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'It could be a 10-year international career': Scotland celebrate capture of ex-England age-grade player Redpath

(Photo by Amilcar Orfali/Getty Images)

Scotland boss Gregor Townsend has expressed his delight that ex-England age-grade midfielder Cameron Redpath, the 21-year-old son of former Scottish scrum-half Bryan, has declared his Test rugby allegiance to the land of his father. 

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Born in Narbonne during his 49-year-old father’s stint playing in France in the late 1990s, Redpath Jnr has come into his own since his move in England from Sale, another of his dad’s old clubs, to Bath where he has thrived in recent months. 

Redpath, who appeared for England U20s as recently as the 2019 World Cup in Argentina and then trained with Eddie Jones’ Six Nations squad last spring, has made 15 appearances since his switch from the Sharks but it has only been in recent weeks that he made up his mind about who to try and play for at Test level. 

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Scotland made an approach to try and include him for last year’s Autumn Nations Cup but Redpath turned them down, pleading for more time before he had his mind made up. 

Now that decision has been made and Townsend was thrilled to welcome him into the 35-strong Scottish squad that will begin its Six Nations campaign away to defending champions England on February 6.

“I have been trying to sell Scotland to him for the last couple of years but he came to a decision on his own,” explained Townsend when asked at his squad announcement media briefing about how Redpath came to the decision to turn his back on England. “His dad played and captained Scotland. I played alongside his dad but that has not been a factor.

“It’s been what he feels is right for him now and for the next how many years. It could be a ten-year international career he has got ahead of him if it goes well and he continues to improve. 

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“We are delighted that he has committed to us. It’s an unusual situation that his family is all Scottish, Dad played for Scotland but Cam has been brought up in England and has played English age-grade rugby. It would have a tough decision. I’m sure it has been weeks if not months thinking about it but we can’t wait to work with him next week. 

“We had spoken to him for a while and we did offer him the opportunity to come on board with us in the autumn. He didn’t feel it was the right time to commit to either country but he is now in a position where he has had made that decision and we’re delighted. 

“He is already an excellent player. We have high hopes for what he can do in our squad and at that next level of playing international rugby.

“We see him very much as part of our Six Nations campaign. He has played really well for Bath this year and has had regular game time which has been a key factor in his development. He probably wasn’t getting that many games, partly because of an injury, some years ago at Sale but he has regularly featured for Bath and played really well.”

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Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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