Scotland turn to Mower to take over the Pountney mantle

It just so happened that "The Famous Grouse" was emblazoned on the tracksuits of the players assembled yesterday for the announcement of the team to face Ireland in Scotland's Six Nations opener against Ireland at Murrayfield on Sunday. Not that anyone was dwelling upon the celebrated gripe that their one-time captain delivered as a parting retirement shot last week. Anthony Charles Pountney has gone from the Scotland camp, taking his complaints with him.

To replace him, the Scotland coach, Ian McGeechan, and his fellow selectors have turned to a member of the Palm Beach Surf Lifesaving Club in Sydney, that bronzed body of antipodean manhood featured in Home and Away.

Andrew Mower has yet to appear in the Australian soap. He has, though, performed rescue acts while on patrol on the Pacific shores of his home town. His task on Sunday will be to make sure the Scottish back row keeps its head above water without the presence of "Budge" Pountney.

The native Sydneysider has done the job before with distinction, earning a deserved man-of-the-match award for his outstanding all-action play in the loose when standing in for the injured Pountney in Scotland's 36-7 defeat against the All Blacks at Murrayfield in November 2001. McGeechan had just the one word when asked why he had chosen Mower for the No 7 berth: "Pace." The player himself said: "It's great to be back in the team. Obviously everyone wants to know how I feel about Budge. He's a great player. I respect his decision. We're different players. I've just got to, hopefully, bring some of the form I've been showing for Newcastle into the team on Sunday."

It is four years since Mower first came to Britain, initially to play for London Irish. In contrast to Pountney, a former England Under-21 international who qualified for Scotland because his grandmother hailed from Jersey (thus allowing him to play for any of the home nations), he actually possesses some Scottish blood. His grandfather, Lance Ellison, is Glaswegian.

He might well have slipped through the tartan net, though. The 27-year-old also has English and Welsh lineage and trained with Clive Woodward's squad at the start of the 2000-2001 season before nailing his international colours to the Caledonian mast.

Sunday's international will be Mower's fifth for Scotland. It will be Kenny Logan's 57th, the in-form Wasp having been recalled on the right wing, but there is no place in the starting line-up for Scotland's most-capped player. Gordon Ross has won the nod ahead of Gregor Townsend for the outside-half's jersey, thanks to his tactical kicking in the 21-6 win against South Africa in November, a famous Scottish victory that featured what proved to be the final international try by Budge Pountney.

There were no grouses yesterday from the colleagues Pountney left behind, and there are unlikely to be any about their post-match treatment on Sunday. The Scottish Rugby Union has arranged for them to be whisked straight to a state-of-the-art spa at the Sheraton Grand. So, presumably, they will all be getting into hot water together.

SCOTLAND: G Metcalfe (Glasgow); K Logan (Wasps), A Craig (Orrell), B Laney (Edinburgh), C Paterson (Edinburgh); G Ross (Leeds), B Redpath (Sale, captain); T Smith (Northampton), G Bulloch (Glasgow), B Douglas (Borders), S Murray (Edinburgh), S Grimes (Newcastle), M Leslie (Edinburgh), A Mower (Newcastle), S Taylor (Edinburgh). Replacements: S Scott (Borders), G Kerr (Leeds), N Hines (Edinburgh), R Beattie (Bristol), M Blair (Edinburgh), G Townsend (Borders), K Utterson (Borders).