Vern expects no slacking at all
VERN COTTER showed a side of his character few had experienced over his tenure as Scottish coach this week – a sense of humour.
When asked why WP Nel wasn’t in the squad for the autumn internationals, he cited the South African Scot’s neck injury. He added he was surprised, as he didn’t think the tight head had a neck!
Nel’s absence gives young Zander Fagerson a great opportunity to get more experience of international rugby.
A relatively new convert to the front row, Fagerson was thrown in at the deep end in the Calcutta Cup match last year and really struggled.
Since then he has had more starts for Glasgow and is improving. The autumn internationals will provide him with a tough test, given Argentina and Georgia are well known for their set-piece play.
Surprisingly, Matt Scott has been dropped from the squad, despite playing well for his new club, Gloucester. His omission was the one real shock as, for once, the squad has a settled feel about it.
The one concern is around No. 8 where there is no obvious stand-out candidate. Adam Ashe has the potential to make the position his own but is currently injured.
Josh Strauss would be the obvious starter, given Ryan Wilson’s indiscipline and tendency to drift in and out of games.
Scotland’s departing coach Vern Cotter.
Cotter’s plans to end on a high have been complicated by the fact some key players in his squad are either injured or are lacking game time having just recovered from injury.
He says: “We’ll have a good look at them. It’s a tricky situation.
“We know Al Dickinson is a well-respected loosehead prop at international level but do we go and give Allan Dell a Test start against Australia? We may have to.
“Is Duncan Taylor going to be ready for this Test match? We’re not sure.
“It may be that some of these young players get an opportunity if we feel that some of the more established players are not ready.
“But we’re hoping that over the three weeks some of these players will help us. Al may not be play in the first two but may play against Georgia.
“If we’re trying to improve, by starting well against Australia and then playing better against Argentina and f i nishing strongly against Georgia then it will be good to have those players training with us and have stronger players coming in for what is a potential banana skin.”