'Dempsey departure a gut punch for Scotland'
[SNS] Former Scotland skipper Rory Lawson says "standout" Jack Dempsey's Glasgow Warriors exit is a "gut punch" for the national team. The number eight will depart Scotstoun at the end of the season to join a club in Japan, believed to be Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo. It puts the international future of Dempsey, who turns 32 next month, in doubt because of clashes with Japan's domestic season schedule.
"It's a bitter, bitter blow for the Warriors, for Scotland," said former scrum-half Lawson on the BBC Scotland Rugby Podcast. "Hugely disappointing, but he would have weighed all of this up within his decision-making process. "The offers that come in from Scottish Rugby, and while it's to play for Glasgow Warriors we know it's all under Scottish Rugby, and it's the budget that's going towards these international players that keeps them in Scotland and gives the player management opportunity to Scotland.
"As soon as they move, you lose that control. "And in this case, particularly when you're losing him to Japan with a different layout of the season, different player accessibility, that definitely throws it up in the air, his potential involvement or not in next year's Six Nations and the World Cup. "As a player who has been a standout, it's a huge gut punch for him to have committed elsewhere.
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