Paris no place for the fainthearted claims McGeechan
January 26, 2001

Ian McGeechan has conceded that the thought of facing France in Paris influenced his decisions when selecting the squad for Scotland's Six Nations opener.

The Scotland boss introduced several young players to the squad for the Autumn Test series, but has promised youngsters like Jon Steel and James Craig that they will not be forgotten during the competition. McGeechan said: "There was a lot of debate over their inclusion. But in the end we felt, balance-wise, that it wasn't the best environment in Paris to re-introduce them to the team. We are very keen that they keep developing and being part of the whole picture, but we will look at who, when and where we are playing and that will be a consideration as to how we perm the team."

"The idea of the Autumn Tests was to get him (Steel) involved in the games to give him experience. We just thought that Paris might not be the best Six Nations opener to put him in. James (Craig) is also in the picture after he has been playing well. He hasn't been playing regularly recently, but he is another player who has been playing consistently well. He offers us something different and we will be keeping a very close eye on both of them."

"If you look at players who have come through in the last 12 months, there have been a lot of new faces," continued the former Lions coach. "If the New Zealand and the Autumn Tests are to mean anything to us, we would have to carry that experience forward. The intention is to build on those for
real - not to play around. We've worked on things and tried to hopefully get things on board which can make a difference to them."

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