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 Sports Correspondent Paul Newman"It has emerged Hilton has no Scottish ancestry"  real 28k  |
Hilton discovered he was ineligible to play for Scotland when it emerged his grandfather, whom he had thought was born in Edinburgh, was actually born in Bristol.
Null and void
This meant the 41-times capped forward had no Scottish ancestry, rendering his international career over unless the International Rugby Board looks favourably upon his situation.
But that seems improbable in the light of comments by IRB Chief Executive Stephen Baines who has warned that both Scotland and Wales could have past victories declared null and void for fielding ineligible players.
 Hilton trains with Glasgow Caley
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However, officials said they were hopeful the IRB would regard Hilton's case as an exception, given that his international career began when the game was still part-time, and regulations were a good deal less formal.
A place in the squad was left empty in the hope that a ruling in their favour would mean the player could join the squad following an IRB decision, but no action will be taken by the IRB before it meets in Dublin next week.
Black-and-white
Former international captains Gavin Hastings and Will Carling gave their side of events as they met at Twickenham ahead of next week's clash at Murrayfield.
Hastings, Scotland's record international points scorer, said there was no argument as far as he was concerned.
He said: "To my mind, if a person fails to meet the eligibility rules, then he cannot play for Scotland. It's in black-and-white."
 Will Carling: Mystified
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He said: "I'm slightly mystified people can claim something and they don't have to prove it. People just take their word for it."
The Glasgow Caledonian player's immediate family signed an affidavit confirming that they all understood David's grandfather had been born in Edinburgh.
The affidavit had been submitted to the International Rugby Board.
That is unlikely to sway the decision in the SRU's favour as the IRB seeks to remove any ambiguity from its rulebook.
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