Pountney walks out on 'unprofessional' Scotland

Budge Pountney, the Scotland flanker and one-time captain, is being labelled the "Roy Keane of rugby" following his decision to walk out on his Test colleagues little more than a fortnight before the start of the Six Nations' Championship – and in World Cup year, too. But Manchester United's angst-ridden midfielder never experienced the kind of trauma affecting his fellow international refusenik. Yesterday's move was prompted by all sorts of demons, but the biggest by far was the impact of a grisly injury Pountney suffered while playing for Northampton earlier this month.

The 29-year-old open-side specialist, by common consent the most effective player of his type in the English Premiership, found himself on the wrong end of a boot at a ruck during a match with London Irish and needed surgery to remove a testicle. "The injury was a shock – it might have resulted in me being unable to start a family – and it changed my perspective on rugby," he said yesterday. It would have been astonishing had it not done so.

Pountney is now fully fit, and played a full 80 minutes in his club's Powergen Cup quarter-final victory at Bath on Saturday. But having weighed his options during the fortnight he spent recuperating from the operation, he concluded that he wanted nothing more to do with the "unprofessionalism" surrounding the Scotland set-up – the very grievance levelled by Keane at the Republic of Ireland football team in the run-up to last year's World Cup in Japan and Korea.

"I feel that time is running out as we wait for a professional approach to be applied," said Pountney, who won 31 caps and became a talismanic figure, despite qualifying through his wild-card Channel Islands ancestry rather than through any Scottish blood. "I'm slogging my guts out, as are all the players, but people around us could not care less. It all adds up: no water or food at squad sessions when some of us have travelled from England and France to be there, no protein drinks, fights to get studs for your boots, our wives and girlfriends being left on their own when they come to watch us in the Six Nations while the blazered brigade have their wives on Scottish Rugby Union accounts. It's hard to cope when you are expected to put your whole life and heart into playing for Scotland while others appear to be taking the piss."

One particular gripe of Pountney's touched a raw nerve at the SRU, who admitted that they may have been guilty of a "lack of sensitivity". After a Test defeat by New Zealand, Pountney gave his tie to a disappointed young supporter outside Murrayfield – "I just felt it might cheer him up," he explained – and promptly received a union invoice for £7.50.

While nobody was disputing the authenticity of Pountney's frustration yesterday, there may well have been an additional reason for his international withdrawal. Northampton are strongly rumoured to be cutting back on the number of current Test players for next season, when World Cup and Six Nations commitments will effectively prevent such players making more than eight or nine appearances at club level, and Pountney may have decided that his career in the East Midlands has more value than his career north of the border.

Whatever, he made his farewell with a few kind words for his immediate colleagues. "The players, Ian McGeechan and the supporters deserve some respect," he said. "I have been immensely proud of my representative games for Scotland." McGeechan, the national coach who first spotted Pountney's Test quality while guiding Northampton to their current position as one of the powerhouses of the English game, praised the flanker's "unstinting service to the team".

Bill Watson, the SRU's chief executive, said: "We're certainly going to look at all these aspects to see if there's any substance to them, but so far we actually think our policies are reasonably good."

England have named 10 full caps in a 25-man party for the A international against France at Northampton's Franklin's Gardens stadium on 14 February. The side will be captained by Kyran Bracken, the Saracens scrum-half who was first-choice for virtually all of last season but now languishes behind Matt Dawson and Andy Gomarsall in the red rose pecking order.

Northampton's Paul Grayson, is one of two specialist stand-offs in the squad – Alex King of Wasps is the other – while Matt Perry has a chance to pitch for a World Cup place later this year. Maurice Fitzgerald, a 26-year-old prop playing in France with Biarritz, has been included among the front-rowers, while a more familiar figure, Mike Catt of Bath, will be added to the mix if he comes through this weekend's Premiership match with Leicester.