Highly-rated Edinburgh back-rower David Denton is in line for his first start for Scotland in Saturday’s RBS 6 Nations opener against England.
Denton was withdrawn from Edinburgh’s key Heineken Cup match against London Irish a fortnight ago just before kick-off with mild tightness in his hamstring and was largely rested at camp in St Andrews last week, but he was cleared for full action as the squad moved to Murrayfield.
The 21-year-old was born and brought up in Zimbabwe but qualifies for Scotland by virtue of his Glasgow-born mother Joy, the daughter of former Stakis executive and R&A captain Richard Cole-Hamilton.
This time last year he was playing club rugby for Stirling County but forced his way into the Edinburgh side and won his first cap in the World Cup warm-up match against Ireland in August, although he did not make the cut for the squad that went to New Zealand.
However Denton has continued to star for Edinburgh this season, particularly as a forceful ball-carrying option and, with the injury withdrawal of the experienced Kelly Brown last week, is likely to be in the back row of the team named today by head coach Andy Robinson.
Scotland will be without centre/wing Joe Ansbro, who had not trained because of a back problem since joining the squad and has now returned to the care of his club London Irish. Ansbro, a try-scorer in two of his last three international games, will be reassessed next week but it’s likely he’s also out of the second game of the championship against Wales in Cardiff a week on Sunday.
Robinson has already conceded that two of his squad who have been without many games in the last few weeks, fly-half Ruiradh Jackson and wing Simon Danielli, will not be considered for the Calcutta Cup clash.
England have continued their new broom with the appointment of Harlequins flanker Chris Robshaw as captain, while yet another has been axed from the international setup for disciplinary reasons.
Robshaw, who has only one cap and was not part of England’s World Cup squad, has been given the captaincy by interim head coach Stuart Lancaster, replacing the original choice Tom Wood, who will miss the match through injury.
The 25-year-old captain of the current Aviva Premiership leaders is one of the most inexperienced players to captain England, having won his sole cap against Argentina in 2009.
He said: ”It’s a huge honour and a very proud day hopefully one that will live in my memory for a long time to come.
”There’s a lot of other leaders in the group and they have been great since we met up. It’s not about myself because there are six or seven guys around me who all have massive roles to play.
”The coaches have given us the game plan and it’s up to us to get it across to the other players to drive the standards and the squad forward in the right way.”
However the England setup suffered another blow when full-back Delon Armitage was suspended from the England Saxons squad after being arrested on suspicion of assault.
The 26-times capped full-back was detained by Devon and Cornwall Police following an incident in a nightclub early on January 29 and later released on bail, having played for the English ”second XV” against Ireland in Exeter in Saturday.
Armitage’s suspension follows that of Harlequins scrum-half Danny Care, who was axed from Six Nations contention after admitting a drink-driving charge. He was fined £3,000 and banned from driving for 16 months.
Armitage was not being considered for Saturday’s game but played in England’s last match against Scotland during the World Cup and was handed a one-match ban for an off-the-ball high tackle on Chris Paterson, thereby missing England’s quarter-final loss to France.
This latest disciplinary breach continues a nightmarish spell for England following the World Cup campaign when four players were fined for off-field infractions.
Photo by Graham Stuart/PA Wire