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Scotland vs Wales at Murrayfield
(Saturday, February 25, 10.25pm HKT)
James Harrington previews an intriguing match-up between the rapier-like Scots and the blunt instrument that is Wales.
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What we can expect
A rerun of Scotland’s game against France – only with the opponents in red, not (mostly) white. Wales look to have opted, once again, for the bosh. It’s not subtle and it’s not clever, but it worked for Les Bleus in disguise last week. Whether Wales can repeat France’s success is another question. The Scots – battered, bruised and weakened they may be – are wise to the tactic now. And they’re at home.
Scotland
There can be no doubt losing terrier-like captain Greig Laidlaw is a massive blow, but stand-in scrum-half Ali Price has been in rare form for an inspired Glasgow this season. Vern Cotter has made four more changes: Quins’ winger Tim Visser comes in for the injured Sean Maitland, Gordon Reid makes his first Championship start in the front row, lock John Hardie also makes his Six Nations bow, with Ryan Wilson in the back-row. John Barclay is captain in Laidlaw’s absence.
Matchday 23: Hogg, Visser, Dunbar, Jones, Seymour, Russell, Price; Reid, Brown, Fagerson, R Gray, J Gray, Barclay, Hardie, Wilson. Bench: Ford, Dell, Berghan, Swinson, Watson, Pyrgos, Weir, Bennett
Wales
George North returns to the side after missing the defeat against England with a dead leg, while pre-packaged Wales scapegoat Alex Cuthbert unsurprisingly drops out of the squad altogether. Meanwhile, Luke Charteris, 6ft 10in of raging human knotweed, makes his first appearance in this year’s Six Nations as a replacement.
Matchday 23: Halfpenny, North, S Williams, J Davies, L Williams, Biggar, Webb; Evans, Owens, Francis, Ball, Jones, Warburton, Tipuric, Moriarty. Bench: Baldwin, Smith, Lee, Charteris, Faletau, G Davies, S Davies, Roberts
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All eyes on: Stuart Hogg
Scotland’s fullback is just about the closest of anyone to being a nailed-on member of the Lions’ squad, has scored three tries in two Six Nations games. If Wales give him an inch too much space, or a fraction of a second too much time, he’ll rip them to shreds.
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Key battle: Ali Price and Finn Russell v Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar
The halfback axis is always crucial, and in Greig Laidlaw’s injury-enforced absence for Scotland, it is no surprise that Vern Cotter has opted to unite instrumental fly-half Finn Russell with his Glasgow scrum-half Ali Price. How they perform against another Pro12 club partnership – Ospreys’ Webb and Biggar – is sure to have a major impact on the game. Watch out, too, for the midfield clash of clans, as Scotland’s budding centre partnership of Huw Jones and Alex Dunbar face Scott Williams and Jonathan Davies.
Prediction
Scotland have only won once against the Welsh in 10 years. They could improve that record at Murrayfield this weekend. Scotland by 4.
Comments on RugbyPass
Oh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
1 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 commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to comments