Andy Robinson moved to end his predecessors’ Fortress Scotland policy by maintaining domestic based stars will not be given preference over Scottish players based abroad.

Both Matt Williams and Frank Hadden urged their squads to remain within the borders in a move partly designed to strengthen club teams Edinburgh and Glasgow.

But with the likes of Jason White, Rory Lamont and Hugo Southwell all plying their trade in France, new Scotland coach Robinson maintains he retains an open mind when it comes to selection.

“There’s no Fortress Scotland,” he said. “It makes it a little bit harder in terms of how we work, but those are the rules and we understand that and therefore we just have to be a little bit smarter in how we work.

“There’s no hard and fast rules about selection. The exiles play an important part for Scotland and the development of a winning Scotland team.

“If I was just to pick a team from Glasgow or just Edinburgh, and while they are good players individually, I don’t think collectively that they would be able to win in international rugby, where there is that step up.”