The gods have bestowed Scotland with a 6'6, 106kg, exquisitely-named thoroughbred forward - Scotland's Test squad unpacked
I don’t know if Gregor Townsend is a religious man, but he might be offering a few prayers of thanks for the heavenly 6’6 106kg gift arriving on his doorstep this autumn from Gisborne, New Zealand by way of West Wales.
The rugby gods have bestowed upon him – and Scotland – Blade Thomson, an exquisitely-named thoroughbred forward who, from the top of his scrum cap to the soles of his sprawling boots looks every inch a Townsend player.
Born and raised in New Zealand, Thomson qualifies for Scotland through his grandparents. He joined the Scarlets from the Hurricanes this summer with, by his own admission, one eye on Test honours, and has already been a stupendous asset to the region.
An explosive runner and tackler with a sharp turn of pace, Thomson’s handling is delightful. He is still only 27, and the prevailing belief in New Zealand is that were it not for two serious shoulder injuries, he would be an All Black by now. At any rate, Thomson’s game intelligence is unmistakably Kiwi and a vital component of any Test-quality back-row’s arsenal.
What’s more, Scarlets are paying his salary.
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He can play at lock or on the blind-side flank, but it is at number eight where Townsend can most effectively unshackle his new breakaway.
Scotland don’t have a behemoth eight with the brains to match, the sort of hulking monster who can gobble up yards, mangle defenders and deliver clean off-loads, as Billy Vunipola, Louis Picamoles and Viliame Mata do with brutal efficiency.
Dave Denton has the size but not the guile. Matt Fagerson, a brilliant prospect at 20, has the guile but not the size. Ryan Wilson is a workhorse and a leader but he too lacks heft and is better deployed on the flank, where he can be a gleefully disruptive rascal.
Poor Josh Strauss is not so much out in the cold as frozen in a giant block of ice with the phrase “Fiji 2017” carved onto it – penance, it seems, for his performance in the Suva beating Scotland took last summer. Joking aside, he has scarcely featured for a struggling Sale Sharks side this season.
Assuming there are no shoulder relapses, in Thomson, Scotland might have found a precious alternative – a big frame with the skills and wits to propel the searing rugby that any Townsend team will play.
And forget, for a moment, Thomson’s vivid talents as a rugby player. Any person who can set foot on the paddock and deliver the sort of barnstorming stuff Thomson did for Scarlets against Ospreys days after the death of someone “very, very close” to him is a bloke of towering character.
The rangy Kiwi is the most exciting inclusion the 40-strong group Townsend has chosen to face Wales, Fiji, South Africa and Argentina, but there are others too whose allure is huge.
Townsend has previous when it comes to left-field call-ups. He almost seems to take pleasure in pulling Scottish-qualified rabbits from hats, simply to mystify journalists. Certainly, he was chuckling as a frantic Scottish press pack burned through enough mobile data to keep the population of Luxembourg online for a month, desperately Googling the name “Sam Skinner”.
What the virtual trawling indicated was an extremely shrewd selection. Another formidable athlete. Another leader, playing in a highly successful Exeter Chiefs team, coached by the highly respected Rob Baxter. The lock is, by all accounts, a line-out geek, and Townsend was clearly pretty chuffed to have convinced him to throw his lot in with Scotland, having won England age-grade honours.
He spoke about Skinner – who is still just 23 and eligible through his father – in glowing terms, praising his set-piece nous, his “decision-making in attack and defence” and his running lines.
The Chiefs man’s emergence is all the more timely given Richie Gray, a wonderful second-row who Townsend has scarcely had a chance to utilise, is out yet again. A second back operation in a little over a year is distinctly grim news.
The third new face belongs to Sam Johnson, the direct Australian centre with excellent distribution who Townsend signed while in charge of Glasgow three years ago. His inclusion – having served his residency period – is only mildly surprising because he has not played for Warriors this season after suffering a head injury during a summer friendly.
Elsewhere, among the bruisers, Zander Fageron’s lay-off means Edinburgh trio WP Nel, Simon Berghan and Murray McCallum will compete for the tight-head berth. Scotland’s most-capped international, Ross Ford, is fit again and back in the squad as one of four hooking options. In the absence of John Barclay, another hooker, Stuart McInally is the most obvious choice of captain.
Young workhorse Jamie Ritchie will, you’d imagine, get at least one start on the open-side flank – four Tests in four weeks is too much to ask of anyone in the modern game, particularly one who plays with the ferocious effervescence of Hamish Watson.
What about the backline? There’s a lot of firepower. Boat-loads of it. Scotland won’t have Stuart Hogg, Mark Bennett or Duncan Taylor for any of the Tests – outrageously talented players logging more time on the treatment table. They will be shorn of Six Nations starters Greig Laidlaw, Finn Russell and Sean Maitland, and Premiership regulars Chris Harris and Byron McGuigan, for the first out-of-window match in Cardiff.
Still, you look at that posse of backs and purr. George Horne, Ali Price and Henry Pyrgos are terrific scrum-halves, each of whom bring different skills to the party. Adam Hastings is green, but doing a fine job as Glasgow’s new maverick pivot. Russell, their old one, is adapting very nicely indeed to life in Paris with Racing 92.
Huw Jones and Alex Dunbar could form an exhilarating centre partnership. Matt Scott is back in Edinburgh and has been an outstanding presence in Richard Cockerill’s midfield. There’s Johnson and Pete Horne to throw into the mix too. Although you feel massively for the stricken Taylor and Bennett, two men who must have smashed every mirror, booted every black cat and walked under every ladder in Scotland so wretched is their luck.
Without Hogg, Blair Kinghorn should get the chance to pit himself against new and deadly opposition, and enhance his growing reputation as a devastating attacker. More pointedly, the full-back’s defence and one-on-one tackling, an area that recent performances suggest could do with some work, will come under stern examination.
It is particularly pleasing to see Dougie Fife and Lee Jones, two wingers who have worked hard on their skills and flourished on the Sevens World Series continue to reap the rewards of their toil. For a time, each was a forgotten man. Now, both are blossoming again, better and more confident than when they won their first caps several years ago.
Scotland will face four varied and seriously dangerous teams, from the Lions of Wales to the rugby phenomenon of Fiji, the Springboks titans and Mario Ledesma’s resurgent Pumas, smarting from the shellacking Scotland inflicted upon them four months ago on their own patch.
This squad is a fascinating melting pot of narratives and opportunity. What Townsend has at his disposal, and how he chooses to configure it, will beguile. A riveting November beckons.
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?
4 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.
4 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!
4 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