Moffat Hails Strength And Depth Of Pro-Teams As Scotland A Return Home
Scotland A returned to Edinburgh today after their three week tour of North America where they competed in the Barclay’s Churchill Cup. The team were one of six countries invited to the Cup and ran a strong England Saxons’ side close in Saturday’s final (21 June).Scotland A returned to Edinburgh today after their three week tour of North America where they competed in the Barclay’s Churchill Cup. The team were one of six countries invited to the Cup and ran a strong England Saxons’ side close in Saturday’s final (21 June). On their road to the final Scotland A posted impressive wins against Canada and Argentina A to finish top of their group. The depth of skilled players in Scottish rugby was reflected by head coach Rob Moffat who said: A lot of the guys on the fringes of the pro-teams like Glasgow’s Stevie Swindall and James Eddie and Edinburgh’s Scot Newlands, showed the pro-teams have real strength and depth. People say we are a small country with small resources, but the players showed the strength and depth of the pro-teams. Moffat added: It was a good tour. We won our first two games and that gave us a chance to win it. We played a lot of good rugby on the tour and in the final, but we didn’t take our chances and that was the difference. One of the players whose performances stood out was Edinburgh’s openside flanker Alan MacDonald. When asked about the tour he said: I really enjoyed the tour; really disappointed with not winning it when we had the chance, but we did play some good rugby. The players and management will now have a couple of weeks to rest and recuperate before getting back into pre-season training with their pro-teams where they will hope to build on the progress made during the tour and push for further success at club and international level next season.