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Townsend explains inclusion of van der Walt, Scotland's fifth different out-half in five matches
Scotland boss Gregor Townsend has hailed his squad’s growing depth after selecting the fifth fly-half of the autumn series in debutant Jaco van der Walt. The 26-year-old Edinburgh playmaker has completed his residency qualification and will make his Test debut against Ireland on Saturday.
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The South Africa-born star follows Finn Russell, Adam Hastings, Stuart Hogg and Duncan Weir into Scotland’s No10 role in this Autumn Nations Cup campaign and the completion of the delayed 2020 Six Nations.
Scotland will take on Ireland at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium in the third-fourth play-off, with head coach Townsend admitting he never expected to have the luxury of five options at fly-half.
“It seems like we have got more depth, I think 36 players have played in this campaign and it will be three more this weekend,” said Townsend. “So that’s a number in itself to say they have all played international rugby and we have played pretty well in this period.
“We’ll have our fifth stand-off in five games this weekend if you count Stuart Hogg’s ten or twelve minutes at Llanelli at the beginning of this campaign. So I don’t think I would ever have thought that we could have had five stand-offs playing international rugby. So there’s growing depth.
6??switches after Murrayfield loss to France #AutumnNationsCup #IREvSCOhttps://t.co/ndJsBurhm3
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 3, 2020
“We certainly have depth in one or two positions and that is very exciting to have as a coach, Second row, for example, the depth there is really impressive. And we are very aware that there are second rows playing very well outside of our group. So it’s growing but ultimately you want the top 15, 23 and probably 30 to be at a very high level. You want those two players challenging for each position to be up there with the best in the world, and we’re moving towards that. But certainly we can be better in that regard.”
Blair Kinghorn misses out due to a broken finger, while George Horne has not quite shaken off a foot issue. Hamish Watson was fit for selection but Townsend opted to shake up his back-row resources. Full-back Hogg will provide fly-half cover for van der Walt, with the Exeter star set to win his 80th cap. Van der Walt is the latest residency qualifier to make his way into Scotland’s ranks, with Townsend happy to capitalise on greater selection numbers.
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While Edinburgh’s combative playmaker could face a big challenge in acclimatising to Test rugby in Dublin, Townsend believes van der Walt boasts the physicality and skill set to thrive with Scotland. “Just getting used to international rugby will be a great experience for him, and getting used to playing with new teammates inside and outside him,” said Townsend. “And just doing what he has been doing really well for Edinburgh.
“This year and last year, he has taken his game to another level. Defensively he must be one of the best tackling stand-offs in world rugby. His passing and his kicking are at a high level. And he will just be looking at ways to best influence a defence and that will be just a little bit quicker at international level. But we have got real belief and faith in his ability and those around him to bring the best out of our backline and our team attack this weekend.”
SCOTLAND (vs Ireland): S Hogg (Exeter, captain); D Graham (Edinburgh), C Harris (Gloucester), D Taylor (Saracens), D van der Merwe; J van der Walt (both Edinburgh), A Price (Glasgow); R Sutherland (Edinburgh), F Brown, Z Fagerson, S Cummings (all Glasgow), J Gray (Exeter), B Thompson (Scarlets), J Ritchie (Edinburgh), M Fagerson (Glasgow). Reps: S McInally (Edinburgh), O Kebble (Glasgow), WP Nel (Edinburgh), S Skinner (Exeter), B Cowan (London Irish), S Hidalgo-Clyne (Exeter), H Jones (Glasgow), S Maitland (Saracens).
Episode 9 – Game Changers
We discuss the tense Wales vs England match from the weekend. Jamie reveals just how ruthless Shaun Edwards is! We speak to Mike Umaga on his son Jacob Umaga, and @OceansApartFilm !
iTunes – https://t.co/gfWdk5Vi8h
Spotify – https://t.co/JgbHP6KDdl pic.twitter.com/LF3nsAzp3c— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) December 2, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 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.
27 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.
27 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?
11 Go to comments