Hugh Blake has become the latest player to join the Kilted Kiwi brigade, joining his fellow countrymen Blair Cowan and Sean Maitland in the Scotland squad. It came as a big surprise to see Blake’s name on the team sheet as the Junior All Black and Highlander, now getting his first call up to a Scotland squad, only joined Edinburgh in December last year.

He played in an ‘A’ team fixture for Edinburgh against Glasgow Warriors on 22 December and had to leave the field injured, suffering from concussion following a knock to his head which knocked him out for a bit. Flanker Blake (1.87m and 102kg) has yet to appear for the senior Edinburgh team and what makes his inclusion even more baffling is that he was introduced as being recruited for a trial period on his arrival in Edinburgh.

Surprised was probably too mild a word to use, one would rather say we were astonished when first looking at the team sheet. It lists the players alphabetically with the forwards names first, and thus the first name we expected to see was that of John Barclay. The former Glasgow Warriors opensider has been in fine form for Welsh team the Scarlets who he has been captaining. His continued omission from the Scotland squad by the current hierarchy will only lead to more questions from those of us who believe he should be in the squad.

Another former Glasgow Warriors stalwart whose name is mysteriously absent from the squad list is Kelly Brown who misses out on Scotland selection yet again. Just a few seasons ago Brown was captaining Scotland so who knows what has happened and why he and Barclay have not been in recent squads. Maybe we will need to wait for the pair to retire from the game and bring out their Autobiographies to get answers to these questions.

Here is the announcement of the 2015 Six Nations Scotland squad, courtesy of the SRU:

Head Coach Vern Cotter has again targeted form and youthful ambition with selection of the Scotland squad for the forthcoming RBS Six Nations.

Among the 32 men are 4 young Edinburgh players who have been offered their first shot at senior international honours: 21-year-old scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, 22-year-old forwards Ben Toolis (lock) and Hugh Blake (back-row), and 24-year-old back-row Hamish Watson.

Hidalgo-Clyne has been in the form of his fledgling career this season, featuring in every Edinburgh game so far (starting 12 of 18), with his match-winning goal kicking a recent addition to an already impressive armoury.

Back-row Watson is another to have played through the Scottish age-grade sides and come the club’s development programme, after his move north from the Leicester Tigers Academy 4 years ago.

This season the specialist openside has come into his own, with his pace and work-rate earning him an invite to train in the autumn, only for a broken jaw sustained in European competition to end his chances of, until now, taking the step into the senior Scotland squad.

Like Hidalgo-Clyne, 6ft 7in lock Toolis is another player who has impressed through opportunity, by stepping into the breach for injured lock Grant Gilchrist for club, and now country, since he joined the side’s academy from Australia in the summer of 2013.

Finally, new Edinburgh recruit Blake comes into the squad for the first time having arrived in Scotland from Super Rugby side, Highlanders, in December.

Scotland Head Coach, Vern Cotter, said:  “All these players have worked hard and have shown great ambition to seize this opportunity. That’s the type of player we want in this environment.”

“They have impressed me with their desire to go forward, and reflect the Scottish spirit of attacking and leading, to develop into impressive performers.”

The quartet will join a further 7 of their capital club mates, including Greig Tonks, selected for Scotland for the first time since his positional switch to stand-off, having made his first and only international appearance at full-back against Samoa on the 2013 summer tour.

The squad is also boosted by the return of 21-times capped centre Matt Scott, who missed last year’s summer tour and viagogo Autumn Test campaigns, with shoulder and hand injuries respectively.

Despite the strong capital contingent, Glasgow Warriors – currently second in the Guinness PRO12 – continue to contribute the majority of the squad, with 15 players all in.

Among them is centre Mark Bennett who, like Scott, has recovered from injury (hamstring) to return to the fold.

Tight-head prop Jon Welsh (absent through a shoulder injury) also earns a recall, while Peter Horne could feature for the first time since the summer tour.

The group is completed by a further 6 players from clubs outside Scotland: captain Greig Laidlaw (Gloucester), Richie Gray (Castres), Jim Hamilton (Saracens), Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan), Blair Cowan and Geoff Cross (both London Irish), who return to the squad following their part in the 2014 viagogo Autumn Tests.

Scotland Head Coach, Vern Cotter, added: “We are approaching this RBS Six Nations looking to perform and develop. It will be a great process for us and I know the players are looking forward to it.

“Obviously we’ll be facing some very good sides, 4 of which are above us in the world rankings, however we have nothing to hide going into this year. We start with a very difficult game against France in Paris and we will prepare as best as possible for that game and adapt as the competition evolves.”

Cotter continued: “The players will want to characterise the traditional traits of the Scottish game; attacking with ferocity, destabilising the opposition and trying to play smart. Every time they pull on the jersey they will want to express themselves fully, so it’s with excitement that we look to the Six Nations, because we want to see how far we can compete, how well we can adapt, and how well we can equip ourselves in this very tough competition.

“I’m very confident that the players selected will underline the improvements we showed in the autumn as well as some others as the group continues to come together.

“We were all affected so positively by the support during the viagogo Autumn Tests, which really lifted the players and made them so proud to pull on the shirt and play here at BT Murrayfield.

“It’s a great challenge.”

SCOTLAND 2015 RBS SIX NATIONS SQUAD:

FORWARDS: Hugh Blake (Edinburgh), Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), Blair Cowan, Geoff Cross (both London Irish), David Denton, Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh), Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Castres), Ross Ford (Edinburgh), Jim Hamilton (Saracens), Rob Harley, Euan Murray, Gordon Reid (all Glasgow Warriors), Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan), Ben Toolis, Hamish Watson (both Edinburgh), Jon Welsh (Glasgow Warriors)

BACKS: Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors), Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh), Alex Dunbar, (Glasgow Warriors) Dougie Fife (Edinburgh), Stuart Hogg, Peter Horne (both Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Captain – Gloucester), Sean Lamont, Sean Maitland, Henry Pyrgos, Finn Russell (all Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott (Edinburgh), Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Tonks, Tim Visser (both Edinburgh).

Unavailable through injury: Adam Ashe (neck), Chris Fusaro (ankle), Grant Gilchrist (arm), Tyrone Holmes (face), Ruaridh Jackson (knee), Duncan Taylor (hamstring), Duncan Weir (arm).

Five years since the passing of the great voice of rugby Bill McLaren:

It is hard to believe that today marks the fifth anniversary of the passing on of one of rugby’s best and favourite commentators, Bill McLaren, and quite an apt day for the announcement of the RBS Six Nations squad. Where has the time gone? His commentary was loved and admired all over the rugby world, so knowledgeable and he possessed great wit and warmth.

The Bill McLaren Foundation was set up in his memory. It is a charitable foundation that have been very active striving to achieve its aims since it’s inception in March 2010. The aims are:

• To develop and promote the sport of rugby union and its values
• To encourage and provide sporting opportunities for young people
• To create an educative centre which will include the Bill McLaren Archive

Savour the clip below of some of Bill McLaren’s commentating gems:

• “…all arms and legs he’s like a mad octopus…”
• “It was as if he kicked 3 pounds of haggis that time it hardly got off the ground”, and many more