Townsend refuses to threaten Scots’ winning mentality by ringing changes
FOR THOSE in Scottish rugby still pondering how the national team will change under Gregor Townsend, the new head coach had a clear message this week.
Naming a 41-man training squad for an out-of-season get-together at St Andrews that starts tonight, Townsend was quick to state the presence of a clutch of youngsters and uncapped players should not be seen as a sign of a clear-out.
When it comes to the Tests in November, he will field a team familiar to Scottish fans in a clear change to his enthusiasm for rotating players at Glasgow. The key after a first southern hemisphere tour brought a typical Scottish rollercoaster experience, beating Italy and Australia and losing to Fiji, is simple: winning.
‘It’s very important,’ he said. ‘Given the fact we’re playing the top teams in the world in the next seven/eight games, we have to put our best team out there.
‘The way the November fixtures fall we’re playing Samoa first and then two teams in the top four after, so there’s no room to experiment too much. We need our best team to beat Samoa and to build momentum ahead of that All Blacks game.
‘Innovation will come in other ways and probably one of the most exciting things for me now about coaching at national level is that you get to watch a lot of what’s going on, learning other teams and discussing things with your fellow coaches about what could really work for us, how could we get an advantage over the best teams in the world.
‘But, in terms of selection, it will be different to being at Glasgow, where you have to rotate and manage your best much more.’
Still, few Townsend squads are ever predictable and so the first training squad of his first full season threw up a number of surprises. But he has sought a balance in that. He was never a fan of foreign players being thrust ahead of young Scots as a player, but has learned of their value as a coach at Glasgow.
So among the seven uncapped players handed international hope are experienced duo Phil Burleigh (30) and Anton Bresler (29), impressive Edinburgh players brought in from New Zealand and South Africa respectively and now qualified on residency, as well as five products of a BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academy now clicking into gear — Matt Fagerson, Jamie Bhatti and Scott Cummings from Glasgow and Edinburgh’s Darcy Graham and Jamie Ritchie.
Graham is arguably the biggest surprise considering the former Hawick winger was still to play his first professional game at the time of selection — he duly did against Sale on Friday night and provided a glimpse of why his club coach Richard Cockerill and Townsend believe he could become an influential player in his first season.
This first training squad has only 35 fit players — there are 10 injured, six or seven of whom should come into the reckoning for the autumn.
‘This is about getting to know the players ahead of the season,’ he explained, ‘setting expectations, what we’re looking for from them, what they’re doing, what they’re looking to do and the core parts of our game.
‘Outside of the games, we believe the tour was very close to what we wanted out of that period together. We found out (against Fiji) if you don’t play with physicality against any of the top 12 teams in the world now you’re going to struggle.’
‘THERE IS NO ROOM TO EXPERIMENT TOO MUCH. WE NEED OUR BEST TO BUILD MOMENTUM’