ANDY NICOL ON THE SPORRAN LEGION WHO COULD HOLD KEY FOR VICTORY
GREGOR Townsend has made a very interesting selection for his Scotland team to play Fiji today. I knew there would be changes but I didn’t think there would be nine from the side that started in Cardiff.
I fully expected the ‘exile’ players — Greig Laidlaw, Finn Russell and Sean Maitland — to be brought back in but some of the others have surprised me.
A very positive one is Stuart Hogg, fit again and straight back in without playing any rugby for Glasgow since his injury.
The word out there was that he was missing the whole autumn series, so his return is a huge boost for all. He’s the player that gets people excited.
Along with Russell, they are the two superstars of the Scotland team, lighting up the pitch with their skill and flair and a constant threat to the opposition.
They certainly have their work cut out to transform Scotland from the blunt, predictable outfit we saw against Wales into the ambitious, creative and exciting team we have witnessed over the past 12 months or so.
If Hogg had been playing last week, we might not have noticed him because of the way the team played.
Blair Kinghorn never got a chance to run with ball in space. Same for Lee Jones, Tommy Seymour and Huw Jones.
The only chance they got with ball in hand was returning Wales’ kicks but the hosts’ kick-chase was excellent and gave them no space whatsoever.
The life of an outside-back has always been thus; almost totally reliant on what happens inside of them to determine what chance they have to show their skills.
Huw Jones has paid the price in terms of selection, not because of his lack of attacking threat but because his defensive frailties were exposed twice by Wales for both their scores.
Jones is some player going forward — remember the Calcutta Cup game? — but he needs to improve on his defence, which he will.
It means we have two playmakers at ten and 12, in Russell and the recalled Pete Horne, with Alex Dunbar moving one out to 13. This should bring back the creativity which was sadly lacking last week.
Both are very good at playing what is in front of them, finding the space for the runners.
We’ll know they have done their job if Hogg, Maitland and Seymour are receiving the ball in the wide channels with space to attack.
The changes up front have surprised me as well. Stuart McInally, Jonny Gray and Hamish Watson have been the rocks that the rest of the pack have been built around for the last year, so there is a bit of player management going on here.
It’s a great chance to see Sam Skinner win his first cap and Jamie Ritchie get the opportunity to start at openside. It will also let us see the strength in depth within the squad.
Watson will play next week against South Africa, for sure, as he has consistently been Scotland’s best player but we need to know how we can play without him if he picks up an injury.
Another surprise is that Josh Strauss doesn’t get the start at No 8. When he was recalled, I thought it was for one reason; to be a ball carrier who can get over the gainline every time he touches the ball and give our attacking game a good platform to play from.
But I’m pleased for Matt Fagerson because he has been outstanding for Glasgow this
season and certainly made an impact when he came off the bench last week.
It will be a tough game today. Fiji have so much individual talent within their squad it’s scary. We know two of them particularly well; Bill Mata of Edinburgh and Leone Nakarawa, formerly of Glasgow.
Mata has done great things this season but nowhere near the levels that big Leone reached when he was playing at Scotstoun.
The Weegie from Fiji was sensational and his performance in the Pro12 final in Belfast was his finest hour, producing the best performance from a second row I’ve ever seen.
I’d even go as far as to say that Nakarawa has been the best player to play in Scotland in the professional era.
His offloading ability will have to be carefully policed by Scotland today but, across the board, we should be too strong for this Fiji side.
This is the start of a five-game stretch at BT Murrayfield, with the three autumn Tests and the first two games in the Six Nations.
Scotland have won eight out of their last nine games here and I expect that run to continue.