Six changes as Scotland name team for Springboks
Head Coach Gregor Townsend today named six personnel changes to the starting Scotland side to face South Africa in this Saturday’s Autumn Test match at BT Murrayfield.
The home side last faced the Springboks in the Pool rounds of Rugby World Cup 2015, losing 36-14 at St James’ Park in Newcastle, with the 2010 Autumn Tests the most recent home success on a day where stand-off Dan Parks kicked all of Scotland’s points to win 21-17.
The return of Glasgow Warriors centre Huw Jones is the only change to the back division, with Scotland’s pack featuring the remaining five.
London Irish prop Gordon Reid is set for his first involvement in the autumn campaign as the starting loosehead, with the remaining four those rotated or rested for last weekend’s home win over Fiji.
Vice captain Stuart McInally (hooker) and lock Jonny Gray return from the bench to start once more, while second-row Ben Toolis and back-row Hamish Watson come back into the match-day squad to start.
The final change to the pack is a positional switch for last Saturday’s man-of-the-match winning debutant, Sam Skinner, who starts in the blind-side flank position where he finished the Fiji Test, having started at lock.
Head Coach Gregor Townsend – Assistant Coach at the time of the 2010 win – said: “South Africa have made a lot of improvements over the last three or four months, beating the All Blacks in New Zealand and putting in an 80-minute performance to defeat France in Paris, which underlines their quality.
“Their traditional strength has always been their physicality and this remains a key point of difference for them. We expect them to be confrontational and powerful in their ball carrying, their defence and also at set-piece time. It will be a great challenge for our forward pack in particular.
“South Africa have always had a smart kicking game with an excellent chase but what we’ve seen over the past few months is an ambition to move the ball from counter attack and a push to get their forwards passing the ball more.
“Our defence will have to be strong to nullify this ambitious attacking game plan.
“We’re looking forward to playing one of the best teams in the world and playing once more in front of a sell-out crowd at BT Murrayfield.”
Tighthead prop Willem Nel, back-row Ryan Wilson and wing Tommy Seymour – who scored a hat-trick against Fiji – are the only three players named to start at third consecutive Test match this autumn.
Seymour joins full-back Start Hogg and wing Sean Maitland – who scored his fourth consecutive try in a BT Murrayfield Test – in the back-three, at centre Pete Horne is named alongside returning clubmate Jones, while half-backs Greig Laidlaw and Finn Russell feature once more.
Scrum-half Ali Price returns to the Scotland squad for the first time since starting against Wales, on the bench.
Back-row Matt Fagerson has not recoveed sufficiently from the dead leg he sustained against Fiji to feature against South Africa.
Scotland team to play South Africa at BT Murrayfield
Saturday 17 November (kick-off 5.20pm).
15. Stuart Hogg VICE CAPTAIN (Glasgow Warriors) – 63 caps
14. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 45 caps
13. Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) – 17 caps
12. Pete Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 37 caps
11. Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 35 caps
10. Finn Russell (Racing 92) – 38 caps
9. Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Clermont Auvergne) – 64 caps
1. Gordon Reid (London Irish) – 32 caps
2. Stuart McInally VICE CAPTAIN (Edinburgh) – 20 caps
3. Willem Nel (Edinburgh) – 24 caps
4. Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) – 13 caps
5. Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 45 caps
6. Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs) – 1 cap
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh) – 21 caps
8. Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 39 caps
Substitutes:
16. Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 36 caps
17. Allan Dell (Edinburgh) – 15 caps
18. Simon Berghan (Edinburgh) – 12 caps
19. Josh Strauss (Sales Sharks) – 15 caps
20. Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh) – 4 caps
21. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 18 caps
22. Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps
23. Chris Harris (Newcastle Falcons) – 5 caps
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood 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.
30 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.
9 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.
30 Go to comments