19 unavailable, 7 uncapped and a once-tarnished player - Scotland's squad analysed
When you plug John Hardie’s name into Google, a flurry of news stories and blaring headlines populate your screen, few of them flattering. The Scotland flanker’s name will forever be attached to controversy, talk of drug use and disciplinary sanctions.
While playing for Edinburgh in November 2017, Scottish Rugby suspended Hardie for what it called “gross misconduct”. The ban was widely attributed to his alleged use of cocaine. Those allegations have never been officially confirmed but neither the player nor the governing body has done anything to deny them.
Hardie endured a bruising year. Edinburgh let him go when his contract expired last summer. Clermont took him on trial but a back complaint meant no offer was forthcoming from the French giants, and it wasn’t until October that Newcastle Falcons gave him the chance to play again.
The New Zealander is soaring now at Kingston Park, his rugby at last generating more copy and greater attention than his misdemeanours. He has recently penned a new two-year deal and he is back to his awesome best on the open-side flank, the torpedo tackler and turnover fiend who first arrived on these shores three-and-a-half years ago.
His reward? A return to the Scotland squad and the very tangible possibility of ending his 20-month wait for a 17th cap during the Six Nations Championship.
Gregor Townsend can usually count on a formidable back-row contingent but even with Hardie’s resurrection, the continued absence of John Barclay leaves a gaping hole in the pool of loose forwards he named on Wednesday. The stricken captain brings street-smarts and brilliance in spades and in this cruellest of tournaments, Scotland will miss him dearly.
Their injury list is long and bears some star names. Nineteen men are unavailable, among them Fraser Brown, Zander Fagerson, Richie Gray, Mark Bennett and Duncan Taylor – all of whom you’d fancy to be in the squad if fit and producing anywhere near their best stuff.
Where Townsend is most short of battle-hardened options is in the front-row. Brown and George Turner are out, at least for the first game or two, so the coach will be praying no mishaps befall the irrepressible Edinburgh hooker Stuart McInally.
In naming three uncapped players and McInally ahead of record appearance holder Ross Ford, he has probably signalled the end of the great Kelso man’s international career. Ford is one of the most diligent and dedicated players around, a tremendous servant to the Scottish game. He has racked up 110 caps and is one of the last Scots to feature in a Lions Test. But he will be 35 in April – with Edinburgh poised to recruit another hooker and his contract expiring in the summer, his days look numbered.
One of the trio of rookies – Dave Cherry of Edinburgh, Glasgow’s Grant Stewart or Leicester Tiger Jake Kerr – will be on the bench against Italy on 2 February. Between them this season, the three new boys have only nine club starts across their league and European competitions and the challenge will be mighty for whichever of them gets the nod.
The prop situation is less troubling, with Simon Berghan, WP Nel and uncapped D’arcy Rae available on the tight-head side, covering Fagerson’s absence. But you feel Townsend would prefer to have a more seasoned, strong-scrummaging loose-head at his disposal than Alex Allan, Jamie Bhatti or Allan Dell. Certainly, had South African Oli Kebble served his eligibility period, he’d be in pole position to start in a couple of weeks’ time.
Unusually for a Townsend squad, there is no stunning, journalist-confounding curveball. Gary Graham, whom it seems is now decidedly Scottish, is in. Henry Pyrgos and Duncan Weir would have brought control and intelligence to the squad but neither half-back’s omission is particularly shocking, even with Adam Hastings faltering at Glasgow. Much less surprising is the absence of centre Alex Dunbar, struggling for form and facing an uncertain future with his Glasgow deal up in the summer.
No-one doubts Dunbar’s fantastic qualities as a player but it has been a long time indeed since he sustained a run of fitness and good rugby. One of Warriors’ top earners, it seems unlikely he will be offered a new contract, especially one that matches his current terms. Glasgow forked out a lot of cash – by their standards – to retain Huw Jones and also gave Sam Johnson a new deal last month. With Pete Horne, Nick Grigg and the burgeoning Stafford McDowall on the books, Dunbar could soon be searching for a new club.
The Australian Johnson would be an international by now had injury not doused his chances of featuring in November. Townsend and Dave Rennie rate him extremely highly for his tackle-breaks, distribution, defensive “brutality” and leadership.
The last potential debutant is Edinburgh’s Chris Dean, a quietly excellent performer for some time who presumably edged out colleague James Johnstone for a midfield berth. Add Johnson, Dean and Newcastle’s versatile Chris Harris to the effervescent Nick Grigg, canny Pete Horne and blockbuster Huw Jones, and Scotland’s centre stocks are in rude health. They would be ruder still were Matt Scott, Taylor and Bennett fit.
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Greig Laidlaw is again named captain and Finn Russell, dazzling for Racing 92, will be the starting fly-half. Adam Hastings is navigating his maiden season as a first-choice 10 and has recently encountered some choppy waters at Glasgow.
Outside Russell and whichever two centres he plumps for against Italy, Townsend can call upon some wonderful strike-runners. Stuart Hogg, Blair Kinghorn, Sean Maitland, Tommy Seymour and Lee Jones are all available, but young Darcy Graham is in with a fantastic chance of a start.
Graham oozes Borders toughness. The little Hawick dynamo is a ferocious competitor who punches well above his modest frame and runs as if canisters of nitrous oxide were strapped to his boots.
In Edinburgh’s last two matches, wins against Toulon and the Southern Kings, he has made a combined total of 189m, five clean breaks and beaten 12 defenders. In the two before that, back-to-back derby victories over Glasgow, he made 94m, two more clean breaks and beat two additional would-be tacklers.
Graham is the sort of unflinching character Scotland need in greater numbers. To take the next step and become a credible title contender, they need more nastiness, more ruthlessness, more of the snarl and contempt that fuel Ireland and their surge to greatness.
Scotland have beaten every team in the Six Nations at Murrayfield in the past two championships but they need to get better away from Edinburgh, for their tournament form on the road has long made for grim reading.
Only a 79th-minute Laidlaw penalty thwarted Conor O’Shea’s swashbuckling Italy in Rome a year ago. Scotland last won in Cardiff in 2002. They’ve beaten Ireland in Dublin once in the last 10 attempts. Their most recent victory in Paris came three years earlier. And not since 1983 have they toppled England, the auld enemy, at Twickenham.
The prevailing wisdom used to be that Scotland’s best chance of a championship tilt came when the fixtures pitted them against England and France at home and their Celtic rivals away. That no longer rings true – partly because of Scotland’s barren away record, and partly because there is so little to choose between Ireland, England and Wales on home soil.
The Six Nations is always unrelentingly brutal, but this year could be the most keenly-contested for many a moon. Ireland are the defending champions, Grand Slam winners last year, the form side in world rugby and conquerors of the All Blacks. Wales are third in the world rankings, a place behind them, after beating Australia and South Africa in the autumn and resurgent England are one spot further back. Each nation has a frightening array of talent and depth that Scotland are still trying to develop.
When the chips are down, where do Townsend’s men rank among these heavyweights? Missing Barclay and his chums, are they good enough to go toe-to-toe with this lot? Ireland visit Murrayfield in the second round of fixtures – a mountainous test and a match that will tell us much about where Scotland are and how far they have to go.
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Comments on RugbyPass
I certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
2 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to commentsRyan Coxon has been very impressive considering he was signed by WF as injury cover whilst Uru has been a standout for QR, surprised neither of those mentioned
3 Go to comments