Scotland coach Vern Cotter defends World Cup squad
Tuesday 2 June 2015 14:06, UK
Scotland head coach Vern Cotter has defended his decision to include two unqualified players in his World Cup squad.
Glasgow number eight Josh Strauss and Edinburgh prop WP Nel have both been named in the Scots' 46-man World Cup training camp - despite the fact neither South African is yet eligible to play.
Both will be cleared to play a week before Scotland begin their campaign against Japan on September 23 and their inclusion is likely to lead to further contention north of the border.
But Cotter does not feel there should be any issue about including ‘Tartan Springboks’ in his selection.
He said: "I am happy to see these two players pull on a jersey and play for Scotland because I think they want to and I think they deserve to.
"Just look at Josh for Glasgow at the weekend. He was outstanding. WP's children were born in Scotland. When you talk to these players they are very passionate about this being their country. This is where they live now.
"I think they will add value to the team. If it's going to make this team perform well, that's a good thing."
Scotland go into the World Cup on the back of a disastrous Six Nations championship, in which they lost all five games, to make a mockery of chief executive Mark Dodson’s target of two years ago to become world champions this autumn.
But they go into the tournament encouraged by the performance of Glasgow, who became the nation's first ever club side to lift silverware - as they beat Munster to the Pro12 title in Belfast, and 22 of that club squad are in Cotter’s training group.
"That experience will be important," he said. "Winning is important. We said (to) the guys after the Six Nations: 'Go back to your clubs and win something' - and they have largely done that.
"So there will be a lot of confidence in this group as we try to develop these young men before the World Cup.
"We know the bar will get raised much higher at international level, especially at a World Cup. But we will let the Glasgow players celebrate for a couple more weeks and when we come together we will look at what we want to achieve and strive towards that."
