The Townsend promise about selection for Scotland versus Georgia
Scotland boss Gregor Townsend has insisted he will not wrap his key players in cotton wool for his team’s last Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Georgia. The Murrayfield clash takes place on Saturday 26 August, just a week before the Scots fly out to tournament hosts France and a fortnight prior to their opening match against South Africa in Marseille on September 10.
Townsend has already had fitness concerns around Jamie Ritchie, Ben White and Duhan van der Merwe this summer, while Zander Fagerson picked up a two-game suspension following his red card in the recent Test at home to the French.
The peril of playing warm-up matches ahead of the World Cup was best highlighted last weekend when French fly-half Romain Ntamack was ruled out of the tournament after damaging his anterior cruciate ligament in a fiercely-contested showdown with the Scots in Saint-Etienne.
Despite the risks, Townsend feels there is more benefit to be gained from getting his strongest players as much game time as possible ahead of the tournament.
“It would be nice to have another two or three games before the World Cup but the reality is we have to be at our best in three and a half weeks’ time (for South Africa) and we are getting closer to that,” he said.
“We will be going strong against Georgia. The more our strongest group of players get to play together, the better we will be for that South Africa game. The players want that too. Everybody wants to play that Georgia game.
“We understand there will be a group of players who haven’t played much rugby going into the World Cup but our goal will be to get that group that is most likely to be involved against South Africa to get those connections in a Test match environment.
“The players have been magnificent in training but training doesn’t replicate what you are going to get in a game. The Georgia game will be very important for us in how we continue to improve and progress before we play South Africa.”
Townsend named his final 33-man squad on Wednesday and is encouraged by the quality and attitude of the personnel within it. “We are delighted with it,” he said. “It’s great that so many players are available for this World Cup. We had real long debates when we moved our 41 down to 37 and then 37 to 33.
“We know there are some really good players who have missed out on the squad but the ones here are in great physical shape. They are going to drive us forward and their form is growing as we start the season.”
When it was put to him that the current Scotland squad is widely deemed to be the strongest ever, Townsend said: “It’s hard to say. Some of those World Cup squads have been pretty impressive, especially the one in 1991.
“All I can say is it’s the best group I have ever worked with (as a coach) in terms of what they are producing on the training field and that includes time I spent with Glasgow, Scotland over the past six years and also in my short time with the Lions.
“They are delivering every day a game that stresses them in terms of the skills and fitness involved. We are starting to see that transfer into the games.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 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 …
31 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
4 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!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 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 comments