RECRUITMENT and rehabilitation have combined to bolster Scotland's three pro teams for tonight's round of Magners League matches.
As Europe's least wellresourced teams when it comes to squad depth, Border Reivers, Edinburgh and GlasgowWarriors suffer most when clashes with Test matches occur.
Longer-term, administrators must find ways of addressing that, whether by forcing changes to schedules or finding additional funding, but, short-term, it is always the coaches who must cope.
This time around, Edinburgh have been hit hardest, with an entire back-line on Scotland duty, making the signing of Lucio Lopez Fleming, the Argentina Pumas utility back, timely.
A regular on the World Sevens Circuit, the 5ft 6in, 11st 11lb, 26-year-old is described byRob Moffat, Edinburgh's backs coach and formerly Scotland's sevens coach, as ?like a buzzbomb; a player who is always involved in the game".
He will sit on their bench tonight, clearance having come through in time, and, as they head for the Dragons' den, there is guaranteed support for the youngsters in the rather more imposing frame of Simon Taylor.
Six months after suffering medial-ligament damage that required reconstruction work, Taylor could even have an outside chance of facing the Wallabies in the final autumn Test, but the national coaches, like those at Edinburgh, will be anxious to manage his return very carefully.
The rehab team have, meanwhile, done an express job on the man who has replaced Taylor as Scottish rugby's glamour boy, since Thom Evans, the former boy-band member, is back in the GlasgowWarriors lineupfor tonight's match in Dublin.
Any doubts about the physical toughness of the speedster, who has quickly become a Hughenden favourite, may linger no longer given the pace of his return from what was reported as a fractured cheekbone.
When he was hurt at Saracens last month, it was suggested he would do well to be back as quickly as Nathan Hines had from a similar injury, yet the rumbustious Perpignan lock was out for a month, whereas Evans has only been out for three weeks in bringing himself back into the frame for at least a Scotland A call-up against the touring Australians.
Meanwhile, Border Reivers have engaged Rob Chrystie, the former Hawick and Melrose scrum-half, on a part-time contract until the end of the season as they seek additional cover for Chris Cusiter, their captain, who is on the Scotland bench tomorrow.
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