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Scotland omissions disappointing amid Edinburgh's record-breaking start
Edinburgh fan's voice

Of all the stats in the URC the only one Edinburgh top is the lineout. Oh, and the table itself of course.

It is the first time in Edinburgh history we have recorded 19 points after the opening four games. Our average points return over the past five years at this stage is nine.

You'll be thinking Liam McConnell is our man in the lineout and you'd be right. He is the joint top lineout thief in the URC but what you might not have realised is it's Glen Young he shares that position with.

If the previous game was a bit of a progress gauge for Hector Patterson as he pitted his skills against the Scotland number nine incumbent Ben White, this week he showed why there was a clamour to see the Hawick scrummie included in the Scotland squad.

Two tries, two assists, his part in the disallowed Geordie Gwynn try, some typical scrum-half attitude and for this observer the goalline tackle on Lions number eight Francke Horne that had he not managed would have given Lions a half-time lead all led to a thoroughly deserved man of the match award.

Gwynn arrived almost under the radar but has quietly turned out to be a great acquisition. He has serious pace, is excellent under the high ball and only Piers O'Conor has beaten more defenders and made more metres. I predict Gwynn won't be far off being Edinburgh's top try scorer by season's end.

I pretty much wrote Wes Goosen off after his first season and kind of did the same with Mosese Tuipulotu. My assessment turned out wrong in both cases but I didn't learn from those mistakes and put O'Conor in the utility substitute category, yet he has been a huge asset at 15 for Edinburgh this season.

It seems becoming first-choice tighthead for Edinburgh, surpassing the excellent scrummager Paul Hill and more than holding his own against Springbok Boan Venter, still wasn't enough to earn Ollie Blyth-Lafferty a place in the Scotland squad.

That's disappointing, as were some other decisions, even if they made sense as Scotland build towards a World Cup. But the difference is this time last year no one was surprised Edinburgh weren't well represented in the national squad.

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