'Our game plan was set for South Africa': Fully-fit Scotland squad ready to go
Gregor Townsend revealed his relief that a gruelling summer warm-up campaign has not come at a cost as he touched down in France with a fully-fit Scotland squad ready to kick-off the World Cup.
The Scots landed in Nice on Sunday evening before heading to their training base in the hills near Valbonne, just north of Cannes, to step up preparations for their opening game against South Africa in Marseille next Sunday.
Concern had surrounded free-scoring wing Darcy Graham after he missed the final warm-up match against Georgia last weekend with a thigh strain, while full-back Blair Kinghorn had also been nursing a minor issue but Townsend expects the Edinburgh pair to train fully this week.
“It’s good that we’ve got on the plane together with no injuries, which is amazing when you think back a few weeks ago when we had a squad of 41 and were reducing it to 33,” said head coach Townsend, speaking to the PA news agency upon arrival at Nice Airport.
“We thought the four games (against Italy, France home and away, and Georgia), all tough Test matches, would result in injuries to our group, which hasn’t been the case.
“I’m really pleased that those players that played in those games have been able to make it to this stage. As we currently view things, they will all be good for Sunday.
“We don’t train until Tuesday but we believe Darcy will be training fully on Tuesday and available for selection. He trained with the medics on Thursday.
“Blair’s recovered and we also expect him to train fully on Tuesday. From where I’m standing, we’ll have the full squad to pick from.”
Barring any fresh injuries in the coming days, Townsend has all but decided his starting XV to face the Springboks.
“I think I know what the XV is,” he said. “I’m just waiting until that session on Tuesday to see everybody training.
“The 23 is not decided. We’ll have a couple of meetings as coaches about what we feel is right. We’ve got individual decisions to make and then more a concept of whether it’s a 5/3 or a 6/2 bench we go for.”
Scotland are in a pool with the two highest-ranked teams in the world in the shape of Ireland and South Africa but Townsend – without stating a specific target for the tournament – believes his team are equipped to meet his “very high expectations” in France.
“My hopes are obviously very high and my expectations of this team are very high because I know they can reach them,” he said. “We are focused on getting our best performance out against South Africa.
“We’ve been talking about that for weeks and months. It’s one reason why we went strong in three of our four (warm-up) games.
“A lot of the players that will be involved at the weekend have played together and trained together and built up a cohesion.
“A lot of what we’re doing in terms of our game plan was set for South Africa, so it’s a great opportunity to see how they go.
“We know there’s some real tests ahead of us in the next few weeks but this team is ready to go.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Job done guys. Great win in a game where things can quickly go wrong.
1 Go to commentsAlex Sanderson fantastic coach and person .So pleased he has signed another contract great days ahead for Sale under his leadership.
1 Go to commentsAndy Goode cant kick to 12
162 Go to commentsDoxed himself. Great work Johnny. You are well suited to the Saders
1 Go to comments_Best game players _
1 Go to commentsWho's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
76 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
8 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
8 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
33 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
8 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
33 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
162 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
76 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
33 Go to comments