Squad
Loosehead Prop: Jamie Bhatti, Pierre Schoeman, Rory Sutherland
Hooker: Ewan Ashman, Patrick Harrison, David Cherry
Tighthead Prop: Will Hurd, Zander Fagerson, D'arcy Rae
Second Row: Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist, Cameron Henderson, Ewan Johnson, Marshall Sykes, Euan Ferrie
Back Row: Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge, Gregor Brown, Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Luke Crosbie, Jack Mann, Alexander Masibaka
Scrum-half: Ben White, George Horne, jamie Dobie
Fly-half: Fergus Burke, Fin Russell
Centre: Stafford McDowall, Rory Hutchinson, Huw Jones, Matt Currie
Back Three: Aaron Reed, Duhan van der Merwe, Blair Kinghorn, D'arcy Graham, Tom Jordan, Kyle Rowe, Ollie Smith
For the past few years Scotland have been the nearly men. It's beginning to feel like Scotland's rugby team are to the Six Nations the England football team is to major tournaments. Like that England team, this Scotland team are immensely talented but keep losing out by fine margins. This year is another in which the Scots are in with a shout but they will need to replicate their Calcutta Cup performances in the other four games in order to win the Championship.
D'arcy Graham, Duhan van der Merwe and Blair Kinghorn combine to make a back three that can rival any in the world. Fin Russell is arguably the best in the world at his position and Huw Jones is a danger at outside centre. Unfortunately for Scotland, Jones's centre partner Sione Tuipulotu suffered an injury and is unavailable for the whole tournament. This means that Stafford McDowall and Rory Hutchinson will fight it out for the inside centre position with both being capable replacements. Tom Jordan is a versatile player who has primarily played fly-half domestically but can also play fullback and inside centre. After many strong performances for Glasgow, the soon-to-be Bristol Bear is surely in line for more caps.
Perhaps the one area that Scotland struggle compared to other nations is the front row. Schoeman and Fagerson are both good starters at the level but the depth behind them is concerning. One moment that sticks out in my mind took place during the Portugal game in the Autumn Nations series. Five metres out from the Scotland line, Scotland rotated their front row and at the subsequent scrum they were completely overpowered. The Portugal scrum-half took advantage of a penalty advantage to scamper over the try line. This was a rotated Scotland team but the fact that that can happen against a tier two nation other than Georgia is incredibly concerning. This weakness has rarely hurt Scotland in the past but it may hamper their ability to dominate in the latter stages of games.
Player to watch
Fin Russell. He is the best fly-half in the world and is the key player for this team. He holds the key to a potential grandslam and will probably have to be player of the tournament for Scotland to be as successful as they want to be.
My team for the first game against Italy
1.Pierre Schoeman 2.Ewan Ashman 3.Zander Fagerson 4.Jonny Gray 5.Grant Gilchrist
6.Jamie Ritchie 7.Rory Darge 8.Matt Fagerson 9.Ben White 10.Fin Russell
11.Duhan van der Merwe 12.Stafford McDowall 13.Huw Jones 14.D'arcy Graham 15.Blair Kinghorn
16.Patrick Harrison 17.Rory Sutherland 18.Will Hurd 19.Cameron Henderson
20.Jack Dempsey 21.George Horne 22.Fergus Burke 23.Tom Jordan
Predicted finish: 4th
Add comment
Comments