Winners and losers from Gregor Townsend's Scotland squad announcement
The long-awaited and much-craved return of Finn Russell dominates the first Scotland squad announcement since the Covid-19 pandemic applied the buffers to an encouraging 2020. Russell’s poorly handed fall-out with Gregor Townsend threatened to derail the Six Nations campaign after a disastrous World Cup but the championship was an uplifting exercise in lessons learned.
With new specialist coaches, Scotland were meaner, played cannier and defended ferociously.
There were near misses against Ireland and England, but Italy and France were conquered and momentum was building for the final fixture in Cardiff before the tournament juddered to a halt.
Townsend has named two newly-eligible South Africans in an autumn group that features several typically bold selections.
Here, RugbyPass picks out the winners and losers from the 40-man squad.
Winners:
Finn Russell
Scotland will benefit immeasurably from a highly motivated and engaged Russell – which is exactly what they are getting – but the stand-off too has plenty to gain here. Russell loves playing for Scotland, and that he felt compelled to leave the team hotel on the eve of the Six Nations camp was a source of great anguish.
His form at Racing 92 has been consistently immense. He has delivered again and again in the Top 14 and in the ruthless warzone of the Champions Cup knockout phase. But you fancy Warren Gatland will want to see him bossing Test matches, particularly away from Murrayfield, if he is to start for the Lions next year.
There are few finer pivots in world rugby right now, and Russell’s return to the Scotland squad is cause for celebration.
He's back. ?https://t.co/G6gQzCjH32
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 12, 2020
Duhan van der Merwe
After Russell, the most exhilarating addition to the squad. Van der Merwe’s stats for Edinburgh are ridiculous – in last season’s Pro14, he scored seven tries, while making more metres, more clean breaks and beating more defenders than anyone else.
The winger is a titan of a man who shifts at unfathomable speed for his size. How he handles the step up to Test rugby will be fascinating. Edinburgh’s coaches have worked hard to improve his positioning and handling, and encouraged him to look for ball rather than waiting for it to come to his flank.
Van der Merwe’s weaknesses might be exposed more by international opposition than they are in the Pro14, but Scotland now have a whopping strike runner in their arsenal with enthralling potential.
Blair Cowan
Aged 34, with his most recent cap coming four years ago, Cowan must have thought his international days were done. He has been rewarded for relentlessly influential performances and impressive numbers on the open-side flank for London Irish, with his jackaling especially attractive under the new breakdown law interpretations.
Townsend was extremely taken with Cowan’s displays before lockdown and his continued proficiency since the Premiership’s restart.
Scott Steele
It will be fiendishly hard to unseat Ali Price and George Horne as the incumbent scrum-halves, but opportunities will arise in the autumn and it is up to Steele to seize them after a strong start to life at Harlequins. Townsend thinks very highly of him and seems impressed at how he had gone from contract-less at the start of the pandemic to performing well in the Premiership.
James Lang
Capped twice on a tour of the Americas over two years ago, Steel’s Quins team-mate has not been seen in a Scotland jersey since. Part of that owes to badly timed injury, but Townsend is a huge admirer of the play-maker. He might fill the second distributor role at 12 or be used off the bench as cover for both fly-half and midfield.
Oli Kebble
From the paucity of recent years, Scotland’s cup suddenly runneth over with high-calibre loose-head props. Kebble is a monstrous specimen and a hugely destructive scrummager, but also carries well and has a soft pair of hands.
Playing for Scotland was always his ultimate ambition since leaving the Stormers three years ago, and with his residency period complete, the hulking South African will challenge Rory Sutherland for a starting berth.
The loosehead, who will be available to Gregor Townsend for the first time under the residency rule, played a key role in the Warriors' 20-7 defeat of Scarlets.https://t.co/cjvYKRl7m7
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 11, 2020
Losers:
Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
A little over a year ago, Hidalgo-Clyne couldn’t make a Scarlets match-day 23. In a couple of weeks, he might very well be an English and European champion.
Rob Baxter spied in the scrum-half a brilliant operator who had, for various reasons, tumbled down the pecking order for region and country. The crispness of his passing, accurate kicking game and abrasiveness on the carry make for a rounded game, and he is blossoming anew at Exeter Chiefs.
The fact that his back-to-back final outings will prevent him training with Scotland for the first fortnight of the camp counted against him, but he could yet force his way in.
Mark Bennett & Matt Scott
An attacking fulcrum for Edinburgh, Bennett is highly experienced and excelled under Townsend at Glasgow. Finally injury-free for an extended spell, he is performing well for Edinburgh. Scott was among the club’s most effective and prominent players last term and his form has not dropped significantly in a toiling Leicester Tigers squad in transition. The sheer volume of high-quality centres with credit in the bank did for both of them.
