Scotland A players respond 'brilliantly' to Wallabies disappointment - Horne

Head coach Pete Horne says the internationals he has selected to play for Scotland A against Chile on Saturday have responded "brilliantly" despite being overlooked for the national team's showdown with Australia on Sunday.

The likes of Stafford McDowall, Jamie Dobie and Jamie Bhatti would have been in contention to take on the Wallabies in Scotland's final match of the Autumn Nations Series, but instead will play for the shadow national side at Hive Stadium the day before.

"Those three especially will have been desperate to be involved against Australia," Horne told the BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast.

"It wouldn't be right if they weren't. They've got every right to be disappointed that they're getting ready to play against Chile, but then we just flipped it on how we use that as an opportunity.

"These guys have got a chance to show the coach, he's made a mistake, actually we should have been playing on Sunday.

"So if you leave a lasting impression on Saturday there's a chance that come Six Nations, 100% we will still be talking about how guys performed in this match."

Saturday's match will be viewed as a curtain-raiser for the main event at Scottish Gas Murrayfield on Sunday, but Horne has challenged his team to deliver a performance that gets people talking.

"I think any time the A team are playing, it's normally always a really good home crowd," said Horne, who is combining his head coach role with assisting Gregor Townsend with the full Scotland squad this autumn.

"It's a little bit more personal, isn't it? A little bit closer to the action. It'd be brilliant if we can all turn up and get a really good crowd for them.

"Just because we're the support act this weekend, there's no reason that we can't steal the show and have everyone talking about our game and our performance. That's what we're selling to the boys."