Taylor’s return provokes delight with a tinge of apprehension
The sight of Gareth Anscombe being helped off the field at Twickenham and out of the World Cup will have sent nervous shivers down many spines. We are all aware of the risk of serious injuries in these warmup internationals, an apprehension scarcely alleviated by the knowledge that injuries are suffered in training too. Indeed, a mishap in training has already deprived Wales of Toby Faletau.
I guess that many of us will have seen Duncan Taylor’s name on today’s team-sheet with a mixture of delight and – once again – apprehension. It will be not only his first international for two years, but his first real match in I don’t know how long. He has suffered so many injuries, among them a very nasty concussion, that one feared he might never play again. Now of course the question is: can he be as good as he was before the tale of his misfortunes unfolded? One shouldn’t expect too much today. It will be a relief if he gets through 80 minutes, or as long as Gregor Townsend chooses to keep him on the field.
It is interesting that he has been paired with Huw Jones in the 13 jersey. Jones, after a start in international rugby in which he scored tries more readily than any Scotland centre one recalls, has seemed to lose his way, or at least his form, and was omitted by Dave Rennie from several of Glasgow’s big matches last season. Still, the prospect of seeing him playing with a partner as skilful as Taylor is enticing. I would suppose, however, that the young Rory Hutchinson will come on for a first cap at some point. This would at least ensure that this very promising dual-qualified youngster can’t be nabbed by England.
The selection for this match doesn’t tell us much, if anything, about the XV which will start against Ireland in our opening match in Japan, even though
almost everyone starting tonight is likely to be in the final 31-man squad. It is in the back-row that competition is fiercest. John Barclay, Josh Strauss and Jamie Ritchie start tonight with Matt Fagerson on the bench, and Magnus Bradbury, Ryan Wilson and Hamish Watson waiting in the wings. When you add Scott Skinner as a player able to cover No 6 as well as lock, one assumes that a couple of players who have proved their ability at international level will nevertheless be staying at home with instructions to have their passports ready for any summons to Japan. Those selected today at least have the first chance to say “you can’t leave me behind”.
The French team is also of course experimental, with the captain Guilhem Guirado sitting this one out. There are two new caps, one the Clermont-auvergne wing Alivereti Raka, a prolific try-scorer likely to set young Darcy Graham a stiff examination. The formidable Louis Picamoles is another absentee, not something Scots will regret. The experienced Camille Lopez is at stand-off rather than young Romain Ntamack. It looks a strong side, certainly a very testing one, and, given our habitual inability to win away from Murrayfield, France will surely start as favourites. Even a narrow defeat might be thought a good result for us.
There will doubtless be talk about performance being more important in these warm-up matches than results, but I don’t buy it. Certainly the way we play matters greatly, but so does victory. Both winning and losing can become a habit, and coming into the World Cup on the back of a series of victories is obviously much to be preferred to the alternative.
Elsewhere, most attention will be directed to New Zealand where Australia aim to beat the All Blacks two weeks in succession, not something that happens often. I read somewhere that if New Zealand lose by 15 points, which is unlikely, they will slump to sixth place in the world rankings, which is absurd. The implication that there are five teams currently better than the All Blacks would confirm one’s belief that world rankings are at least mildly preposterous. Last week the Australian backs, orchestrated by Nick White at scrum-half, ran cutting lines and looked very good indeed, but it was the unusual dominance of their forwards that made the victory possible.
The All Blacks had only some 35 per cent of possession. Nevertheless, despite making several handling errors, they scored four tries, and indeed looked likely to score almost every time they crossed the advantage line. No matter what happens this weekend – or perhaps will have happened by the time you read this – it would be rash to think that New Zealand won’t start as favourites in Japan, whatever their world ranking may be.
Otherwise it will be interesting to see if Wales, who were strangely lethargic last week, can halt England’s rolling chariot. At Twickenham, England looked extremely good going forward, not at all good in defence. Inaccurate delivery of the final pass cost Wales either three or four tries. It’s all hotting up and getting interesting. Let’s hope that tonight we are singing that song from the Fifties musical, The
Boy Friend: “It’s so much nicer in
Nice.”