Reid called into Scotland squad

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan included South African-born winger Roland Reid when he named a 25-man squad this afternoon for the…

Scotland coach Ian McGeechan included South African-born winger Roland Reid when he named a 25-man squad this afternoon for the Six Nations match against Ireland on Saturday, September 22nd.

Reid, who celebrates his 23rd birthday tomorrow, has only recently moved out to the wing having played as a flanker in his professional career to date with Glasgow.

Reid's physical presence could be the answer to McGeechan's lack of International class wingers.

The South African was brought into McGeechan's enlarged training squad earlier this month with the object of developing in his new position over the next year or so.

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"Bringing him into the squad is part of his development but right now we're delighted with the first part of it," said McGeechan.

With doubts over the fitness of wingers Cammy Murray and Jon Steel, McGeechan may have already pencilled Reid in as a starter for the Ireland game.

The Murrayfield match was one of three Six Nations games postponed from earlier this year in an effort to prevent the spread of the foot-and-mouth epidemic from Britain to Ireland.

Budge Pountney was named as captain of the side, which almost certainly means that Bryan Redpath will be preferred to the erstwhile skipper Andy Nicol at scrum-half.

McGeechan will name his starting fifteen on the Thursday before the game. The Ireland team will be announced two days earlier.

Scotland squad:

Backs
D Hodge (Edinburgh), J Leslie (Northampton Saints), K Logan (London Wasps), J McLaren (Glasgow), G Metcalfe (Glasgow), C Murray (Edinburgh), A Nicol (Glasgow), C Paterson (Edinburgh), B Redpath (Sale Sharks), R Reid (Glasgow), J Steel (Glasgow), G Townsend (Castres).

Forwards
G Bulloch (Glasgow), G Graham (Newcastle Falcons), S Grimes (Newcastle Falcons), M Leslie (Edinburgh), S Murray (Saracens), J Petrie (Glasgow), B Pountney (Northampton Saints) captain, S Scott (Edinburgh), G Simpson (Glasgow), T Smith (Northampton Saints), M Stewart (Northampton Saints), S Taylor (Edinburgh), J White (Glasgow)

Ireland squad:

Backs
Geordan Murphy (Leicester), Girvan Dempsey (Terenure College), Shane Horgan (Lansdowne), Denis Hickie (St Mary's College), Brian O'Driscoll (Blackrock College), Kevin Maggs (Bath), Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution), David Humphries (Dungannon), Peter Stringer (Shannon), Guy Easterby (Llanelli).

Forwards
Peter Clohessy (Young Munster), Emmet Byrne (St Mary's College), John Hayes (Shannon), Keith Wood (Harlequins), Frank Sheahan (Cork Constitution), Malcolm O'Kelly (St Mary's College), Jeremy Davidson (Dungannon), Gary Longwell (Ballymena), Anthony Foley (Shannon), Simon Easterby (Llanelli), David Wallace (Garryowen), Kieron Dawson (London Irish).