Sam Hidalgo-Clyne has revealed he "would have had to" decline a place in Scotland's Rugby World Cup training squad, because of the damage it would have done to his club career.

The scrum-half, 25, narrowly missed out on selection for Gregor Townsend's pre-tournament squad.

Hidalgo-Clyne had fallen out of favour at Scarlets and being in training with Scotland over summer would have severely hampered his chances of finding a new club.

"I said to Gregor, from my experiences from the 2015 World Cup, if I'd got picked as fourth-choice scrum-half, I would have had to say no," he told BBC Scotland.

"It would have meant I'd have been at Scarlets for another year, not knowing where I would have been in the pecking order, and I probably wouldn't have made the final squad for the World Cup."

'Look at how my season was after that'

It jars to hear a player talk, even hypothetically, of turning down the chance to book a ticket to rugby's greatest show. But this was the choice that would have faced Hidalgo-Clyne: spend summer in the national camps, and more than likely go back to being Scarlets bench fodder come September, or forego a World Cup shot in favour of nailing down his future.

Shattering Scotland's established first-choice trio of Greig Laidlaw, Ali Price and George Horne would have been fiendishly difficult.

Instead, Hidalgo-Clyne has won a short-term deal at Racing 92, one of Europe's richest and most glamorous clubs, providing the Parisians with cover during the World Cup period.

"As much as I would have loved to be in training [with Scotland], a World Cup cover contract where I can get some game time for a top-quality side would actually be more beneficial for my rugby than training, being fourth-choice and potentially being back in Wales," he says.

"Even if I was third choice, I would have really had to consider because you're not guaranteed game time. I went to the World Cup as third choice in 2015 and played 11 minutes. Look at how my season was after that.

"Unless I was guaranteed to be playing and I felt like I was going to be playing, not from what I would have been told, that's just a decision I would have had to make.

"If I hadn't gone to the 2015 World Cup, I maybe would have looked at it differently, but my previous experience and the detrimental effect the World Cup had on the following season, that's probably the decision I would have had to make, unfortunately."

'You have a bad game and get hammered for it'

Four years ago, Hidalgo-Clyne came searing on to the scene at Edinburgh, an exhilarating attacking nine and a cute goal-kicker. He was named Pro12 young player of the season and won the first clutch of his dozen caps.

That breakthrough campaign propelled him into Vern Cotter's squad for the 2015 World Cup, but as third-choice behind Laidlaw and Henry Pyrgos, his only outing came off the bench in a pool shellacking by South Africa with many frontline players rested.

"I was away for four-and-a-bit months, plus pre-season, and played 11 minutes of rugby," Hidalgo-Clyne, who spent the final two months of the season on loan at Harlequins, says.

"You come back and you're expected to do everything. I wasn't so much a young kid any more because I'd been to a World Cup, more pressure came on, you have a bad game and you get hammered for it, and I very much went into my shell back then when I got feedback.

"This is where I think coaches sometimes get it really wrong. You need to know your players, and if you go into your shell, you're not going to play well the next week. I'm a big believer of everyone being confident and learning from your mistakes, but of feedback being constructive, not sometimes being hammered on you."

'I essentially didn't want to be there'

Although loath to criticise any of his former coaches, Hidalgo-Clyne believes rugby must do more to support players' mental wellbeing.

"You've got to want to go out on a wet rainy day and realise you've got a pretty good job," he says. "I remember parts of my career I was nervous to be playing or even training because I essentially didn't want to be there - I wasn't enjoying things.

"You have the opportunity to approach people that will help you, but a lot of players aren't just going to open up and trust a random person the club have provided them with.

"The top sides have got a very good balance, where it's not a business mindset, it's an environment where everyone is close to each other. Some clubs have absolutely nailed that and some haven't quite got there yet."

ATTICA, Ohio – The 31st annual Ohio Logistics Brad Doty Classic Presented by Racing Optics has welcomed JEGS High Performance as a marketing partner.

JEGS High Performance will sponsor the Last Chance Showdown.

The 31st Annual Ohio Logistics Brad Doty Classic Presented by Racing Optics will hit the track at Attica Raceway Park on Tuesday, July 16, headlined by the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

The Ohio Logistics Brad Doty Classic returned to Attica Raceway Park in 2016 following a 10-year run at Limaland Motorsports Park in Lima, Ohio. The event originated at Attica in 1989.

The JEGS High Performance Last Chance Showdown is exactly what the name implies – the last chance for the night’s competitors to race their way into the $10,000-to-win A-main.

