Every spot in this team is under threat
Ruthless Toony gears up for Wales clash
GREGOR TOWNSEND has admitted every Scotland star is at risk of being ditched for the Six Nations showdown with Wales – even skipper Greig Laidlaw. The boss revealed his ruthless streak yesterday as his squad began preparations for the crucial clash at Murrayfield next Saturday. Townsend still feels the pain of defeat from events in Paris last week. And he made it clear reputations will count for nothing when he picks his lineup to face the Grand Slam-seeking Welsh. With the World Cup in Japan just six months away, Toony said: “Every position is up for grabs. “We know how much Greig cares for the Scotland team and how he is playing. Ali Price is playing well at scrum-half too and that is the competition level we want. Whether a player is the captain, vice-captain or a guy who has played for a number of years, his position will be under threat if someone else is performing.
“The public have high expectations. We’re absolutely gutted as players and coaches about the result in Paris and we are looking at how we can be better to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“From the public’s point of view, it is great people are also so disappointed because it shows they care like we do.
“We have two games left in the championship to show what we are really about.
“There has been valuable learning from the three matches already played.
“Yes, much of that is painful and it is only valuable if you put it into our next performance. I was asked a few weeks ago about selection with the World Cup in mind.
“At that time it was not a factor as we were planning to do well in the championship and win more games.
“The fact we have lost becomes another factor. We want to put our best team out to win next – but we also want to see if other players could be in the mix for the World Cup.
“That will depend on who we have coming back from injury and available. We should have more guys than we did before going to France.”
On the challenge of the unbeaten Welshmen, Townsend added: “We need to remind them what it feels like to lose.”