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Here's a bit of a different one, I was just looking through the Scotland Six Nations Squad for the '07 Season (as you do) and saw that there are four players with a connection back to Australia.
This isn't about Scotland or her selection policies etc, the questions are:
Which player is the greatest loss to Australian Rugby?
Does this represent an example of enough depth for a fifth Australian Super Rugby Team (bearing in mind there were at least thirty Australians playing in English, Celtic and French Rugby last year)?
Scott Gray
(Borders)
D.O.B: 24/02/1978
Caps: 1
Position: Lock
Height: 6ft 3in
Weight: 228lbs
Debut: 06/11/2004 v Australia
Points: 0
Scott Gray started his first Scotland Test at blindside flanker in the opening match of the 2004 autumn Tests again Australia in November.
He had previously played against New South Wales Country and New South Wales Waratahs on the summer tour of Australia.
Originally from Zimbabwe, Scott moved to Australia at 18 and played in Canberra for a year.
He then spent two years in the ACT Brumbies academy before winning a training contract in Brisbane with the aim of playing Super 12 rugby but switched code to league and had a stint with the Brisbane Broncos before moving to Bath.
Gray qualifies for Scotland through his father who was born in Barrhead near Glasgow.
Nathan Hines
(Perpignan)
D.O.B: 29/11/1976
Caps: 38
Position: Lock
Height: 6ft 7in
Weight: 256lbs
Debut: June 2000 v NZ
Points: 5 T(1)
After quitting the international scene following a fall-out with former head coach Matt Williams, Perpignan lock Nathan Hines was persuaded to return by Frank Hadden for the RBS 6 Nations win over England a year ago.
Hugely experienced, the Australia-born forward formed a strong partnership with Scott Murray in the second row.
Hines, who qualifies for Scotland through a maternal grandfather from Govan, was catapulted into the full Scotland side only five days after arriving as an emergency replacement for Murray on the tour to New Zealand in 2000
Ben MacDougall
(Border Reivers)
D.O.B: 25/05/1977
Caps: 1
Position: Centre
Height: 6ft 4in
Weight: 212lbs
Debut: uncapped
Points: 0
Ben MacDougall joined the Border Reivers from Edinburgh Gunners this summer.
He moved to Scotland with Edinburgh in 2004 from Australian rugby league side, Melbourne Storm, and qualifies for the national team through a paternal grandfather from Glasgow.
MacDougall was named in the national training squad for the RBS 6 Nations Championship in 2005 before Frank Hadden called him up to cover injuries in the squad during the summer tests against the Barbarians and Romania.
Robbie Russell
(London Irish)
D.O.B: 01/05/1976
Caps: 27
Position: Hooker
Height: 5ft 10in
Weight: 217lbs
Debut: 28/08/99 v Romania
Points: 20 T(4)
Robbie Russell is a vastly under-rated member of the Scottish Squad.
He scored two tries after coming off the bench in 100-8 victory over Japan at McDiarmid Park in Perth in November.
Russell has also played in both of the last two World Cups and, though he started only one fixture in Australia, the hooker grabbed Scotland's solitary try during the quarter-final defeat to the hosts.
Brought up on an Australian cattle farm, Russell played domestic rugby for Queensland before moving to Scotland.
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