Johnson handed chance to impress
SAM JOHNSON will have an opportunity to push himself into contention for a place in the Scotland side which will take on Wales in the long- awaited final match of Scotland’s 2020 Six Nations campaign in Llanelli next Saturday, when he lines up for Glasgow Warriors against the Ospreys at the Liberty Stadium this evening.
The centre has not played any competitive rugby since the end of lockdown in midAugust due to a knee injury, and despite taking a full part in training with the national squad this week, Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend decided it was too soon to throw him into last night’s Autumn Series opener against Georgia.
The Australian- born 27- yearold was released instead back to his club in order to get some valuable game- minutes under his belt, and with Warriors head coach Danny Wilson naming a dangerous looking back- line, Johnson will be hopeful that his forwards manage to secure enough front- foot ball for him to state his case for an international recall next weekend.
“Sam hasn’t played for something like eight months so it is his first game back, but we all know what an exciting, quality rugby player he is,” said Wilson. “Having him is a real plus and we’ve also got Nick Grigg and Huw Jones released from Scotland in the back- line so that’s great.
“The two wingers are the same as last week but we have a different nine and 10 in Jamie
Dobie, who is a really exciting youngster at scrum- half, and Pete Horne, who brings a lot of experience at stand- off.”
With Scott Cummings and Rob Harley both away on international duty, and Leone Nakarawa injured, 23- year- old Hamish Bain will make his first appearance at this level, having spent the last two seasons playing third tier French rugby with SRU partnership club Stade Nicois.
Meanwhile, Edinburgh have addressed their shortages at lock by signing Andries Ferreira on a one- year deal. The 30- yearold South African, who had been linked with the capital club for some time, previously worked under head coach Richard Cockerill at Toulon.
( v Ospreys at Liberty Stadium, Saturday 5.30pm): H Jones; T Seymour, N Grigg, S Johnson, R Tagive; P Horne, J Dobie; A Seiuli, G Turner, D Rae, H Bain, R Gray, R Wilson, T Gordon, T Ioane. Substitutes: G Stewart, A Allan, E Pieretto, F Lokotui, C Fusaro, S Kennedy, B Thomson, N Matawalu.
D Evans; M Protheroe, S Williams, K Williams, L Morgan; S Myler, R MorganWilliams; R Jones, D Lake, M Fia, A Beard, B Davies, O Cracknell, D Lydiate ( C), J King. Substitutes: S Otten, G Thomas, T Botha, W Griffiths, S Cross, H Morgan, J Thomas, T Thomas- Wheeler.