As five changes made from team who lost in Paris
Ireland in the 27-22 win for Scotland in the Six Nations opener at BT Murrayfield, will captain his country against Wales tomorrow. Josh Strauss, at No 8 and John Hardie preferred to Hamish Watson at openside.
Wing Sean Maitland has failed to recover from a rib injury picked up playing for his club Saracens and is replaced by Harlequins’ Tim Visser, who will be up against Lions star George North, who was declared fit and picked by Wales on Wednesday.
While the captaincy, which has gone to John Barclay, and the scrum-half decision dominated the build-up to yesterday’s team announcement, the focus quickly switched back to the scrum, which has been under pressure for long parts of the tournament so far, particularly in Paris against a mammoth French pack.
Reid will bring more of a parity in weight in his battle with visiting tighthead Tomas Francis and Cotter said: “The scrums where we have had to dig in we have done all right. We have done that under the posts against both Ireland and France where the scrum didn’t move at all.
“We don’t believe we have an inferior scrum. The scrum maybe lacks a little experience, but these guys are making up for that with the work they’re putting in. We’ve had over 100 scrums in training this week.
“We are very confident the scrum will perform this weekend and put Wales under pressure. Wales are a bigger team, they are the team with the most Test caps in the Six Nations. They are very experienced and they are powerful. Most teams look at Scotland and believe they can overpower the forward pack but I think defensively we have done very well in the first two games.”
On the decision to go with Price, Cotter said: “Henry has only just come back although he played very well for Glasgow last week. Ali has been here and was with us during the autumn and we feel he deserves a start.
“He has a good combination running with Finn [Russell], there’s Jonny Gray for the lineouts so we felt that was a good way to start the game.
“We know what Henry can bring to finish off the game if we need to but we are lucky to have two good half-backs.”
Cotter admitted that avoiding a situation like Paris when Hardie, who has come through the concussion protocol, was lost soon after coming on played a part in him being preferred to Watson. Having the Edinburgh youngster’s dynamism off the bench was also a factor.
“With John starting the game then if he has to come off Hamish will come on. But John has passed his protocol and he’s fine,” said the Kiwi.
“Hamish played the first two games and this gives us a bit of a change and we’re hoping it’s going to work for us. Wales have good loose forwards, they could have picked [Taulupe] Falatau. But they’ve gone for two guys [Sam Warburtonandjustintipuric] who are pretty good on the ground. We’re anticipating the rucks to be fiercely contested.” Wales forward Ross Moriarty has described his barnstorming performance against England as “the best game I have played”.
The Gloucester back-row star has reaped his reward for that display almost a fortnight ago by being retained at number eight for tomorrow’s Six Nations appointment with Scotland.
Moriarty will pack down in the back-row alongside Sam Warburton and Justin Tipuric at Murrayfield, where Wales will chase a 10th successive victory in the fixture.
Moriarty said: “I think it [the run of wins] puts more pressure on us, because if you lose it then we will look a lot worse than anyone else.
“We don’t want to be the team that falls short. Hopefully, we will be bringing our best game. We have trained hard for it this week.”
Taulupe Faletau, a British and Irish Test Lion with 63 Wales caps, again makes do withaplaceonthebench,such has been Moriarty’s form. And he could hardly have timed his rise to prominence more expertly, given that the Lions tour squad for New Zealand will be announced in just two months’ time
“I think, if I play as well as I know I can, I will just give coaches less reason to not let me be in the team, and that is what I felt I’ve done,” added Moriarty.
“That [against England] was probably the best I have ever felt in a Test match, and the best game I have played. It’s confidence, and things going my way.”
Asked about his tackling power, something England’s Maro Itoje and Owen Farrell certainly felt, Moriarty added: “It’s great, it’s always what you want to do! Even when you are playing for your local team, you put a big hit in and all your mates go a bit crazy. It’s always a good laugh. That’s the way I felt against England.
“Maro and I have known each other since the [England] Under-18s, when I played with him, so the only chance to get a hit on him before has been in training. It was nice to be able to do it in a game.”