3 hot takes as Gregor Townsend names Scotland team to host Wales
Scotland were exceptional in attack last weekend, beating England with a heartwarming zest to register yet another Calcutta Cup victory, but Gregor Townsend knows his team must now build on that fantastic start by doubling up in the W column when much-changed Wales visit Edinburgh on Saturday. Here are three RugbyPass hot takes on the Guinness Six Nations selection announced on Thursday:
Oops!… Don’t do it again
Hard to credit that it is more than 20 years since Britney Spears was rocking the pop charts with ‘Oops!… I Did It Again’. It’s a tune that Scotland will hope won’t be messing with their heads this weekend. Twice they have beaten the English in the championship round one, twice they have demoralizingly stuffed it up the following week versus the Welsh.
Third time lucky? They will very much wish so and they have pinned their ambitions on the recalled Zander Fagerson being a charm on this occasion. It was two years ago, just seven days after Scotland had won away to England, that the tighthead endured the horrible ordeal of getting sent off and seeing his team go on to lose.
Now fit after his winter injury issues with Glasgow, Fagerson is the sole change to the starting XV that won in London and how apt would it be that his return coincides with Scotland getting that elusive win over Wales?
The inclusion of the front-rower sees WP Nel, a Twickenham starter, revert to the bench with Simon Berghan missing out. It means that Fagerson will intriguingly find himself scrummaging against Wyn Jones, the Welsh player he clattered into at the ruck to earn that infamous red card 24 months ago. Expect a fascinating head-to-head to unfold.
No handbrake, please
The approach at Twickenham was very much in the give-it-a-lash mould and two things stood out: the cojones of hooker George Turner to throw lineouts beyond his forwards at the set-piece so that players elsewhere could fasten onto the ball at speed, while all four tries were scored by backs in a variety of ways – a dinky kick through the cover, an incredible solo run, an intelligent snip around the ruck, and some brilliant end-to-end handling.
How they probed and stretched the England defence was lovely to watch and there should be no reason why Scotland can’t similarly entertain now that Townsend and co are back in front of the home fans at Murrayfield.
Scotland had no fear about taking risks at what should have been an intimidating Twickenham and while Wales, with their five changes in the pack, are coming north tooled up to play spoilsport, the effervescence in the likes of Finn Russell and Duhan van der Merwe must be allowed to prosper rather than a tighter, less risky approach getting adopted.
The Scots have shown they have the talent in abundance to entertain, so Townsend, having named 21 of the same match day 23, just needs to let them it again rather than stylishly change tack. Yes, Russell missed six tackles against England, with Sione Tuipulotu missing three in the channel outside him, but what they did on the other side of the ball more than made up for that defensive shortcoming.
Shopping local
When Townsend named his 40-man Six Nations squad in mid-January it was noticeable how 37.5 per cent of his picks – 15 players – played their club rugby outside Scotland. There were 11 attached to English Premiership teams, three to non-Scottish URC sides, and one more over in the French Top 14.
However, that beyond-borders feel to the overall squad hasn’t had as massive an impact on the actual Scotland team chosen by Townsend. Despite changing one starter and one of the bench to face the Welsh, the Scots head into round two with a match day 23 containing just five non-locally based players (21 per cent).
Instead, the dominant emphasis is on players who ply their trade at either Glasgow or Edinburgh – and the inclusion by Townsend of 18 of them must surely be viewed as a massive vote of confidence in what is being done at those two clubs.
It reinforces that a player can prosper at Test level from those Scottish franchises without having to move to England, France or elsewhere in the URC.
Scotland (vs Wales, Saturday – 4:45pm): Stuart Hogg; Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu, Duhan van der Merwe; Finn Russell, Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson, Richie Gray, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie (capt), Luke Crosbie, Matt Fagerson. Reps: Fraser Brown, Jamie Bhatti, WP Nel, Jonny Gray, Jack Dempsey, George Horne, Blair Kinghorn, Chris Harris.
Comments on RugbyPass
The shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to commentsBold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
56 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to comments