparents being Scottish.
The same should apply to his ability to turn out in Scotland’s national colours.
30 Jan 2013, 10:28 am
Granted SA has set a tough standard compared to the rest of the rugby world, but it is at least consistent with all other sports.
The IRB Laws are out of step and the UK are exploiting it..
Even we here in NZ, much to the amazement of most Saffa’s no doubt, have far tougher rules for national selection than what has occurred here.
30 Jan 2013, 10:34 am
@Brads-13:
I agree same goes for Brad Barrit , instantly qualified for the poms through grandparents. The 3 year citizenship rule should count for all. It should not be that easy to pack up and play international rugby for another country in a matter of 2 – 3 months.
30 Jan 2013, 10:55 am
The Fifa eligibility rules for football (soccer) are more relaxed than rugby. See below:
The relevant current FIFA statute, Article 17: Acquisition of a new nationality, states:[20]
Any Player who … [assumes] a new nationality and who has not played international football [in a match ... in an official competition of any category or any type of football for one Association] shall be eligible to play for the new representative team only if he fulfils one of the following conditions:
(a) He was born on the territory of the relevant Association;
(b) His biological mother or biological father was born on the territory of the relevant Association;
(c) His grandmother or grandfather was born on the territory of the relevant Association;
(d) He has lived continuously for at least two years after reaching the age of 18 on the territory of the relevant Association.
I personally have no problem with current rugby or football rules and like the options they give players with connections with more than one country.
30 Jan 2013, 10:59 am
I forget, is Sean Maitland the slightly less gifted and way less intoxicated Zac Guildford?
30 Jan 2013, 11:04 am
How do you know Maitland doesn’t have British Citizenship? It took me a whole 4 weeks to get my Irish passport thanks to my grandparents, remember not all institutions are as kak slow as home affairs, now if only i could play rugby…not just on the playstation
30 Jan 2013, 11:08 am
@Fern-2: “Too many” is zero. There is not a single PI born player in current squad. But what are the facts to mess with good old bleat.
30 Jan 2013, 11:31 am
@polaris-19:
Fern likes to tell stories that aren’t true.
30 Jan 2013, 12:40 pm
Scratched him off my Christmas card list when he scored that hattrick against us a year or two ago.
30 Jan 2013, 14:40 pm
@Brads-14:
Why are you holding up South Africa’s self imposed rules as the standard?
He qualifies through his grand parents being Scottish, and has already been pointed out, according to IRB rules he qualifies for selection. And if he doesn’t already have one, he also qualifies for a passport. Is that not enough?
If SA want their own rules, then fine, continue to have Mujati type embarrassments. Just leave the rest of us out of your moralising.
30 Jan 2013, 14:47 pm
You can’t argue with Scottish grandparents.
Not unless you want to be stabbed with a broken bottle and have Mars Bar shoved up your kilt.
30 Jan 2013, 14:51 pm
Anyway, good luck to him. Wonder, how soon he’ll find out that the only common thing between Canterbury/Crusaders and Glasgow/Scotland playing style is the weather.
30 Jan 2013, 14:53 pm
@gunther-23:
Errr, that’ll be a deep fried Mars Bar laddie.
But tbh Grunts, I’d rather field a team of born and bred Jocks. If we are going to be rubbish, we might as well be Scottish rubbish.
But you can’t blame anyone for following the rules. If SA or NZ wanted to hold onto Barrit or Maitland, they know what they have to do.
Scotland for the 6N this year. You saw it here first.
Transie, record and repeat come April time. And I’m being deadly serious.
30 Jan 2013, 14:58 pm
@JockBok-25:
I knew it!
You saw “Kilted” and came out of hiding!
30 Jan 2013, 14:58 pm
@JockBok-25:
“Scotland for the 6N this year. You saw it here first. ”
Ooooo jinne
30 Jan 2013, 15:02 pm
So what your saying is if you stay somewhere for 3 years it qualifies you better than if your parenta and grandparents are from that nation.
If I was born on holiday abroad would that make me ineligible to play for my country until i lived there 3 years?
He has as much right now as Josh Strauss will in 3 years. Infact he has more due to his heritage and anncestory.
30 Jan 2013, 15:03 pm
@Dawn-26:
He’s got some sort of sniper software on his computer.
Any mention of kilts, mars bars, irn bru or Mel Gibson and he springs into action like a dreadlock thief on the Gautrain.
30 Jan 2013, 15:08 pm
@Dawn-26:
Just partaking in a bit of pre-season Keo training.
@Dawn-27:
Yep. Someone is >”< that close to getting on the wrong side of a pk with the wrong end of a bagpipe.
