Scotland are blessed with numerous talented centres and it’s the strongest area of Gregor Townsend’s squad with nobody more aware of this than Rory Hutchinson.
The 29-year-old has been in excellent form for Northampton this season and his preparing for the biggest game in club rugby on Saturday in the European Champions Cup final. But at international level, Hutchinson is firmly down the pecking order with Scotland boasting arguably the best centre-partnership in the world in Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones.
Stafford McDowall and Tom Jordan, especially, impressed for Scotland in the Six Nations with Hutchinson unused. Tuipulotu and Jones have both been selected for the British & Lions this summer and Hutchinson is delighted for his international colleagues.
Asked whether the Scotland duo are world-class: “Yeah, definitely. I think that just goes to show that those lads have put in good performances and that's why they've been awarded with Lions call-up. So, it's great to see those lads doing well and going to be in Australia this summer. So, look, you want a team with lots of good players and lots of good competition.
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“I think it brings the best out of everyone. Obviously, my personal point of view is frustrating not to play but you've just gotta keep your head down, keep working and, you know, to get an opportunity is what, you know, hopefully will come soon, hopefully.”
Hutchinson can consider himself unfortunate not to feature in the Six Nations as he offers Scotland a different option at centre.
The Northampton star, however, will be aiming to showcase his talent to Gregor Townsend on the summer tour to Fiji, Samoa and New Zealand.
On his Scotland ambitions, Hutchinson said: “Yeah, look, whatever happens this summer, I've still got to wait and see what happens,” he said. “So, you know, hopefully I get an opportunity and I'm looking forward to it but we’ve just got to see what happens. And obviously, I've still got a bit of the season left here with Northampton. So, if I put in good performances, I think that'll give myself the best opportunity.”
Hutchinson is preparing for the Champions Cup final against Bordeaux on Saturday and he believes Northampton’s preparations were boosted by their hard-fought win over Saracens last weekend.
“Yeah, I think we're all really excited,” he said. “Obviously, we've known about it for a few weeks now. That will be heading down to Cardiff and I think the build-up to this week now is really all focused on it.
“Obviously, we still had a job to do last weekend to put ourselves in the best position moving forward and it wasn't the most ideal game but I think we showed what we're all about, especially in that second half last week. To come back, I thought the bench were excellent in putting us in the right position going forward to this weekend. So, it's all happy faces in camp this week.”
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