Townsend’s troops seek to build on the feelgood factor
AUTUMN NATIONS CUP SPECIAL PLUS ANDY NICOL & JOHN BARCLAY
■ THE AUTUMN NATIONS CUP IS HERE
This has given us a meaningful one-off tournament in November following the blight of Covid and I’m really looking forward to it because it’s something different. The other good news is that Scotland are coming into the competition off a great run of wins, with confidence running sky high.
For sure, some of the optimism has been tempered with the injuries to Finn Russell and Adam Hastings but, in general, life is good for national coach Gregor Townsend right now.
He has picked a strong team but still made changes from the Wales win, which proves the strength in depth in the squad at the moment.
I think this is the strongest squad we’ve had in the professional era.
In just about every position, there are at least two players of real quality for Gregor to pick from, which means he can change how the team is set up without dropping the quality on show.
A real plus for a coach of the Scotland team... and possibly unique!
■ DO ITALY POSE ANY THREAT?
The Italians are not in a great place just now. They are trying to reinvent themselves under a new coach whilst playing full Test matches against top-quality opposition. They have been soundly beaten by Ireland and England recently, although they fared slightly better against the English than I was expecting.
But they have lost the last 26 matches they have played in the Six Nations.
They are in transition and don’t know their best team yet but they still have a few real stand-out players in their line-up.
Jake Polledri gets better with each game and will pose a real threat to Scotland today. He is so physical but very quick, as he showed with his try two weeks ago against Eddie Jones’ men.
Matteo Minozzi at full-back is good and they have a young
stand-off, Paolo Garbisi, who has talent but is very raw. They look like they are going to build the team around him, which is a good move.
■ SCOTLAND’S FORWARDS
There has been only one change from the pack that played so well in defeating the Welsh in Llanelli. But the loss of Fraser Brown, with Stuart McInally stepping in at hooker, won’t lead to a change of tactics in Florence.
I want a big game from Blade Thomson because we haven’t seen the Scarlets star at his best for Scotland yet.
I was speaking with his club team-mate, Ken Owens, when we were in Llanelli and he was raving about Thomson.
Yes, he has the ability — and this should be his moment to show it.
The battle in the back row might be the only place where Italy can match Scotland as this is their real strength. In fact, it is their only strength, so I want to see Thomson, Jamie Ritchie and Hamish Watson really go after them to show their class.
■ SCOTLAND’S BACKS
It highlights Scotland’s newfound strength in depth when you can lose two players like Russell and Hastings and still bring in a player like Duncan Weir. He has played really well for Worcester Warriors all season and is a proper standoff. By that, I mean he runs a game very well. He knows what he can do and what he can’t do, so he brings out the best in the players around him.
Weir fully deserves this chance that he’s been offered and I have no doubt he will take it with both hands.
It is good to see Sam Johnson back today as well. James Lang has played really well but Johnson was the real deal in the Six Nations back in the spring and he is one of Townsend’s go-to men.
I’m looking forward to seeing Duhan van der Merwe again on the international stage and this could be the match where he really gets a chance to shine under Townsend’s command.