Scotland team selection more notable for who's out than in

That was until Frank announced his team and I spent the best part of an hour clearing my inbox as irate fans vented their collective spleens – particularly the glaring ommision of Glasgow's wing ace Thom Evans.

The more printable examples include:-

"Nine tries in 14 and Hadden doesn't think Evans is worthy of a place on the bench!? Unbelievable."

"Silly Thom for scoring all those tries for Glasgow. Does he not know that this is something Frank frowns upon?"

"Anyone know if the SRU are willing to hand out refunds?"

"Why not just give Wales the points and save them the bother of travelling up north?"

"If Captain Haddock wants to pick Edinburgh players he should have stayed as their coach all those years."

Blistering barnacles as Herge's famous character would say although many punters were employing vocabulary as colourful as Tintin's faithful confident.

The wingers berths are occupied by Sean Lamont and Edinburgh's Simon Webster. Hadden's reasoning being that they have a good record of scoring tries. Their combined total stands at 15 from 72 matches.

Even when you chuck in Edinburgh's Hugo Southwell's selection at full-back and combine his and Webster & Lamont's try count for their clubs this season compared with Thom Evans', they only beat the Glasgow man by one.

Scotland have been criticised this past year for a lack of tries and surely Evans' inclusion would have delivered a more potent threat?

It would appeared he has fallen victim to the annoying Scottish trait (which to be fair has hampered many of Hadden's footballing counterparts as well) of caution first.

One is reminded of the football comedy show "Standing Room Only" which was aired on the BBC in the early '90s when they poked fun at then-England football manager Graham Taylor's reluctance to pick an in-form Chris Waddle.

Footage of Waddle scoring goals and beating defenders for fun had a vocal dub of a Taylor impersonator giving his reason as to why Waddle should not play. One favourite was: "Look at him. He's scored in the first minute. I don't want players who don't consider the feelings of those fans who have arrived late by scoring early on. How dare he!" And so on...

There has been a suggestion that Evans may be viewed as 'defensively suspect'. South Africa's Bryan Habana – considered to be the most lethal finisher in rugby – got little out of Thom last Autumn.

Considering Habana filled his boots against England a week later, shows that maybe Evans knows how to keep someone quiet.

Evans also showed in that match that he could keep up with 'The Cheetah' and even showed Habana a clean pair of heels on occasion.

This is not to knock Simon Webster who is a courageous player ready to give it his all. But who do you want chasing down Welsh wizard Shane Williams should he sprint after a grubber kick towards our try-line? Webster or a man who can match Habana? It's a no-brainer really.

Hadden said that "Thom's time will come". When will that be one wonders? On the back of a few defeats should his grand design falter? When Thom is queuing up at the Post Office for his pension?

The likes of David Campese and Serge Blanco must thank the Lord day and night that they were not born Scottish. If they're good enough, they're old enough. Evans may not have as many caps as Webster or Lamont but he's the player in form. Something that appears on the surface to have been missed.

Hadden's argument of trusting in experience does fall flat when you consider he has dropped Chris Paterson – Scotland's all-time record points scorer – for Southwell. When speaking to Glasgow Hawks coach and ex-Scotland prop Peter Wright earlier this week, he told me that if Edinburgh's Phil Godman was to play, it would be vital that Paterson does - lest we face Wales without a kicker.

Unfortunately, we have to hope Godman's kicking has dramatically improved since his Springbok howler.
The mad mullahs of Murrayfield's East Stand will no doubt be delighted that their favourite booing target Dan Parks has not made the first XV. Ecstatic that he's not even made the bench.

Granted Parks has been inconsistent whilst on national duty, as ex-Scotland star John Beattie said earlier this week: "I've seen Dan win too many games for Glasgow this past year and I would play him at number 10. If he's on form then we can effectively control the game."

While one can appreciated Hadden's reasons for going with Godman, to completely omit Parks is somewhat bewildering should the Edinburgh man pick up an injury early on with Paterson having to fall back on memory as to what a fly-half is meant to do.

Parks' fellow Glasgow team-mates Al Kellock and Kelly Brown can also feel aggrieved on Hadden's choice - although the latter can console himself with a place on the bench.

Choice number one: Your star lock Nathan Hines is injured. Who do you bring in? A lock who has been playing in that position for the last few years and has performed exceptionally well for his club since the New Year? Or some one who is essentially a flanker but once played at lock in 19-oatcake? While jason White is no doubt grateful to start, logic surely dictated that Kellock start or at worst be on the bench? Indeed Hadden has not bothered to have a replacement lock in reserve. One hopes that injuries don't take out White and Jim Hamilton early on.

Choice number two: You need a blindside flanker. You have two players in Brown and Gloucester's Al Strokosch who have excelled for their clubs in that role. Do you pick one of them or go with someone more suited to the openside or even at number 8 - in the form of Edinburgh's Ally Hogg - instead?

Brown or Strokosch should have been the only two in consideration for this with Hogg having to compete with Simon Taylor (who has played at lock for Stade Francais this year) for the number 8 role - or even on the bench should misfortune befall Glasgow's John Barclay.

What's done is done and while Hadden's 'caution first' choice could still pull off a famous victory - and say yah-boo-sucks to us all for doubting him - all hard luck stories such Wales win will fall on deaf ears. As pointed out by a fellow pundit, Hadden has no option but to win with this selection.

Prior to the Six Nations I usually saunter off to the bookies and place an heroic tenner on Scotland pulling off a shock title win (another £10 picking another victor is also employed to cover it should reality kick in).

While I haven't put my wager on yet, should I enter the betting shop, and given the team selection, the temptation to exercise Hadden-esque caution could prove over-whelming.