Allan Dell
The loose-head was Scotland’s first-choice a year ago, but the emergence of Sutherland and qualification of Kebble have shunted him out of the squad. He might be aggrieved to be usurped by Jamie Bhatti, who has only played 17 minutes of rugby post-lockdown, but hasn’t done enough for London Irish to compel Townsend.
Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors
Arguably, those who suffer the greatest losses from this squad announcement are the two pro-teams who supply the vast bulk of the players.
Edinburgh and Glasgow contribute a combined 29 of the 40 men in the squad. This in itself is not unusual, and nor is it generally a massive cause for alarm. Some will be released for Pro14 duty when not involved in Test matches.
But with Scottish Rugby implementing a recruitment freeze amid the pandemic, neither side has been able to recruit as they would have liked. There are sizeable gaps in both squads. Cockerill and Danny Wilson will be left relying on kids and fringe players to plug holes and grasp opportunities.
Comments on RugbyPass
best news and very helpful
4 Go to commentsA year ago Ireland and France looked impressive. In this 6N neither looked special. Both have lost good players, but more importantly teams have figured out how to shut them down. In particular the Irish loss to a rebuilding England and the home game struggle against a brave Scotland did nothing to prove that the Irish RWC result was undeserved. If the Scots can shut down the Irish attack, then SA can do so with interest. Rassie will have watched that game with confidence. Farrell is smart, and the Irish team is talented, so we should expect a more creative game plan in SA. But if all they bring is what they showed against Scotland then Ireland is going to struggle against the Boks. It was a fun 6N tournament, but the win for Ireland was as much about weak competition as about Irish brilliance. It was mostly due to France being off the boil, Wales and Italy not being contenders, and Scotland being a home game. England are looking much better, but “much better” should not be enough to topple a team that is supposed by some to be The Best in the World. I hope that Ireland can bump it up a notch or two for the Bok tour. A year ago they were fantastic to watch. It would be great to see that again.
24 Go to commentsLooking forward to the Wallabies being competitive again. No doubt that Joe can get them back on track.
1 Go to commentsThanks, Nick, not only for this fine article, but for all the others during 6N 2024. I really enjoyed this 2024 tournament, and felt it was one of the best for many years. That final match in Lyons was really good. England were certainly unlucky when that speculative hack by Ramos lead to a French try. It could just so easily have landed in English hand.s, and they score at the other end. I did think though that the French played some great rugby, and some of their driving play in the forwards was just fearsome. I watched Meafou with interest, and he has a good start to his career. It is interesting to compare him with Will Skelton. Lot of similarities, though so far Meafou has not shown any offloading threat. All credit to Borthwick for being prepared to change, and what great result, even if that last game was lost at the death. I feel they are a real chance to cause the AB’s problems this winter/summer. Finally a comment on Ireland. I thought their last game was their worst, and they did not look like the world’s No 2 side at all. What really worries me is that the loss to England was, in my view, down to poor decision making by the coaching group, and ofc Andy Farrell wears that. It was a big mistake to move JGP away from scrum half. Murray should have been the one to go to the wing. And the “finishers” should have been on the field earlier. And this is the second time this has happened. The RWC Qf against the AB’s, and not getting Crowley onto the field was a huge mistake. Finally, finally, watching Italy play was a joy. How wonderful that they are no longer the punchbag of the 6 N.
43 Go to commentsGreat story. Rugby needs new investment in teams like Brussels another pro league in Europe would be great.
1 Go to commentsAlso, looking at the data from last year, it seemed like by far the two biggest predictors of success were (1) kicking more than your opponents, and (2) having a higher rate of line-out wins than your opponents. I haven’t gone through the stats this year with a fine tooth comb, but the increase in kicks per game and the increase in tries from lineouts would suggest that these two metrics are only getting more important. England’s move away from a kick-heavy game to win against Ireland was seen by some as evidence that running rugby is on the rise. Alternatively it could be taken as evidence that if one team kicks more, and the other team wins more lineouts (as England did) a match is bound to be close to a draw.
2 Go to commentsI have been finding it odd that points per 22 entry has become such a talked about stat, given that your points per entry can be driven down by having more entries. These data would seem to confirm that it isn’t a useful metric, or at any rate is less useful than total entries.
2 Go to commentsI think the last two games England have played is some of their best rugby they have played under Borthwick. There has been a lot more attacking instinct and as a reward have created some well worked tries. Ollie Lawrence is a good foil at 12 as he offers the hard direct lines whilst the rest of the backs can play open. As much as it pains me to say but I do hope England keep playing this way. On a side note my favourite try of the weekend was Lorenzo Pani’s for the nice loop play that put him away and his finish was excellent. Thanks as always Nick.
