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| | Saturday, 1 June, 2002, 19:09 GMT 20:09 UK MacQueen hails Taylor Scotland's debutants were praised by their coach Victorious Barbarians coach Rod MacQueen has hailed Scotland forward Simon Taylor as one of the most skilful players in the world. MacQueen had plenty of positive words for the rest of the defeated side, despite the invitational outfit's convincing 47-27 in the Prudential Tour match at Murrayfield. And Scotland coach Ian McGeechan also took heart from the performance of his young, experimental line-up. Edinburgh No.8 Taylor played twice for the Baa-Baas before taking the field as an opponent on Saturday.
He was regarded by many as the stand-out player in what was a star-studded Barbarian side against England and then helped defeat Wales. The Lion was on the losing side at Murrayfield, but former Australia coach MacQueen said: "I was so impressed with Simon when he was with us for that week or so. "I really believe he is one of the most skilful players in world rugby. "He's just going to get even better but already is a quality player." MacQueen also had kind words for the rest of the Scottish side as they head for North America. "Ian McGeechan will learn from that game and it will also help the players on the tour and in the future," he said. "Scotland have got some good young talent and it would be nice to see it develop." McGeechan agreed: "It was an opportunity for the players and many took it. "I was very pleased with the honesty the players showed.
"It was very encouraging. Don't forget how good the opposition was. "If you don't put players in, you'll never know if they're good enough. "We didn't manage to force many turnovers. But, when we did, we looked dangerous." McGeechan praised the five uncapped players - Michael Blair, Andy Craig, Allan jacobson, Rory Kerr and Craig Smith - who started the match. "Rory, Michael, Andy and Allan all did very well and Craig was also very impressive especially once he settled in," he said. | | See also:  01 Jun 02 | International 01 Jun 02 | International 29 May 02 | International 29 May 02 | Scotland 26 May 02 | International Internet links: The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites Top International stories now: Links to more International stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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