John backs Scotland to cause upset in Six Nations Rugby

Scotland head coach Eamon John insists their RBS 6 Nations clash with England on Friday is a winnable game.

John’s young team have already experienced a breakthrough year, becoming the first Scottish Under 20s side not to lose to France when they managed an 8-8 draw in the opening game.

And Scotland have made just one change to the starting lineup that broke another record against Italy – becoming the first Scottish Under 20 side to win away – scrum-half Alex Black replaces Kris Hamilton.

But John insists he has picked a team to win the match and backed his players to cause an upset and avenge last season’s 20-6 defeat.

He said: “We make the selection according to the opposition. We wanted to start quickly against Italy which is why we went with Kris but from an English point of view we need a bit more physicality at the start.

“England will be smarting over their Ireland result and have had a mixed campaign with a variety of players available at different times in the competition but when they have their top players on the field like they did against Wales they ran in five second-half tries.

“Any team in any sport is always beatable. It’s up to us to get it right.

“We respect England who will have players with under-20 World Cup final experience – but we’re going to go out there to do a job on them and make life uncomfortable in Glasgow.”

SCOTLAND: Tom Brown, Oliver Grove, Jonny Kennedy, Alex Dunbar, Dougie Fife, Alex Blair, Alex Black, Nicky Little, Alun Walker, Colin Phillips, Matthew Reid, Robert Harley, Michael Maltman, Stuart McInally, David Denton

Replacements: Lindsey Gibson, George Hunter, Aaron Hall, Callum Stidston-Nott, Kris Hamilton, Matthew Scott, James Johnstone

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Wales boss Gatland warns Martyn Williams and Ryan Jones

Coach Warren Gatland says that veteran Wales flanker Martyn Williams and skipper Ryan Jones must improve their displays against Ireland on Saturday.

Wales rescued an incredible last-gasp 31-24 win against Scotland in their last championship game in Cardiff.

But Williams, Jones and Andy Powell - now dropped for disciplinary reasons - were outshone by Scotland's back-row and must up their game against Ireland.

"Martyn's missed a few tackles and he's been the first to put his hand up and needs to rectify his performance and get it right and he normally responds exceptionally well to that.

"I think what's pleased me about Martyn in the last week or so is he's recognised that as a loose-forward trio we probably didn't do so well against Ireland.

"So it's a sign of his experienced leadership in the squad, and for Ryan I think he's developed well into a captain.

"He's showing really good signs in terms of the way he's leading this team. He doesn't speak for the sake of speaking and he's starting to let his rugby do the talking.

"But he knows himself after his performance against Scotland he needs to go up a notch against Ireland."

Jonathan Thomas switches from lock to back-row to fill the gap vacated by Powell's banishment from the squad after being charged with drink-driving following an incident with a golf buggy on the morning after the win against Scotland.

Thomas' move and Alun Wyn Jones' absence following elbow surgery gives Deiniol Jones and Bradley Williams the chance to impress in the second-row.

Jones' inclusion was the major talking point when Gatland announced the team on Monday, with Luke Charteris only getting a place on the bench despite his man-of-the-match show for the Dragons at Ulster.

Gatland also admits that picking Mike Phillips on the bench - despite the British and Irish Lions star playing just 40 minutes of rugby in four months - is a gamble.

Phillips has been selected ahead of Dwayne Peel - who has missed only a month of action recently with a groin strain - as the back-up to Richie Rees of the Blues.

Gatland cited the precedents of Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery recently returning to Test action after injury and Scotland having Mike Blair on the bench against Wales following a lengthy lay-off.

That group of scrum-halves includes Gareth Cooper, who started Wales' opening loss of the championship away to England and the win over Scotland but now finds himself out of the match-day squad.

Gatland admits he was wrong to pick Cooper to start against Scotland, with Rees having made a strong case for the starting nine shirt with his performances off the bench.

"I know we'd made a call on Gareth Cooper in the first two games and we were criticised for that and probably fair enough criticism in the second game, because we did make that replacement at half-time," Gatland added.

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Celtic League ready to compensate Glasgow for late postponement in Leinster

After the late cancellation of their Magners League match against Leinster at the Royal Dublin Society on Friday, Glasgow officials are set to file a claim for compensation to the board of Celtic Rugby to recover the costs they incurred on their fruitless trip to Ireland.

Speaking after Friday's fiasco – Glasgow had received a number of assurances that the pitch would be playable before they set off from Scotland on Thursday evening – Celtic Rugby director David Jordan dismissed suggestions that a claim could be made against Leinster.

However, Jordan said that central funds were available to ensure that clubs were not left out of pocket after such abortive journeys.

"These things have happened in the past and we have always applied the same principle," said Jordan.

"The point is that the away team should not be financially penalised when a match is called off, so we have covered their costs on previous occasions when these situations have arisen.

"We actually anticipate having to do this from time to time and we have made contingencies in our budget. I've told Kenny Baillie that he should submit a claim to us to cover the costs Glasgow have incurred."

Asked if Celtic Rugby might be able to recover their own costs from Leinster, Jordan agreed that the possibility existed but suggested that the difficulty of proving any negligence on the part of the Irish side made that course of action highly unlikely.

"We have told teams that they should make every effort to get games on," Jordan explained. "Obviously, we will be reviewing what Leinster did to protect their pitch, but we have to accept that these things happen from time to time and sides have to make a judgment call."

Privately, some Glasgow officials have suggested that they may support a claim for compensation from their travelling supporters who were also hugely inconvenienced by the late cancellation of Friday's game.

In reality, however, Celtic Rugby would almost certainly stand firm against setting any precedent of that sort.

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Brian Ashton and the art of creative rugby

For most of his roller-coaster career – one that included being part of an England set-up that reached consecutive World Cup finals – Brian Ashton has been held up as the embodiment of the enlightened rugby coach.

Say what you like about the mild-mannered Lancastrian or his management of the 2007 Webb Ellis campaign but he could never be accused of asking his teams to play anything other than intelligent, heads-up rugby.

Typically that would mean his sides would go out with the intention of moving the ball with ambition and flair and with an emphasis on imaginative threequarter play.

But similarly they might also be required to kick the corners or pick and drive. In short, Plan A would be complemented by Plans B and C and probably D, E and F as well.

And – here comes the revolutionary bit – under Ashton, the decision to switch between strategies is not the preserve of any one individual, least of all an ageing balding bloke sat on the sidelines.

Indeed, the 63-year-old has long spoken of empowering players to make calls on a situational basis and to that degree he is viewed as the arch-moderniser – and has been for the past 30 years.

The former England, Ireland and Bath mastermind was due to explain some of his principles at a coaching conference in Kidderminster on Sunday, but that has now been postponed due to the weather.

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Price hike for Wales rugby hospitality

The Welsh Rugby Union would neither confirm nor deny the price hike, but the Argus understands that an across-the-board increase of £3 a hospitality is on the cards in time for the Six Nations rugby hospitality and it could even be more.

The increases could hardly come at a worse time with Wales rugby hospitality in the grip of a recession and unemployment figures rising every month.

The prices have not been informed yet, but it is believed an official announcement is due within the next few weeks.