WE have often bemoaned a lack of international opportunity afforded to our top players over the past couple of decades and Jordan Rhodes’s Scotland situation is no different.

Having been bizarrely frozen out by Gordon Strachan despite being one of - if not the - highest scoring Scottish strikers in domestic football, he was finally called up to his national squad for the recent round of Euro 2016 qualifiers.

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However he was only used as a second half substitute in Scotland’s 1-0 win over Northern Ireland and came on around the same time in the 6-1 drubbing of Gibraltar.

The latter came after Strachan said in a Scottish newspaper that the game against Gibraltar was his chance to shine.

According to Strachan: “Jordan is probably the best out-and-out goalscorer we have.

“We’ve evolved since he was last in the squad and although he hasn’t evolved with us, Jordan has the intelligence to get better all the time.

“He will find it easier playing with us now than it was two years ago.

“This could be the right type of game for a few players.”

Strachan has previously said he did not pick Rhodes because he felt he couldn’t operate as a lone striker.

So why is it when he plays two up front against a team full of amateurs he still refuses to give our top striker a full game?

But it isn’t the first time we have been left scratching our heads at the inability of international bosses to pick a player who shines for Rovers.

Chris Sutton was a shining example when he was one of the country’s top scorers yet was only picked for the England B team.

His refusal to play possibly wasn’t the best reaction to that situation, but it was an insult to a man that, at the time, was at the top of his game and firing Rovers to a top six finish in the Premier League.

It took a £17million move to Manchester United for Phil Jones to get an England call-up, although he has never played as well as he did in a Rovers shirt. Matt Jansen should have gone to the World Cup in 2002 but was left behind, David Dunn never got a proper chance and Paul Robinson was overlooked in favour of Rob Green in 2008 despite regaining his form having moved to Rovers.

I don’t want to start screaming conspiracy theories but I bet if some of those players who have been overlooked in previous years were plying their trades at London clubs they would have been a shoo-in for an international call-up.