Scotland v All Blacks (Sun 3:30am)

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The final hurdle in the UK Grand Slam tour ... which isn't set that high off the ground really. Of course, it's still something that could trip up the boys on black so a keen eye on the goal and no let up - in fact, a goal of 50+ points would be the way to polish off the year.


Scotland
15 Hugo Southwell (Edinburgh Gunners), 14 Chris Paterson (Edinburgh Gunners), 13 Marcus Di Rollo (Edinburgh Gunners), 12 Andrew Henderson (Glasgow Warriors), 11 Sean Lamont (Northampton Saints), 10 Dan Parks (Glasgow Warriors), 9 Chris Cusiter (Border Reivers), 1 Gavin Kerr (Leeds Tykes), 2 Scott Lawson (Glasgow Warriors), 3 Bruce Douglas (Border Reivers), 4 Craig Hamilton (Glasgow Warriors), 5 Scott Murray (Edinburgh Gunners), 6 Jason White (Sale Sharks) CAPTAIN, 8 Simon Taylor (Edinburgh Gunners), 7 Allister Hogg (Edinburgh Gunners)
Substitutes: 16 Dougie Hall (Edinburgh Gunners), 17 Craig Smith (Edinburgh Gunners), 18 Alastair Kellock (Edinburgh Gunners), 19 Kelly Brown (Border Reivers), 20 Mike Blair (Edinburgh Gunners), 21 Phil Godman (Edinburgh Gunners), 22 Simon Webster (Edinburgh Gunners)

All Blacks
Isaia Toeava, Rico Gear, Conrad Smith, Tana Umaga (captain), Joe Rokocoko, Nick Evans, Piri Weepu, Sione Lauaki, Richie McCaw, Angus Macdonald, James Ryan, Chris Jack, John Afoa, Anton Oliver, Saimone Taumoepeau.
Reserves: Andrew Hore, Neemia Tialata, Jason Eaton, Mose Tuiali'i, Jimmy Cowan, Leon MacDonald, Ma'a Nonu

The word on the street is that this is Tana's last game for the All Blacks and the reason he's still there (alongside Chris Jack) from the England game. If that's the case then an emphatic win is the only thing that the team can give him :-) And alternative and official reason is:
It gives Umaga the chance to be on the field should he become the only All Blacks captain other than Graham Mourie in 1978 to lead New Zealand to a Grand Slam in the past century.

On other related news I see Jona is still ploughing forward with his All Black dream. To be honest I don't think he would've had a lot of chance even without his illness/operation as I don't rate him as good a player as some of the current wingers - powerful granted but he never had the rugby brain to direct it. All power to him though and I hope he gets to challenge for a position on a level playing field.

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