“We want to welcome JEGS into our family of marketing partners. It’s great to see such an iconic speed shop getting more involved in oval track racing. JEGS sells a lot of Weld Racing wheels and we are working together to let the oval track racer’s know that JEGS is the place to go when they need wheels,” said Brad Doty, co-promoter of the event.

“JEGS will celebrate our 60th anniversary next year and we are excited to be involved in this special event. Bringing awareness of the JEGS brand and our partners like Weld Racing to the racers and the fans will be a lot of fun at Attica. JEGS has plenty of items that racers and fans alike use, whether it’s on or off the track. We look forward to having the iconic yellow and black colors of JEGS.com involved,” said JEGS Director of Media & Motorsports Scott Woodruff

SONOMA, Calif. – Kyle Larson continues to be the man to beat when it comes to qualifying at Sonoma Raceway.

Larson earned his third-straight pole at Sonoma Raceway on Saturday afternoon, leading a Chevrolet sweep of the front row for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350.

Driving the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 out of the Chip Ganassi Racing stable, Larson’s best lap of 1:34.784 bested the fast lap by fellow Chevrolet driver William Byron by .043 of a second.

Larson was fastest in both rounds of qualifying at Sonoma, which for the first time since 1997 will feature the full 2.52-mile circuit instead of the abbreviated 1.99-mile circuit.

“We get the pole and struggle in the race, so I hope its not the same for tomorrow,” said Larson, who has failed to finish inside the top-10 the last two years at Sonoma Raceway despite qualifying on the pole both times. “Cool to get a third pole here in a row here at my home track. Thanks to Credit One Bank, all my guys for preparing another fast race car.

“We’ll see if we can try and do a little better tomorrow than we typically do in the races.”

Chase Elliott, who earned his first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series victory last year on the road course at Watkins Glen Int’l, qualified fourth. Daniel Suarez will start fifth in his Stewart-Haas Racing Ford.

Toyota/Save Mart 350 Starting Lineup:

1. Kyle Larson
2. William Byron
3. Joey Logano
4. Chase Elliott
5. Daniel Suarez
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Kyle Busch
8. Martin Truex Jr.
9. Ryan Blaney
10. Chris Buescher
11. Jimmie Johnson
12. Alex Bowman
13. Michael McDowell
14. Clint Bowyer
15. Aric Almirola
16. Kurt Busch
17. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
18. David Ragan
19. Matt DiBenedetto
20. Ryan Preece
21. Ryan Newman
22. Brad Keselowski
23. Kevin Harvick
24. Paul Menard
25. Daniel Hemric
26. Austin Dillon
27. Corey LaJoie
28. Matt Tifft
29. Parker Kligerman
30. Bubba Wallace
31. Ty Dillon
32. Erik Jones
33. Justin Haley
34. Cody Ware
35. Landon Cassill
36. J.J. Yeley
37. Kyle Weatherman (To Be Replaced by Ross Chastain)
38. Reed Sorenson

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – One year ago, Wisconsin-based Pabst Racing claimed the pole position for both Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship races at Road America, only to fall short of the victory on each occasion.

Saturday’s Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America Powered by Elite Engines turned out better for the local team as New Zealand’s Hunter McElrea worked his way past pole-sitting teammate Colin Kaminsky and went on to score his maiden victory.

Kaminsky chased home for the best result of his career to date, while Cameron Shields followed up his own spectacular maiden victory in the most recent race at the Lucas Oil Raceway oval by completing the podium for Newman Wachs Racing.

The leading pair quickly separated themselves from the main pack after an incident at the first corner saw contact between several cars as they jostled for position. Second and fourth-fastest qualifiers Alex Baron and Darren Keane were the biggest losers. Keane rejoined a distant last after he was sent spinning off the road, while Baron incurred two flat tires and bodywork damage which sent him to the pits and out of contention.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Denmark’s Christian Rasmussen emerged in third place having started in seventh. Behind him at the end of the first lap were a squabbling pack comprising Mexico’s Manuel Sulaiman, Shields and championship leader Braden Eves, who had started eighth for Cape Motorsports.

Kaminsky maintained his lead for the opening two laps, but McElrea remained glued to his gearbox, anxiously looking for a way past. A fast exit from Turn 14 at the end of the second lap gave him the chance to tow up alongside Kaminsky on the front straight and make the decisive pass into turn one. McElrea never looked back, inching away little by little to take the flag fully 3.5352 seconds to the good.

