Iain Morrison salutes the emergence of Edinburgh centre Ben Cairns onto the international stage in The Scotsman
"What a difference a year makes. Last season Ben Cairns was the 23rd man when the Scotland squad travelled to Rome in the Six Nations. Twelve months on and the young centre will be one of the first names on Frank Hadden's team sheet when the coach comes to pick his starting XV for Wales. Rarely has any player made himself so crucial to any team in such a short time.
"He brings plenty to the table. Cairns is genuinely quick, favouring the outside break, and he picks his angles of run with all the precision of Pythagoras but the slight centre is no Charles Atlas and only last season he was the victim of a brutal mugging. He was set upon in public, perfectly legally, by a couple of big lads from Cardiff in the shape of Jamie Roberts and Tom Shanklin. When Edinburgh hosted the Blues at Murrayfield Cairns was pummelled from pillar to post, knocked every which way but unconscious and he determined there and then that it wouldn't happen again."
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