THE LAST PIECE OF THE PUZZLE
RUGBY SPECIAL Townsend backs new faces to make things click as Scots gear up for crucial Six Nations
AT a time when so much focus has rightly turned to matters of high finance and questionable value for money, Gregor Townsend simply cannot afford to be distracted.
Whatever anyone else may say about SRU chief executive Mark Dodson’s earnings doubling to nearly a million pounds last year, however the head coach himself may feel about such largesse, his job remains straightforwardly simple. But no less difficult than ever.
And, for good or ill, he’s clearly intent on doing no more than tweaking Plan A. Retaining the same all-action approach that can — when it all clicks — leave opponents as breathless as spectators.
Heading into this Six Nations on the back of a dismal World Cup showing, Townsend’s Scotland desperately need to improve; the much-changed squad named for the Championship signalled an acceptance of that fact. On top of bringing in new assistants Steve Tandy and Peter de Villiers, both of whom should make the Scots tougher, harder to beat, more gnarly and downright nasty in defence, the invitations extended to six uncapped players — plus a scattering of recalled talents — are intended to raise standards.
The Scotland team of 2020 won’t be radically different in terms of style, according to Townsend. But, having unearthed more players capable of putting his tactics into practice, he certainly hopes that they perform with a good deal more substance.
Townsend offered ‘apologies in advance’ on taking his seat at Murrayfield yesterday, explaining that he would answer any and all questions about his team, the opposition, the Six Nations or even the World Cup — but couldn’t touch the topic of executive salaries, deeming the subject ‘not my area of expertise’.
Concentrating on areas covered by his job remit, Townsend (below) explained that the 38-man squad — effectively covering the trip to Dublin and visit of England in weeks one and two of the Championship — was the product of a ‘review’ into what had happened in 2019.
‘First of all, we review ourselves,’ said the former Glasgow coach. ‘How can I get better as head coach, how can we get better as a coaching team? What players will help us improve and reach our potential?
‘We just want to be better. Whether it will be different… there are certain fundamentals we think we have to put in our game to put teams under pressure.
‘We want to be more consistent, we need to be tougher to beat and we know that. But where we feel we can beat teams is around our effort, our skill, our speed. And some of the players who are coming into our group now help us, even more, to achieve those goals than before.
‘We have backs who are playing really well in attacking rugby, we have forwards who are ball carriers with really explosive ability.
‘Some of them haven’t played Test rugby before, so they have to get used to that. But, with the personnel we have available, we feel we can really move on our attacking game. And we know we have to make a shift in being tough to beat.’ Townsend can’t be seen to express anything other than confidence in his squad, of course. On the back of a World Cup where the Scots were mullered by the Irish and humiliated by the host nation, why should anyone outside the camp share in his optimism? Listening to him go through each of the half-dozen new faces called into the squad, ranging from a lock
capable of ‘Jonny Gray levels’ of tackling, to ‘the fastest forward in the Scottish game’, his enthusiasm can still be infectious.
The same positivity surrounds the former playmaking risk-taker when he insists that old-timers in this group, among them Richie Gray and Ryan Wilson, remain enthusiastic reserves, who may be called up in a heartbeat.
Detailing the fresh influx of talent he expects to shine over the coming weeks and months, Townsend even laid out the individual qualities of his six uncapped wonders. ALEX CRAIG (Gloucester, lock/back row)
‘We visited Gloucester about six weeks to two months ago now — and Alex had just come off the bench. The coaches talked highly of him. They felt like he’d been training really well but just hadn’t had an opportunity.
‘Then, over the next four or five games, he got the opportunity — and was outstanding.
‘Against Connacht away, he made 28 tackles out of 28. And he went off for ten minutes for an HIA (head injury assessment). So, that was up at 30-plus tackles. That’s Jonny Gray levels. Every time he’s played, he’s looked more confident.
‘He’s got a real explosive, dynamic quality in his ball carrying, allied to his huge work rate and that huge defence. He could have the potential to come into consideration at blindside flanker, because he’s so explosive.’ LUKE CROSBIE (Edinburgh, flanker)
‘Luke has changed physically over the last couple of years. He’s 6ft 5in, I think, or at least 6ft 4in — and 110 kilos.
‘He’s the quickest forward in Scottish rugby, very explosive over the first ten metres.
‘He’s tough, his tackle percentage is over 90 per cent. So his defence is good.
‘He is very similar to Jamie Ritchie in that he can play at 6 or 7. It’s unusual to get a 7 at his height. But he can do that role because he’s so quick and can tackle.
‘We like that fact that, when he gets the ball, he’s so athletic that he can really go at the opposition.’ RATU TAGIVE (Glasgow, wing)
‘I know him well as I signed him at Glasgow. This is his fourth season.
‘He had some adversity in his upbringing — a tough life back in Australia. But he was always looking for an opportunity.
‘He came to Glasgow on a partnership contract with Currie, got better and better with every season. He missed last year with an Achilles injury but came back strong from that. Getting into the Glasgow team was a huge step forward when you think of the wingers they have there.
‘He’s a hard-working player, who should thrive in the environment with the players he’ll have around him.’ KYLE STEYN (Glasgow, wing/ centre)
‘We brought him in to the World Cup (training) squad to look at him more as a winger, largely because of the number of centres we had and the quality there. It’s tough when you let guys go (Steyn was cut from the group who travelled to Japan) when they’ve done nothing wrong.
‘But we know he can play well at centre. He has played mainly on the wing this season — and played well. He works hard on his game, so things like high-ball catching, contact work, you see the improvements month to month. He’s a really professional player.’ TOM GORDON (Glasgow, flanker)
‘We think we’ve got a potentially exceptional player. His man-of-thematch game against Edinburgh at the end of last season, in one of his first starts for Glasgow, showed there was a special player there.
‘It was a huge game, the 1872 Cup, and he was rightly player of
We want to be more consistent and we need to be tougher to beat
the match. He has a dominant tackle, really good timing, he carries the ball in two hands, has good evasion and, against Treviso, I thought he was outstanding.
‘That was one of the best club performances I’ve seen from Glasgow in the last couple of years. I’m looking forward to working with him.’
NICK HAINING (Edinburgh, back row)
‘Gavin Vaughan (Scotland performance analyst) and myself had watched him at Bristol last year and thought he was a really good player whenever he got the opportunity.
‘He has nice skills, good handling and he’s a big man. He has good footwork. He started the season well for Edinburgh.
‘He’s a skilful player, a powerful ball-carrier and a good defender. He has the attributes to do well at international level.’
Thrilled as he is by the emergence of new talent, Townsend made it clear yesterday that experienced players noticeably omitted should still expect to be part of future plans.
‘Absolutely,’ he said. ‘Ryan Wilson has been playing really well. We just feel that now is the time to look at someone else and whether they can do a better job than Ryan has done over the last few years.
‘Peter Horne is a slightly different case. He just misses out as he hasn’t been playing enough.
‘Richie Gray started the season well with Toulouse. Richie is only 29 so, if he can get good luck with injuries, then, of course, he will be back in the mix.’