“This feels like an entire elephant off my back – maybe two,” said McElrea. “This is what you work for, these moments. I knew I had the guys behind me to do it, it was just a matter of time. I’ll remember this day for the rest of my life. I’m so glad to bring this result to Augie and the team, they deserve it. We’re really a family-based team so to get this result in the team’s backyard is just unbelievable. It was great to get a win but to have Colin P2 made it that much better. We’re teammates and we had pace on the field, so our plan was to work together so we could pull away before we battled. We showed each other respect and once I had the lead it was just about extending the gap. It was a straightforward race which is what you always dream about.”

Rasmussen was shuffled back to sixth after the first few laps, where he remained until just two laps shy of the finish when he was punted from behind in the braking area for turn 12 by DEForce Racing’s Jak Crawford. A subsequent 30-second penalty dropped Crawford from seventh to 14th in the final results.

Sulaiman ran third for a while before being demoted firstly by Shields and then by Eves, who continued their battle to the finish line, separated by less than half a second and having closed up almost onto the tail of second-place finisher Kaminsky in the closing stages.

Brazilian Bruna Tomaselli, the only female in the field, also drove a strong race by rising from 11th on the grid to sixth, making several incisive passes as the race progressed.

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – The future of the NTT IndyCar Series was on full display in Saturday’s Fast Six qualifications at Road America.

The battle for the pole for Sunday’s REV Group Grand Prix at Road America came down to a battle between 27-year-old Alexander Rossi and 19-year-old Colton Herta.

Rossi made two attempts during the final 8-minute round of qualifications while Herta chose to wait it out and make one fast attempt. By the time the session was completed, it was Herta who claimed the pole with a fast time of 1:42.9920 around the 4.014-mile, 14-turn Road America road course for a speed of 140.306 mph, becoming the youngest pole winner in Indy car history in the process.

“We’ve been so fast all weekend, and this is the cherry on top,” Herta said afterwards. “Alex has been a great teammate for me, and all of the Andretti drivers have been great to work with.”

It was the first pole for Harding Steinbrenner Racing and Herta, who is 19 years and 83 days old. Graham Rahal was previously the youngest pole winner in Indy car history. Rahal was 20 years and 90 days old in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 2009, one year after he became then youngest race winner on the same track.

Rossi’s fastest lap was 1:43.1693 (140.065 mph) in the closing stages of the final round of qualifications. Rossi believes he drove as good a lap as the car could give him, but the competition level in the series is so high at the moment, it takes a perfect lap to win the pole in this format.

“It’s what we have week-in and week-out and requires perfection from the team and the driver,” Rossi said. “Colton did a good job, but it’s unfortunate I didn’t get that point for the pole. But we’re still ahead of Josef Newgarden and hopefully we keep it that way on Sunday.”

Rossi was referring to Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, the current leader in the NTT IndyCar Series standings by 25 points over Rossi.

Team Penske’s Will Power was third at 1:43.3749 (139.786 mph), followed by Newgarden at 1:43.6036 (139.478 mph). Rahal was fifth at 1:43.8076 (139.204 mph) followed by his teammate Takuma Sato’s 1:43.8790 (139.108 mph).

“As per usual, it was a pretty competitive session,” Rossi said. “I don’t think we went in expecting anything less.

“Ultimately, we came up a little bit short. I think we were 1/10th or 2/10ths off all session. We have to look into that, see how we can improve for tomorrow.

“I don’t know that it’s any different here than other places. There’s just probably more dramatic camera angles and shots here than others. You have to push every lap. It’s really no different today. I think we had a good lap in the first round, made some changes that maybe weren’t ultimately the best.

“Regardless, we’re on the front row. We’ll take it. We’re ahead of our championship competitors. Hopefully that’s a good omen for tomorrow.”

At 19, Herta is still just a kid, but drives with all of the racing savvy of a proven veteran. He became Indy car’s youngest winner when he was a week shy of his 19th birthday with the win in the IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas on March 24.

Now, he is the youngest pole winner in Indy car history.

“I think we’ve been in the Fast Six quite a bit and we’ve tried these different tire strategies,” Herta explained. “Some were successful, some weren’t. This time we stayed solid on not going out and just doing two laps on our best set of Reds.

“I’ve had plenty of practice this year to do these one-lap, fast-lap type qualifying. I don’t think it was a lack of experience. I’ve had plenty of experience from this year already.

“We had a clear plan on what we were going to do. I’m glad we stuck to it because it was the right one.”

For complete qualifying results, advance to the next page.

