If Brough had said, "I'm not Scottish, I'm English, and despite missing out so far, I'm absolutely desperate to force myself in to the reckoning for the England team and fulfill a lifelong dream of representing my nation in a World Cup, and I'm prepared to get my head down and perform to the best of my ability each week to reach this goal" do you think McNamara would still be ignoring him after this season? Do you think his flitting between nations and throwing his toys out of the pram when not selected rather than adopting this committed approach harmed his chances of selection?
Either way, it's somewhat tragic that arguably the two most naturally skillful halves of the last 20 years (Briers and Brough), have both not represented England/GB in a major international, whilst solid pros such as Orr, Horne, Tony Smith, Deacon etc have all had a chance.