Wednesday 15 July 2015 16:39, UK
Vern Cotter has called up New Zealand born flanker John Hardie into Scotland’s extended World Cup squad.
The 26-year-old is a regular for Super 15 side Otago Highlanders and qualifies for Scotland through his grandmother, who is from Fife.
Hardie had previously expressed his desire to play for his native All Blacks, but has now arrived in the United Kingdom to join up with the rest of the Scotland squad.
“Representing Scotland has been on my radar for a long time so I'm delighted to get this chance to compete for a place in the squad for the Rugby World Cup,” Hardie said.
"I'm under no illusions how tough it's going to be to make the final selection, but I'm looking forward to getting started and showing how much this opportunity means to me and my family."
Scotland’s extended squad of 46 players will be cut to 31 before the start of the World Cup. Hardie faces stiff competition at flanker, with Perpignan’s Alasdair Strokosch, Scarlets’ John Barclay and London Irish’s Blair Cowan all vying for places.
But head coach Cotter believes that kind of competition for places can only be a good for Scottish rugby.
“We're pleased to welcome John into the group and look forward to him intensifying the competition for places in an already fiercely contested area of our squad,” he said.
"Depth is crucial to any World Cup campaign and it will be vital to see the contributions of the entire squad in our four warm-up matches, before making a decision on the final 31."
Scotland play Ireland, Italy and France in warm up matches before kicking off their World Cup campaign against Japan on September 23.