30 Jan 2013, 15:12 pm
@gunther-29:
@JockBok-30:
30 Jan 2013, 15:14 pm
@Rhys7-28:
Although it’s not the point, we don’t know how he was raised and the feeling in his house. I’m in the process of applying for a UK passport for my SAn born son at the moment for example, and apart from saying ‘ja’, he is as Scottish as me in my eyes. Maybe he will spend a period in Scotland before returning to SA to have his own kids. Who knows? Richie McCaw wears a kilt and plays bagpipes. Would he be Scottish enough to play for them if he had not been picked for NZ at an early age?
Point is, the rules are being followed.
30 Jan 2013, 15:16 pm
@gunther-29:
I was on gautrain a couple of weeks ago and very nice it was too. But no software required dude. Just a Mc6th sense.
30 Jan 2013, 18:58 pm
@Brads-14: I’d usually agree with you but from what I understand, his Dad is Scottish, not just his grandparents. Chances are, he’d have had to get a British passport to play in the UK as there is some rule that unless you played for the ABs in the last 18 months, you can’t get a highly-skilled migrant visa (as Donald found out). Sure, he’s a kiwi but if my old man was Scottish and I had a chance to play for them and make him proud, then i’d wear the Scottish jersey bursting pride and patriotism.
And i don’t think he’s been there 5 months as he was injured. Pretty sure he’s only played about 4 games max
30 Jan 2013, 19:04 pm
Keohane, I believe that your brother who you appointed as SASCO spin doctor is a Kiwi.
30 Jan 2013, 21:12 pm
@gonzo-34:
You would think that after playing for Nz Maori there would be a longer stand down than what has occurred regardless of Scottish ancestry. But I really want this guy to succeed, so throw him in there and see how he goes.
31 Jan 2013, 04:22 am
@Fern-2:
Done the count……just cannot find a poached islander in the current AB team.
I know you may struggle with this but what happens in NZ ..no matter what colour you are, the better player normally makes the AB team……Matfield was not good enough to make the AB team.
31 Jan 2013, 04:23 am
@Hurricane-37:
matfield = Maitland
31 Jan 2013, 05:29 am
@Hurricane-37:
Bah Kiwis can’t count!
@Hurricane-38:
Hahaha Freudian slip?
31 Jan 2013, 07:18 am
correct the first time Hurri
31 Jan 2013, 07:24 am
@Hurricane-37: A poached Islander? Where do you get a big enough pot?
31 Jan 2013, 07:27 am
@stormer in a teacup-41:
I assume they cut the islander into smaller pieces…
31 Jan 2013, 07:35 am
@Slartibartfast-42: Is that what they mean by a Cook Islander?
31 Jan 2013, 07:47 am
@stormer in a teacup-43:
Not sure…technically is should be Cooked Islander then?
31 Jan 2013, 07:50 am
I wonder if there is a cookbook on this topic?
31 Jan 2013, 07:59 am
@stormer in a teacup-45:
I am sure there will be but will you be able to get your hands on an Islander…pre-cooked?
31 Jan 2013, 10:40 am
@JockBok-22:
I hold up SA as a standard that I believe the IRB should adopt.
Adoption of that standard would for a start kill forever the ongoing erroneous notion NZ cherry picks (poaches) talent from the Pacific.
Unfortunately, it would also cripple the options for the PI countries selections. But then again answers to that issue have been tabled and kicked to touch by UK home unions.
31 Jan 2013, 12:01 pm
A great article by Will Carling to get us in the mood for Saturday.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/will-carling/england-v-scotland-six-nations_b_2579684.html
My first England win was against Scotland, having lost in my first game to the French in Paris and then Jonathan Davies and his Welsh mates at Twickenham, so after my first game at Murrayfield; I thought it was a great place! Little did I know.
It was after this game, this first win, that the Calcutta Cup became the Calcutta plate for a short while, after Dean Richards and John Jeffrey took it for a tour of the bars and train station of Edinburgh. I do vaguely recall seeing them enter the bar I was in with some University mates, as I was still a student, but thought they were hitting people on the head with an ice bucket!
However the one Scotland game that everyone still seems to want to talk about – that Grand Slam decider in 1990. What a day! Scarred me for life!
If a script could have been written, to caricature all the supposed traits of the English and the Scots in a rugby encounter, then someone wrote it superbly. We had played well in the three previous games, our forwards were superb and Geraldine Guscott was on fire. The Scots had been less emphatic, but still impressive, which was a point sadly lost on us.
Most people forget that there was still a huge undercurrent from the successful Lions tour in 1989, and that undercurrent was to define the game. I had missed the tour with a fractured shin, and hence missed the nuances and the relationships that it had created. Not an excuse, just a fact. The Lions had lost the first Test and when the pack became mainly English for the second, success was achieved but strong feelings were born.
