SCOTS’ BRAND NEW HEAVIES
Props Fagerson and Sutherland are piano shifters performing in perfect harmony
FOR two men whose job dictates that they provide the grunt up front for Scotland, Rory Sutherland and Zander Fagerson have been making all the right noises in this Six Nations campaign.
When it comes to picking a combined team of the championship across all nations, the form of both Scottish props will demand inclusion in such a debate.
The tone was set in Dublin on the opening weekend, when Sutherland and Fagerson caused the Irish scrum all manner of problems.
In Cian Healy and Tadhg Furlong, the calibre of opposition only made their destructive work all the more impressive.
Healy and Furlong are both British & Irish Lions. They have been the cornerstone of the Ireland scrum for years, boasting almost 150 caps between them.
But Sutherland and Fagerson had them rattled — and Scotland’s new-look heavyweight tag-team have continued to inflict damage on various opponents since then.
Fagerson has long been tipped as the future for Scotland at tighthead and this Championship has served as confirmation of that talent in the way he has displaced WP Nel so conclusively.
The form of Sutherland at loosehead, however, has been more of a surprise given the way that he came in from the international wilderness at the start of the campaign.
Prior to the opening match in Dublin, he hadn’t played for Scotland for four years due to some chronic injury problems and loss of form.
But, after being named in the team to face Wales in Cardiff tomorrow, Edinburgh’s Sutherland and Glasgow star Fagerson (right) will now have started every game in this campaign.
Of the two ever-present props, Gregor Townsend was fulsome in his praise for the two pianoshifters who have added a new power-play to the Scottish armoury.
‘I’ve been really impressed,’ said the head coach. ‘We have looked to rotate and create competition and depth, but those two have stayed as starters because of the way they have performed and their consistency.
‘With Rory having not played for so long, he’s been one of our biggest bonuses — or surprises, you could say — that he’s taken his chance and thrived at international level both at the setpiece, and in attack and defence.
‘We’d heard from Edinburgh (about Sutherland). We’d seen in a couple of sessions that he was training really well and was really professional.
‘In the couple of games he played for Edinburgh, he looked solid and was starting to get dominant in the scrum.
He’s just taken that into international level and become an even better player.
‘It’s unusual to do that. Players usually take longer to get used to international rugby, but he has certainly grabbed his opportunity this time.
‘I suppose surprise would be the word you’d use. You always look at the best a player can play. Bordeaux (in the European Challenge Cup) was the game for me.
‘Rory played really well against Wasps but Bordeaux made me think that if we could see that at international level, it would be great.
‘He was up against a French Test player and I thought it would be great to see that performance at international level.
‘There are risks in every selection but you know you are giving someone an opportunity and it is up to them to grab it.’
In total, there are ten players who have been ever-present in the starting line-up during the championship, one of whom is captain Stuart Hogg at full-back.
Hogg held up his hands after making some costly errors during the opening two games against Ireland and England, at which point critics were beginning to ask if the captaincy was weighing heavily on his shoulders.
But he bounced back with a briliant try against
Italy and followed that up by leading Scotland to a rousing victory over France last week, a result which has restored some much-needed pride and confidence. Pleased that his skipper is now back somewhere close to his best, Townsend was asked if he feels that Hogg’s new role has elevated his game to a new level. ‘Potentially,’ said the head coach. ‘He has had a couple of changes this year. He’s moved to a new club (Exeter), he’s playing more rugby than he’s ever played and he’s captain of his national team. ‘Whether it’s one or all of these things, it’s certainly spurred him on to play even better. From the outside, he’s enjoying the role. His contributions are excellent and he’s working well with our two vicecaptains, the two hookers. They speak to the referee. ‘Any player can make errors, but he’s been really positive with how he’s playing. I see it as one error (against Ireland) that I don’t think he will make in his career again.
‘He’s had two opportunities to score since that (one for Scotland, another for Exeter) and he’s held on to ball.
‘The error in the England game, far too much was made of that. That was a really good decision he was trying to make — to not make it a scrum-five.
‘It ended up being a scrum-five anyway. If he’d picked it up two yards before the line, it was going to be the same outcome.’
Townsend has made just three changes to the team which derailed France’s Grand Slam bid last weekend, with Sam Skinner coming in for Scott Cummings in the second row.
Stuart McInally replaces Fraser Brown at hooker, with Magnus Bradbury getting his chance at No8 ahead of Nick Haining, who misses out through illness.
Having not won against Wales in Cardiff since 2002, Townsend has urged his players to produce their best performance of the Championship if they are to alter that statistic.
‘I don’t know if we play particularly badly against Wales — we’ve not got a good record against them but we’ve got a similar record away from home to England, France and Ireland,’ he added.
‘We didn’t play well two years ago in Cardiff. Back in 2010, we should have won that one but, since then, we haven’t come close.
‘It’s down to our failings of not playing our best rugby when we’re in Cardiff but it’s also down to the Wales team who over the past few years have been excellent.
‘Like Ireland, like England, they’ve won grand slams, won championships so they’ve played at a very consistent level.
‘Wales are the Six Nations champions and came very close to making a World Cup final.
‘They are a very experienced team with an excellent record against us, so this is a huge challenge for us — our biggest challenge that we face this year against a team that will be desperate to do well.
‘The players want to carry on the good work we’ve been doing and also go to a place where they have never won and play our best game of the season. That’s what we’ll need to beat Wales.’