MADISON, Ill. – Michael Self will start Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway from the pole after setting the fastest time in the lone practice.

The weather in metro St. Louis finally cleared and allowed ARCA teams to get on the track for an hour of practice for Saturday night’s Day to Day Coffee 150. Series championship leader Michael Self led the incident-free session with a lap of 33.105 seconds at 135.931 mph and, per the ARCA Menards Series rule book, will start from the General Tire Pole for Saturday night’s race.

Self’s Venturini Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes was second fastest in practice and will start alongside on the front row. Eckes’s fast lap was 33.125 seconds at 135.849 mph. Sixteen-year-old Corey Heim timed in third fastest in practice, followed by Chandler Smith and Bret Holmes.

Sam Mayer, Tanner Gray, Ty Gibbs, Drew Dollar and Travis Braden completed the top-10.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The Toronto Maple Leafs found a taker for veteran center Patrick Marleau's contract, but it cost them a first-round draft pick.

The Leafs moved Marleau to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday morning, along with a conditional first-round pick and a seventh-round pick, both in the 2020 NHL draft. The Hurricanes sent back a sixth-round pick in the 2020 draft.

The condition on the first-rounder is that if the Leafs' pick is in the top 10 in 2020, the Hurricanes will instead receive Toronto's first-rounder in 2021.

Marleau had to waive his no-move clause for the deal.

Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas on Thursday said the Leafs were trying to "accommodate" the 39-year-old center. Marleau's family recently moved back to the San Jose area, where he spent the first 19 years of his career, and Marleau put his Toronto home up for sale.

The expectation is that the Hurricanes will buy out the remaining year of his contract, making him a free agent and setting up a potential return out west at a much lower salary.

He has a cap hit of $6.25 million; because his contract was signed as an over-35 player, the full hit will count against the Carolina cap. Even after the Marleau trade, the Hurricanes have over $21 million in open cap space, but with 15 players under contract.

The cap situation for the Leafs just improved mightily. With over $14 million open, and more moves potentially on the way, Toronto is in a much better position to re-sign restricted free-agent forwards Andreas Johnsson, Kasperi Kapanen and especially leading scorer Mitch Marner.

The negotiations between Toronto and Marner have been contentious, with leaks to the media indicating they are far apart on money and term. Dubas has said that if Marner seeks out an offer sheet from another team to set his price with the Leafs, there's no guarantee Toronto would match.

"I don't think there's any fear in addressing it. If it happens, it happens," Dubas said. "It's been clear to all that it's going to be where they're at. Where they fit in our internal economics, we'll see. I hope it never comes to that. But I also don't think it benefits to shy away from the fact that it may happen."

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The Tampa Bay Lightning earned a little breathing room under the NHL salary cap by shipping forward J.T. Miller to the Canucks on Saturday.

Miller was moved for goalie Marek Mazanec, a third-round pick in the 2019 draft and a conditional first-round pick in either 2020 or 2021. Tampa Bay used the third-rounder on Swedish goaltender Hugo Alnefelt.

The 26-year-old Miller is signed through 2023 at a $5.25 million cap hit annually. The Lightning had just under $5.9 million in cap space before the deal.

Miller is a versatile player who plays all three forward spots. He scored 13 goals and 34 assists with Tampa Bay last season, his second with the Lightning after being shipped there from the New York Rangers in 2018 in the Ryan McDonagh trade.

The move opens up cap space for the Lightning, who have 17 players under contract for next season. The highest priority is to re-sign standout center Brayden Point this summer. Point, 23, is a restricted free agent coming off a season of 41 goals and 51 assists.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The NHL salary cap for next season has been set at $81.5 million, which is $1.5 million lower than initially projected.

The league and the NHL Players' Association announced the figure Saturday, a day before teams can begin meeting with prospective unrestricted free agents ahead of the signing period opening July 1.

The cap rose by $2 million from last season, though teams at or near the maximum were counting additional room in order to sign or re-sign players.

The cap crunch was notable in leading to several teams shedding high-priced salaries during the second and final day of the NHL draft Saturday. The most high-profile trade involved Nashville dealing defenseman P.K. Subban to New Jersey.

The New Jersey Devils and Nashville Predators kicked off the second day of the 2019 NHL draft with a bang, as the electrifying P.K. Subban finds a new home in the Metropolitan Division.

The deal:

Devils get: D P.K. Subban
Predators get: D Steve Santini, D Jeremy Davies, 2019 second-round pick (No. 34 overall), 2020 second-round pick

New Jersey Devils: B+