Leave Canada dry, roars Ally

SCOTLAND can call on the services of a spy when they run out against Canada at Pittodrie tomorrow in the concluding Bank of Scotland Corporate Autumn rugby Test.

Flanker Ally Strokosch, who returns for a seventh cap, said: "Earlier this year my Gloucester club undertook a summer training camp in Toronto, including a match against the home-based Canadian players."

Strokosch is quick to admit that the venture provided only a snap-shot of current Canadian standards but, nevertheless, he will bring with him some idea of what to expect as Scotland return to the Aberdeen venue where they defeated the Barbarians 38-7 in 2005.

"The guys who played against us were not short of physicality, which is natural for them being so big," he added.

"The first 20 minutes were about matching their physicality then sticking to our systems before getting the rewards in the last quarter of the match." Ex-Boroughmuir and Edinburgh ace Strokosch reckons a similar pattern could emerge tomorrow in a game where players can reap the rewards if they deliver the goods.

He said: "This will be our last chance to try to stake a claim to be in at the start of the Six Nations."

In order to do that, Strokosch hopes to apply lessons learned from his debut season in 2007/8, which had individual highs such as a man of the match award against Ireland and a first Scottish away win over Argentina.

There were also lessons for the team, as he was quick to admit.

Strokosch said: "When it came down to pressure situations in our visit to Italy and also the first Test in Argentina (both defeats for Scotland), we made mistakes and that frustrated me more than anything.

"One day, though, we will come through that and it will be the start of something."

The message that Scotland can now give themselves a launchpad is echoed by hooker Ross Ford who insists the march has already begun.

"We finished strongly against South Africa last week so it will be a case of trying to carry on where we left off in those last 20 minutes," he said.

"That means keeping the tempo high and being really physical."

The onslaught might have been intense but it failed to overturn a 10-14 scoreline and Ford, to his credit, acknowledged scope for improvement in his scrummaging domain where a pushover chance went abegging through the ball being moved out prematurely to the backs.

After hailing the continuity provided by a retained front five, Ford said: "It is a hard decision to make as to when to move the ball out when so close to the line.

"People see situations differently. What it comes down to is communication and that is something we are learning all the time."

Despite that blip against the 'Boks clearly the Scottish scrummage is becoming a major weapon although Ford insists they must keep applying pressure.

"We've watched videos of Canada and as well as scoring a try they also defended as though their lives depended on it," says the Edinburgh hooker.

Indeed from conceding eight tries in their opening tour match against Ireland, only three slipped past them in Cardiff.

That makes Ford all the more determined that Scotland should take every chance that comes their way.

"Obviously Canada will be very tough to break down but that is what we have to do through being clinical and finishing chances when they come along," he continued. Perking up the back-line and providing an extra cutting edge is partly the responsibility of reinstated wing Simon Webster, although his 36th Test outing is partly due to an injury-enforced reshuffle in the back three.

Nevertheless, Webster, pictured, is keen to make up for lost time. "I missed the first five Edinburgh games of this season due to injury, so to get 40 minutes when Scotland A defeated Georgia 69-3 last week was important for me," he said.

"Whether that influenced this selection, I wouldn't know. All that matters is doing justice to this opportunity.

"Yes, we are possibly on a hiding to nothing (with Canada six places lower in the world rankings) but Canada are now playing regular fixtures each year against good opposition, including their own Churchill Cup event.

"There are times when you can get too caught up in what the scoreboard says and, really, as well as winning we have to perform in all the main areas that we train on. If we do that we'll be all right."

According to Webster there can be benefits at domestic level, too.

"It's very exciting to be playing for Scotland outside my Edinburgh centre colleagues, Ben Cairns and Nick De Luca," he said.

"Both of them had a really good last couple of weeks against the All Blacks and Springboks. Now they are only going to complement each other even more which will mean bringing a lot back to Edinburgh."

First, though, comes the Canadian Test with a slight concern being the narrower confines of a pitch normally used for football.

Murrayfield is 70 metres wide, whereas Pittodrie is just 64 metres across.

However, as experienced lock Nathan Hines points out, playing at St Johnstone FC's McDiarmid Park (65m) four years ago didn't exactly harm the Scottish cause.

Then the Scots put a century of points on Japan and, while he sidestepped any further comparisons, the message from Hines is that the Scots simply have to adapt.

"It will be a little bit tougher, but provided we get forward momentum and continue in the intensive style we have been, the result will take care of itself," said Hines, making it clear the Scots can go in with confidence, partly inspired by his try last weekend which ended a long home drought.

So, will it be famine to feast? That might be too much to hope for, but there is surely no reason why the Scots cannot return from a ground where they launched the international coaching career of Frank Hadden with their third win of a ten-match 2008 schedule.

Keeping their feet on the ground, however, will be the fact that on the last occasion the teams met in a full international, in Vancouver six years ago, the Canadians came out on top. That's a situation not lost on Canadian skipper Ed Fairhurst, who played that day.

The experienced scrum-half said: "We have to play well this weekend and maybe if Scotland make a few mistakes, it is within the realms of possibility that we are going to win."