Jack Dempsey on the possibility of switching from Australia to Scotland - 'I'm going to have a deep think'

Decisions, decisions. The way Jack Dempsey sees it, Scotland v Australia on October 29 throws up three different scenarios.

Option one: he’s sitting in the Murrayfield stand supping Guinness, just as he was last year when Gregor Townsend’s side edged out the Wallabies 15-13 in a thriller best remembered for Ewan Ashman's stunning try.

Option two: he’s pulling on the gold and green for the first time in three years and winning his 15th cap for the country of his birth.

Option three, and here’s where it gets interesting: Dempsey takes advantage of World Rugby’s new rule on eligibility which allows capped players to transfer allegiance as long as they have spent the previous three years out of the international game and have “a close and credible link via birthright” to the country to which they are switching.

The latter scenario is likely to cause some strife in the Dempsey clan. Or, as the Glasgow Warriors No 8 puts it succinctly: “I know my dad doesn’t want me to bloody play for Scotland!”

Dempsey’s Scottish link is through his grandfather on his mother’s side and you suspect there will be much to discuss when the player’s parents visit Scotland later this month.

Dempsey is coy when asked if he's spoken to Townsend about switching sides.

“Maybe I have or maybe I haven’t,” he smiles. “I don’t know. I can’t really talk about it.

“I’m pretty focussed on the Warriors at the moment. I’m going to have a deep think.”

What is not in doubt is the impact Dempsey has had at Glasgow this season. The Sydney-born back-rower has added a hard-running, abrasive edge to the Warriors pack, helping them through to the quarter-finals of both the URC and the Challenge Cup.

Would it benefit Scotland? Absolutely. Townsend already has high