Scotland have handed Ross Beattie, the Gwent back- row forward, and the Edinburgh prop, Allan Jacobsen, last-ditch opportunities to earn World Cup places when they were drafted in to what is the strongest available side for tomorrow's Murrayfield meeting with Ireland.
Recalled only last weekend, neither took part in the intensive conditioning programme which the squad endured over the summer as they battled to shake off injuries. Both admitted they had thought their chances had gone.
While Jacobsen had always seemed likely to start in the absence of first-choice props Tom Smith and Bruce Douglas, Beattie would not have been in the XV had Jason White made the expected recovery after suffering back spasms early in the week.
He failed to make the antici-pated progress and rather than risk one of their most valuable players, the management have instead opted to run the rule over Beattie.
Still only 25, the big back-row man who, like White, has the power to punch holes in any defence, has been plagued by injuries over the years and he seemed destined to become one of those unfortunate individuals who would never play on the biggest stage. Perhaps his luck has turned.
''I missed the last World Cup at the last minute when I had to have an operation on my shoulder that I'd been putting off,'' said Beattie. ''That was very hard at that stage and I always said I was desperate to go to the next one and I've been given an opportunity. It's up to me to take it now.''
Beattie admitted that he had begun to fear he had left it too late to make a bid for a place this time around as well.
''I thought I had missed my chance because the players who were involved in the Italy game played really well and I told my friends and family I thought I wouldn't be going to the World Cup. Last week
didn't go quite as well and possibly that's why I was brought into the squad. To get back in and be given a lifeline is a fantastic feeling.''
Beattie believes he is in the best shape of his life to make an impression, explaining that, while the rest of the squad were in Poland, he reverted to more tried and tested methods as he returned to Newcastle - he was playing there when first capped three years ago - to try to get over the Achilles tendon problem that has plagued him.
With the Newcastle physio, Mike Brewer, treating the injury, the sharpening work was done under Bob Morton, a man with an impressive track, or more accurately, field record.
''I've trained with him for the last three-and-a-half months at Newcastle and he instilled a lot of belief into me when I thought I wasn't going to get fit again,'' said Beattie. ''When you have a lot of injuries you get really down and it's quite hard to deal with, but the work was fantastic.
''Bob trained Jonathan Edwards when he was younger and I haven't felt this good before. I've lost five kilogrammes, I feel quicker, I can run properly again. I feel powerful and I just feel great.''
Jacobsen still has a deep and ugly scar on his left shin after severe bruising turned septic late last season, forcing him to undergo surgery which prevented him training for almost three months.
''This is my opportunity and I've just got to do my best to take it,'' he said. ''I pretty much thought time was running out for me, but there were only four props in the squad and while you don't hope anyone gets injured, there's always a chance.''
Both players acknowledged that there is a danger of trying too hard to catch the eye but that they will really only enhance their prospects of making the World Cup 30 if they perform effectively as part of a team who play well.
Against the most powerful of their three World Cup opponents, Ian McGeechan, Scotland's coach, acknowledged that after experimenting to check strength in depth it had always been the intention to play close to his best XV.
With the injuries to Smith, Douglas and White, as well as Scott Murray and Bryan Redpath, restricting his options, that seems to be what he has done.
Team
Scotland (v Ireland, RBS countdown Test, Murrayfield, tomorrow)
G MetcalfeGlasgow
C PatersonEdinburgh
A CraigOrrell
A HendersonGlasgow
K LoganLondon Wasps
G RossLeeds Tykes
M BlairEdinburgh
A JacobsenEdinburgh
G Bulloch (capt)Glasgow
G KerrLeeds Tykes
S GrimesNewcastle Falcons
N HinesEdinburgh
R BeattieGwent Dragons
S TaylorEdinburgh
A MowerNewcastle Falcons
Replacements R Russell (Saracens), G McIlwham (unattached), J Petrie (Glasgow), I Fullarton (Sale Sharks), G Beveridge (Glasgow), J McLaren (Aviron Bayonnais), S Webster (Edinburgh)
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