The British and Irish Lions back rower was the Scots best player in the 2004 competition but left the field with a serious knee injury during his sides 37-16 loss to Ireland at Lansdowne Road in the last match of the series.

Gunners star Taylor has slowly worked his way back from the injury but still has no chance of playing for Edinburgh in the Europen Cup match against Perpignan.

And Hadden is reluctant to publicly state that he will definitely be available for his country for the RBS 6 Nations opener against France on February 5 in Paris.

He said: Simon is a difficult one to assess because of the length of time he has been out. It is easier to have a handle on players who have not been out quite as long.

Simon took a bigger part in the last training session than he has done for a long time.

But all I can say is that he is getting nearer and nearer and that some day soon he will cross the white line once again.

But we are definitely not putting a time on that. He has had far too rough a time in rehabilitation for us to even think about that. It will happen when it happens.