Haden axes swinging Dickson
Scotland head coach Frank Hadden has dropped Lee Dickson from his Churchill Cup squad after the 22-year-old wavered over committing himself to the country.
Germany-born Dickson represented Scotland at Under-19 level but later played for England Under-21s.
The Newcastle Falcons scrum-half then intimated he wished to resume his Scotland career, but according to Hadden the youngster has had a re-think, and he is now expected to commit his future to England.
“Lee and our former international flank Peter Walton from the Falcons coaching team had made contact with me earlier this season to stress that Lee was fully committed to going down the Scotland route,” said Hadden.
“Now that is not the case and I will only select players who are 100 per cent committed to representing Scotland.”
Dickson duly drops out of the ‘A’ squad for the trip to the tournament in England later this month, with Border Reivers scrum-half Robert Chrystie named as his replacement.
“I am pleased that Robert Chrystie can be added to our provisional squad and I will be monitoring his form and that of other quality Scottish scrum-halves before we settle on our final Scotland ‘A’ selection,” said Hadden.
Scotland launch their Churchill Cup campaign against the United States on May 23 at Henley, and take on England five days later at Twickenham.
Scotland ‘A’ squad for Churchill Cup (revised):
Backs: Ben Cairns (Edinburgh Rugby), Simon Danielli (Border Reivers), Nick De Luca (Border Reivers), Robert Chrystie (Border Reivers), Thom Evans (Glasgow Warriors), Phil Godman (Edinburgh Rugby), Colin Gregor (Glasgow Warriors), Robbie Kydd (Northampton Saints), Rory Lamont (Glasgow Warriors), Ben MacDougall (Border Reivers), Calum MacRae (Border Reivers), Mark McMillan (London Wasps), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors), Gordon Ross (Castres), Simon Webster (Edinburgh Rugby) ,
Forwards: John Barclay (Glasgow Warriors), Johnnie Beattie (Glasgow Warriors), Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby),Bruce Douglas (Border Reivers), Iain Fullarton (Saracens), Ryan Grant (Border Reivers), Scott Gray (Border Reivers), Stuart Grimes (Border Reivers), Andrew Hall (Newport Gwent Dragons), Craig Hamilton (Border Reivers), Ed Kalman (Border Reivers), Andrew Kelly (Edinburgh Rugby), Scott Lawson (Glasgow Warriors), Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors), Donnie Macfadyen (Glasgow Warriors), Andy Miller (Border Reivers), Mark Rennie (Bourgoin), Ross Rennie (Edinburgh Rugby), Craig Smith (Edinburgh Rugby), Alasdair Strokosch (Edinburgh Rugby), Steve Swindall (Glasgow Warriors), Fergus Thomson (Glasgow Warriors)