So in the peaceful build up at Peebles Hotel, Brian Moore was reminding us that their forwards were sh*te, they had been sh*te on the Lions tour, and they would be sh*te on Saturday. To be fair it was not just Brian, we all lapsed into the belief that we were a stronger, more skilful side who were on form. The training sessions were sharp, no issue there, it was our minds that were wrong. We were the arrogant English. I honestly think we thought that we will turn up and win, we were better for God’s sake, and at no time in our preparation did we consider what they might do to disrupt our rhythm, our game plan. We strutted around Pebbles, chests out, a confidence and swagger about us, we were good, and we knew it.
So we trundled into Murrayfield on our bus, dreaming of Grand Slam celebrations, and encountered one of the great ambushes – arse kickings – from a bloody good Scottish team. We got what we deserved. And I can tell you it hurt, really hurt, and I mean really really hurt!
I do remember hearing Jim Telfer that evening say to someone, “I hope we don’t live to regret this”. And it was the only crumb of comfort that I could take away, the hope that they would. I would never underestimate them again.
I had to get up unbelievably early the next morning to fly to Birmingham to co-commentate on a ladies’ international, for expenses only of course, but as I walked through a near-deserted Edinburgh airport, one worker there decided to tell me exactly what he thought of me! And tell me he did.
I think I would be correct in remembering the words arrogant, smug, soft, useless, pompous and sh*te, alongside quite a few that I should not mention. And I remember opening my mouth to answer him back, and realising that I couldn’t really argue with most of what he said.
I never did lose to Scotland again. We came bloody close in 1994 when that skilful little git Townsend dropped a superb goal to put them ahead with two minutes to go. My stomach was all over the place, until Callard won the game with the last kick of the match. I was lying on the changing room floor next to Dean Richards, players strewn around, very little being said, apart from the odd ‘sh*t !’ as we knew how lucky we had been and how badly we had played.
The silence persisted, for at least another four or five minutes, with no one in the mood to break it, until one of the crew walked back in and said “bloody hell Gavin Hastings has just broken down in tears on TV”. Still no one spoke. I slowly turned my head to Deano, who slowly turned his head to me, a very slight smile and then we both leant forward and opened a beer – the changing room came alive!
My scars from 1990 were still evident when we had another Grand Slam decider in 1995 but this time it was at Twickenham. I clearly recall the team meeting the night before, as always it was a players-only meeting and everything was running well, until I got a sense that a few of the younger players were just too relaxed!
I stood up, eyeballing Mike Catt at first, and launched into a tirade about the following day and what they/ we would have to live with if we lost to those *******s from up there. I ranted on about 1990, the devastation, the arrogance we had shown, the shock, the pain and I was in full flow! But even as my eyes bulged and the spit flew, I noticed a completely bemused look on Mike Catt’s face, so a took a deep breath and stopped.
“What the **** is that look for?’ I demanded.
To be fair, he just replied “1990?”
“1990?” I bellowed “1990? What the hell do you mean 1990?!”
“Well I was at school, sorry Will, just I have no idea what you are going on about.”
Safe to say I was speechless! But at the same time, in the murky depths of my mind, it did register that I need to let go of 1990!
We did manage to win a free flowing extravaganza of a match.
England vs Scotland is the oldest rugby international. It oozes history, stories, experiences and emotion and that is why I love it. It is special – very, very special. And the history between England and Scotland does play a huge part in that, a vital part in that, and when I say history, I mean History!
I remember sitting in the lovely Balmoral Hotel on Princess Street reading a Scottish broadsheet the morning of the match and I was being compared to Edward Longshanks – and yes it was a serious article. But underpinning my view on the ‘relationship’ between us and them, has always been humour. I love the baiting, I love the insults – although I prefer dishing them out for some reason – and I love the intensity. But above all I love the underlying humour and friendships that I have (Mr David Sole will be receiving no end of abuse from me this week!)
But when I am being really honest, that passion the Scots have for their country, that fire, has always made me slightly jealous. I would love England to be like that, I would love us to be as passionate, as fiery and hysterical about our country and shirt. I listen to the Scots anthem, and I love it, it has emotion, it has edge, it is amazing when Murrayfield hits you with it, full volume. When we played Scotland, we just didn’t play the team, we played the country and we played hundreds of years of history. And it was tough!
So I hope, I really hope that England are not sitting comfortably in Pennyhill Park thinking that Scotland are sending down some sacrificial lambs on Saturday. I hope that we have not lost the tiniest part of the edge that was there against New Zealand, because we will need it. There is nothing more that the Scots love than being written off by those arrogant, pompous English and producing the performance of their lives. Trust me I should know! And now I really do need to get back to counselling to rid myself of 1990.
31 Jan 2013, 12:17 pm
great piece of writing jocky…thoroughly enjoyed it.
31 Jan 2013, 12:29 pm
@Transformation-49:
Yeah, a great read Transie and it explains perfectly, from a Pom as well, exactly why Scotland play rugby.
Man, it’s tough losing and being the whipping boys, but sometimes, just sometimes………..
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