Hastings Believes Success Can Lead To Lions Reward For Scotland Players

Scottish Rugby hero and former British and Irish Lions captain, Gavin Hastings, believes that Scotland’s historic win against Argentina could help put Scottish players in the frame for the 2009 Lions tour to South Africa. Hastings toured with the British and Irish Lions to Australia in 1989 where he played in all three tests before being picked by next year’s lions coach and former Scotland coach, Ian McGeechan, to captain the side for the 1993 trip to New Zealand.Scottish Rugby hero and former British and Irish Lions captain, Gavin Hastings, believes that Scotland’s historic win against Argentina could help put Scottish players in the frame for the 2009 Lions tour to South Africa. Hastings toured with the British and Irish Lions to Australia in 1989 where he played in all three tests before being picked by next year’s lions coach and former Scotland coach, Ian McGeechan, to captain the side for the 1993 trip to New Zealand. In Scotland colours Hastings captained his country on 20 occasions and was Scotland’s all time top points scorer until Chris Paterson overtook his record during the first test in Argentina. Representing his country 61 times and being part of the 1990 Grand Slam winning team, as well as representing the Lions in six tests and holding the accolade of Lions all-time top points scorer in tests (66) makes Hastings more than qualified to pass comment on Scotland players’ chances of making next year’s tour. Hastings said: Scotland’s win over Argentina was very significant for Scottish rugby. Mike Blair was outstanding and seems to relish the role of captain. By being the first Scotland captain to record a victory in Argentina in a capped test match he has certainly achieved something great on his rugby CV and put his hand up for the Lions Tour. After seeing the Scotland team put in a powerful and commanding performance against the third best team in the world and come out with their first capped test win on Argentinean soil, Hastings was impressed and could see the potential for Scotland players to earn a famous red jersey. He said: John Barclay was outstanding and could yet force his way into a Lions squad if he has a good Six Nations next year. And Chris Paterson is a wonderful goal kicker, so McGeechan may well be looking to take him to South Africa based on his kicking skill. Throughout the coming season Hastings will be tracking the progress of Scotland players like Mike Blair and Chris Paterson in his role as Chairman of Edinburgh Rugby, which he has held since Autumn 2007. He will be hoping to see the Scotland stars bring success to their club before hopefully departing for the Rainbow Nation. Gavin Hastings will be able to enjoy all the action on next year’s tour of South Africa as an ambassador for HSBC, principle partner of the British and Irish Lions.