43 Go to commentsMost exciting player on the planet right now, worth the price of a ticket.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith and Ireland live rent free in Safa’s heads. Their comments only triggers because its true. If the Boks had dismantled a 14 man AB’s, then there would be more respect. But they didnt, in fact quite the opposite, the 14 man NZ were clearly better. And the Bok have always been ordinary between RWC’s, thats why their supporters are now ‘only RWC’s matter’. They know thats BS. Its BS to both AB’s and Bok’s due to their history. But now its all the Safas have. Now we’ll hear excuses when they lose “oh we didnt have all our players available, the ABs/France/Eng/Irel were at full strength”, forgetting for a minute that its because of their own dumb policy. Oh well, makes a change from blaming ‘cheating refs’.
24 Go to commentsNo Nick, they did not, in fact, justify any ‘probables’ label. At no time did they seriously compete for the championship. Ireland led from start to finish and in the end, as a result of glaring referee errors, were never under serious pressure to lose their crown.
43 Go to commentsMoney for him, and his family, has been the sole motivator since he signed for Queensland aged 17. Why else sign for Melbourne. Tupou is poorly advised. If he’d stayed and developed in NZ he would have had a long Test career. If Leinster offer him a few more coins than he’s currently earning, he’s goneburger.
4 Go to commentsFinn. No one would say Ford had played well up until the last game. One standout performance in 5 is hardly in form . It should be a given that a 10 will control play . Not in Fords case be praised for suddenly doing so. Where was he against Scotland ,Italy. The pundits were saying how far away from play he was standing and one even said that the Ireland game was his last chance saloon to perform . Not exactly top form catching anyones eye. If he can play like this game after game then great. Keep him in . But after 90 odd caps we all know he just doesnt keep it going . By all means keep him there but the issue is that Borthwick will persist even when he plays poorly. Which is more often than not. Thats why i am concerned that Smith ,despite fab form , cannot get a game at his preferred spot. Can you imagine Ford at full back .
5 Go to commentsI do not really get why put Ollivon at 6 when he’s a 7, while Cros was the best Frenchman of the tournament, playing at…6. His only game replacing Aldritt at 8 doesn’t change much in terms of his impact. Lamaro was also outstanding in that brilliant Italian side, probably better than Reffell. So putting 2 Welsh players from the wooden spoon holders, and none of the 4th nation (Scotland) is also strange. Is it about showing that in this harsh transition Wales is, there were some standouts…?
6 Go to commentsThe events at this year’s six nations should undermine many of the arguments made against promotion and relegation between the six nations and the REC. If Italy had been allowed to yo-yo between divisions it conceivably could have really hurt their development, but if Italy, Wales, and Scotland are all at risk of relegation, with none of them being relegated more often than once every 3 or 4 years, you’d have to back all of them to muddle on through it, especially when you factor in the likelihood they’ll still be guaranteed world league matches against tier 1 opponents. Another way of looking at italys resurgence would be to say that the development model of adding an extra team to the six nations has worked, and now must be done again. Georgia could join to make it a 7 team round robin, and if and when Georgia demonstrate an ability to consistently win games, Portugal can also be added to make it an 8 team 2 conference competition. Frankly at this point I think it falls to world rugby to demand that the 6N act in the interests of the game. If the 6N won’t commit to expansion then the 6N teams should be handicapped in world cup draws (i.e. world cup seedings would not be based on their ranking points, but on their ranking points minus a 5 point penalty).
6 Go to commentsSteve Borthwick deserves credit for releasing the shackles on his England side and letting them play in a manner that somewhat resembles the top sides in the Gallagher Premiership. Will they revert to type in New Zealand in July.?
43 Go to commentsJames Lowe wouldn't get in any other 6N team. He's a great example of Farrell’s brilliance, and the Irish system. He is slow. His footwork is poor. But he fits perfectly in that Irish system, and has a superb impact. But put him in another team, and he'll look bang average.
6 Go to commentsCrusaders reached their heights through recruitment of North Island players, often leaving those NI teams bereft of key players. Example: Scott Barrett and Sam Whitelock robbed the Canes of their lineout and AB locks. For years the Canes have struggled at lock. This rabid recruitment was iniated by rule changes by a Crusader dominated NZR Head Office. Now this aggressive recruitment has back-fired, going after young inside back Hamilton Boys stars. They now have 4 Chiefs region 10s and not one with the requisite experience at Super level. Problems of their own making!
4 Go to commentsOver rated for a long time…exposed at scrum time too.
4 Go to comments“Firing me” should have been Gatland’s answer.
2 Go to comments