Former Scotland captain Budge Pountney has announced his retirement from international rugby saying that he was disgusted with penny-pinching by Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) bosses.
The flanker, replaced last season as Scotland skipper by scrumhalf Bryan Redpath, recently underwent an operation to remove a testicle after being kicked playing for his English club side Northampton against London Irish and is considering legal action against the player responsible.
"I was happy for them to take the testicle out just to get rid of the pain. But I am lucky it wasn't the other one because that could have totally wrecked my life in terms of having a family. The future for (my wife) Ali and me would have been ruined," the 29-year-old said.
And Pountney says the injury made him think it wasn't worth playing for Scotland again. "It has kind of put things in perspective and it might seem strange to some people that I've then come out and said I'm sick of the Scotland set-up, but it's because of that perspective I've decided to finish," said Pountney, capped 31 times, after walking out of Monday's international squad session.
"I'm slogging my guts out, prepared to take risks for Scotland and so are all the players involved with the Scotland and Scotland A squads. But people around us couldn't care less.
"I'm still getting regular demands for £7.50from the SRU, because I gave my Scotland tie to a young kid who was flying home to London with his dad after watching us lose to New Zealand," he said.
"He and his dad were both in kilts and a bit upset that we'd lost, and I just felt it might help cheer him up. It did - but the SRU just don't see that."
In a statement in which both Scotland coach Ian McGeechan and director of rugby Jim Telfer paid tribute to Pountney's international career, the SRU admitted: "We do charge when people ask for extra items of kit, but in the instance to which he referred (the tie payment) we may not have been sensitive or got the balance right."
But, according to Pountney, the tie incident was only one example of the SRU's meanness.
"When we beat South Africa in November we got back to the hotel to find a fax from the SRU stating clearly that there was to be no tab left for the players behind the bar.
"People might say, 'fair enough, players shouldn't have a drink'. But this was the first time we'd beaten the Springboks in 33 years, and the guys just wanted to celebrate. We'd slogged hard, stuck to the task well and made history for Scottish rugby."
SRU chief executive Bill Watson said they recognised the efforts made by Scotland players. "We seek at all times to put in place structures to support our ultimate rugby ambassadors so that they can do their job on the field. In the light of Budge's comments, we will be strengthening the communications chain."
