Scotland hopefuls face nervous wait to discover World Cup fate
Gregor Townsend gave himself an extra 24 hours to make his mind up on the tight calls that are set to shatter eight Scotland hopefuls’ World Cup dreams.
The head coach was due to break the bad news to the players who had failed to make the cut for his 31-man squad on Sunday.
But with a number of big decisions to weigh up, he pushed his in-house reveal back to the eve of Tuesday’s public announcement ceremony at Linlithgow Palace.
Townsend has already swung the axe on Nick Grigg, Kyle Steyn, Henry Pyrgos and Gary Graham from the initial 44-man training group he selected back in May.
Lock Sam Skinner has since dropped out with a hamstring injury but that leaves the Scotland chief with a list 39 names that still requires some further trimming.
His biggest dilemma will focus on the back-row and centre positions, where Scotland’s talent pool runs deepest.
In midfield, Duncan Taylor and Sam Johnson appear World Cup certainties despite their recent injury issues.
Rory Hutchinson impressed during Saturday’s win over Georgia while Chris Harris and Pete Horne – who can also slot in at 10 – are dependable enough and both could travel if Townsend decides he does not need Adam Hastings as back up to Finn Russell at stand-off.
But Huw Jones’ prospects look decidedly less promising. The Glasgow Warrior burst onto the scene with nine tries in his first 14 appearances but he has not scored since the Calcutta Cup victory over England last year while his club form and defensive deficiencies suggest he could be the odd man out.
Continue reading below…
In the back-row, Townsend could alleviate some of the pressure on his shoulders by selecting Scarlets’ number eight Blade Thomson as Skinner’s replacement for the second-row/back-row crossover role.
That would make leaving Matt Fagerson at home alongside Josh Strauss easier to justify, with John Barclay, Hamish Watson, Jamie Ritchie and Ryan Wilson likely to be joined by Magnus Bradbury.
Prop Jamie Bhatti played himself out of contention with a ropey display against France in Nice last month, meaning Townsend is likely to take looseheads Allan Dell and Gordon Reid and the tighthead pair of Willem Nel and Zander Fagerson.
Simon Berghan will also get a seat on the plane based on his ability to cover both sides of the scrum. At hooker, Stuart McInally is a nailed-on selection, closely followed by Fraser Brown.
That leaves Townsend to opt between Brown’s Glasgow colleagues George Turner and Grant Stewart.
The second-row battle has been simplified by Richie Gray’s decision to opt out of World Cup selection.
His brother Jonny is the third player, along with Bradbury and Brown, who has missed all three warm-up games so far but it would be unthinkable if he did not travel to the Far East.
Glasgow lock Scott Cummings and Edinburgh’s Ben Toolis could battling between them to take the third slot behind Grant Gilchrist.
Scrum-halves Greig Laidlaw, Ali Price, George Horne are in the luxurious position that all three should travel, while stand-off Russell will be the first name on Townsend’s team-sheet.
In the back-three, full-back Stuart Hogg is another who is simply undroppable, while Blair Kinghorn is an able deputy who can also cover the wing.
Tommy Seymour, Sean Maitland and Darcy Graham will also hope to get the nod, which could spell bad news for Byron McGuigan.
Press Association
The Bill Ellis Podcast:
Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
17 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
17 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
7 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
7 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
17 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
17 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
7 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
17 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
17 Go to comments