Biggar rugby star played in national team against Wales

Feb 18 2010 by Andrew McGilvray, Hamilton Advertiser

FORMER Biggar Rugby Club star Scott Lawson played an unfortunate role as Scotland plucked defeat from the jaws of victory in their Six Nations match against Wales last weekend.

With the Scots in a seemingly-commanding lead at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium, Lawson (left) was sin-binned for an avoidable offence moments after the referee had issued a final warning.

That led to a collapse and a late rally allowed Wales tie the match at 24-24 before Shane Williams’ last-gasp try gave the home side an unlikely 31-24 win.

Try-scorer John Barclay, however, must also accept some responsibility for not kicking the restart into touch at 24-24, which would have ended the game in a draw.

Scotland now sit fifth in the table after two games with no points and only score-difference separating them from Italy – our next opponents on February 27.

But the Advertiser’s Biggar correspondent Al Stewart, who is a close friend of Lawson’s, hopes Saturday’s transgression doesn’t count against the Gloucester hooker in the future.

He said: “Scott is going to get bad press for being sin-binned at such an important stage, but others could point out that a forward pass by Sean Lamont stopped Scotland from scoring again, or that Shane Williams outjumped Rory Lamont and Kelly Brown – I think a few players could admit they were at fault for certain things.

“But Scott being sin-binned stuck out, and I hope it doesn’t stop him from playing in the other internationals.”

Scotland tackle Italy at the Stadio Flaminio a week on Sunday and Al reckons they can win, despite the Azzurri pushing England close.

He said: “I think we’ve got a very good chance. Let’s not forget that Scotland put in their best away performance for many years in Cardiff, played superbly well and made Wales look second rate for most of the game.

“Italy will be up for it, and we need to be right on our game, but there’s no reason why Scotland can’t take something from it.”