DON'T PUT US DOWN UNDER!; Hastie fury at Aussie chief.

Scotland manager Arthur Hastie last night launched a bitter attack on Australian rugby chief John O'Neill.

Seething Hastie accused him of a commercial blunder by branding the tour squad a bunch of no-hopers.

Big mouth O'Neill insisted that next month's two internationals would be viewed as non- events by Aussie fans because of the Scots' hammering by Fiji and the fact so many top stars are missing. He also threatened to avoid playing future matches against the home nations.

But Hastie fumed: "Mr O'Neill's comments represent a novel attitude so far as marketing the matches.

"And as for future tours to Australia, that is a matter for the ARU. We are here to play rugby, not engage in politics.

"We told Mr O'Neill before we came here that for a variety of reasons a number of players were unavailable.

"He accepted our assurances that Gary Armstrong, Doddie Weir, Peter Walton, George Graham and Alan Tait were not picked because of injury and fatigue.

"Also, Ronnie Eriksson needed an operation on a finger and Craig Chalmers suffered a serious knee injury.

"While Mr O'Neill's comments have undoubtedly been coloured by our poor display in Fiji, it is regrettable that he should re-open this issue after accepting SRU assurances that the party was the strongest available."

Hastie and his management team have called in the A-team to try to wipe away their Fijian nightmare.

Ten of the side to face Victoria tomorrow starred in the recent shadow Grand Slam triumph, including skipper Stuart Reid.

Head coach Jim Telfer insisted that in the wake of the Fiji defeat, every place is up for grabs in the two weeks before the first Test against the Wallabies.

He said: "We picked what we thought was our best team for Fiji. Now anybody has a chance to stake their claim.

"We have let our feelings be known to the squad about the performance in Suva.

"I want to be positive with the players. This squad is better than some I have coached and they are keen to improve.

"There is so much more to come out of these players and I hope that can be achieved over the next three weeks."

Reid, who helped Edinburgh to their District Champion-ship triumph, said: "I know it isn't a Test, but leading Scotland in a major overseas match will be one of the highest points in my career."

TEAM: G Metcalfe, A Bulloch, D Officer, R Shepherd, C Joiner, D Hodge, G Burns, P Wright, S Brotherstone, M Stewart, R Metcalfe, S Grimes, C Mather, S Reid (capt), G Simpson. Subs: D Lee, J Mayer, I Fairley, E Peters, S Campbell, D Hilton, D Hilton, K McKenzie.