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Rugby Union

Cusiter named in Scotland 30

14/08/2007

Scrum-half Chris Cusiter has been named in Scotland's 30-man squad for the upcoming Rugby World Cup, despite doubts over his fitness.

The Perpignan half-back left the field a few minutes from the end of Saturday's 31-21 warm-up victory over Ireland at Murrayfield and scans since have revealed that he faces a three-week absence with a foot injury.

Despite the fact that Cusiter could be a doubt for the start of the tournament, head coach Frank Hadden has selected him on the basis that he has two other players to cover the specialist position, Mike Blair and Rory Lawson.

The same is true of another of the niche roles in the team – hooker – which sees three players selected, including injury doubt Scott Lawson.

Flanker John Barclay, 20, is the only uncapped player included, although two-thirds of the squad will be competing in their first World Cup.

Star stand-off Chris Paterson and most-capped lock Scott Murray will be taking part in their third, after being selected in 1999 and 2003, and Jason White has recovered in time from a season-ending knee injury last November to lead the side.

"I have selected a squad that has the ability to do something special at the World Cup and make our country proud. It is the most competitive squad we could muster," Hadden said.

The selectors have opted for 17 forwards and 13 backs, with Hadden predicting a gruelling schedule of games for his pack.

"It's not an uncommon split," he explained.

"It reflects how tough it's going to be, especially for the forwards playing so many games in such a close period of time, and also reflects on that wee bit more flexibility within the backs."

Scotland's opening match of the tournament is against Portugal on September 9th, followed by matches against the other three teams in their group – New Zealand, Italy and Romania – before the knockout stages begin on October 6th.

Scotland Rugby World Cup squad

Forwards:
Jason White (Sale Sharks; captain)
John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors)
Kelly Brown (Glasgow Warriors)
David Callam (Edinburgh)
Ross Ford (Glasgow Warriors)
Jim Hamilton (Leicester Tigers)
Nathan Hines (Perpignan)
Allister Hogg (Edinburgh)
Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh)
Gavin Kerr (Glasgow Warriors)
Scott Lawson (Sale Sharks)
Scott MacLeod (Llanelli Scarlets)
Euan Murray (Northampton Saints)
Scott Murray (Montauban)
Craig Smith (Edinburgh)
Simon Taylor (Stade Francais)
Fergus Thomson (Glasgow Warriors)

Backs:
Mike Blair (Edinburgh)
Chris Cusiter (Perpignan)
Rob Dewey (Ulster)
Marcus di Rollo (Edinburgh)
Andrew Henderson (Glasgow Warriors)
Rory Lamont (Sale Sharks)
Sean Lamont (Northampton Saints)
Rory Lawson (Gloucester)
Dan Parks (Glasgow Warriors)
Chris Paterson (Gloucester)
Hugo Southwell (Edinburgh)
Nikki Walker (Ospreys)
Simon Webster (Edinburgh)

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