DAVID SOLE
It’s been a stunning weekend of rugby, with Scotland to come
With two days gone, there has already been great excitement at the 2019 Rugby World Cup and today should be another cracking day.
Japan opened the tournament with a comfortable win over Russia and there were three enthralling matches yesterday.
Argentina nearly overturned France after an incredible comeback having been 3-20 down at half-time – a beautiful drop goal by Camille Lopez eventually sealed the win for the French after Argentina fought back to be 21-20 ahead.
Australia had to turnaround a deficit to spare their blushes against Fiji and the All Blacks defeated their arch rivals the Springboks 23-13.
It has been a stunning first weekend of rugby with more mouth-watering matches to come, particularly, Scotland against Ireland in Yokohama today.
Four or five weeks ago, Scotland would have gone into this match as favourites, but today, Ireland are the No. 1-ranked team in the world.
It seemed as though the Irish had peaked too soon. They were a shadow of their former selves during the Six Nations. But in their summer warmup matches they appear to have rediscovered their old selves – which is ominous for the Scots.
Townsend has selected a side based on experience rather than form.
In the second row, Jonny Gray starts alongside Grant Gilchrist with Scott Cummings on the bench. Ryan Wilson returns at No. 8 alongside Hamish Watson and John Barclay in the back row – it is a back row without explosive power to match the Irish but Blade Thomson could come off the bench to make an impact.
Greig Laidlaw is preferred to Ali Price at scrum-half as well – a sign that the coach is looking to his old heads to lead from the front.
In the back three Tommy Seymour is preferred to the livewire, Darcy Graham. Seymour has been off-colour ever since the Lions tour, though did show signs of recapturing some of the form that won him that place in the summer internationals – he will need to show all of it today.
There is also a new centre combination with injury-prone Duncan Taylor partnering Sam Johnson, who made such an impact in his first Six Nations campaign.
It is a conservative selection and one assumes that Laidlaw is cover for Finn Russell at fly-half should anything happen to one of Scotland’s key players, as there is no obvious flyhalf on the bench.
Should Scotland win, it puts them in pole position to win the group and play the Springboks in the quarter-final.
Lose, and it’s likely that the All Blacks will be their opponents – a team Scotland have never beaten, yet.
There is a lot at stake. Townsend will hoping his gamble on experience prevails.