The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Hungry Murray returns for battle with Boks
SCOTLAND HAVE gone back to their cornerstone and the kid that livened up a desperate spring in order to record a second successive win over South Africa.
Euan Murray comes back into the team for the second EMC Autumn Test at tighthead despite the debut try and decent showing by replacement Geoff Cross against New Zealand, while David Denton, the best and most consistent player in the Six Nations but just a replacement for the injured Ross Rennie for an hour on Sunday, regains his starting place in the side.
There are no other changes despite the recorded 30 missed tackles against the All Blacks, as head coach Andy Robinson seeks stability, and he believes the man who will provide that at the crucial setpiece is Murray, who missed last week because of his insistence on religious observance.
“I was hugely pleased with Geoff Cross’ performance and the improvement he’s been making, but I still believe that Euan is our best scrummager in a battle that’s going to be mighty this weekend,” he said.
“He’s been playing a lot of rugby atAgen and he’s hungry. Geoff will be involved, it’s all about using the two players together.”
Denton played “hugely well” against New Zealand, added Robinson. “(Al) Strokosch and (Kelly) Brown had very good performances in the physicality they brought to the game, and as there’s going to be another big battleground there this weekend, I felt it was was right to keep that back row together.”
Murray will shortly return to England to play with Worcester after spending only three months withAgen, but has been playing regularly including the league game against Stade Francais just last weekend.
“I got 50 minutes there and have played a number of times in the last few weeks, so I’m pretty happy with the way I’ve been playing,” said the 32-year-old, who has had arguably his best two games for his country against the Springboks, in 2008 and 2010.
He recalled that “2008 was one that got away, I think once we went through the playback in detail we saw so many areas where we were in fact in the ascendancy. It doesn’t take a degree to understand that we put those into practice when we played in 2010 and got the right result.”
Murray went up against Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira in both the games and had the better of it both times, but with his congenital heart conditions requiring minor surgery the Springbok has gone home and Gurthro Steenkamp will play instead.
“I played against Steenkamp when we played Toulouse in the Top 14 quite recently, but I’m disappointed for the Beast that he’s had to go home,” added Murray.
Denton went to school in South Africa and had the beginnings of his rugby education there, but the 21-year-old hasn’t been targeting this game more than any other.
“A lot of these guys are players I grew up watching on TV, seeing their pictures and reading about them in the papers and of course some of them were my heroes, but the same was true of guys like Richie McCaw of New Zealand and Tom Croft of England,” he said.
“Just because of my background this isn’t any more special. It’s just another test match against a top nation and I’m relishing the challenge of playing against the top two teams in the world in two weeks.”
Denton had to give way to new captain Brown last week in the starting line-up but the skipper has had to move to open-side to accommodate his return at No 8.
“I always back myself, and the three guys who started on Sunday are great players, but if I’m playing well enough I feel there’s always going to be a spot for me on the team,” continued Denton.
“I like the look of the back row balance this weekend, and Kelly’s really an inspirational captain with how hard he works. With both him and Al (Strokosch) I don’t think we’re missing an out-and-out open side because they’re both renowned for their work-rate.”
Robinson has juggled his bench, retaining Cross and bringing in John Barclay just in case an open-side specialist is required, and the uncapped full-back Peter Murchie.
The 26-year-old, English-born but qualified due to his Ayr-born father, is preferred to Max Evans as Robinson envisages and aerial bombardment and wants his biggest men for the test. SOUTH AFRICA have made two changes from the side that beat Ireland as they bid for revenge against Scotland in the EMCTest at Murrayfield on Saturday.
Two years ago the Springboks lost 21-17 to Andy Robinson’s side a week after a heavy loss to New Zealand and Heyneke Meyer is taking no chances this time around following the 16-12 win in Dublin.
Toulouse loosehead Gurthro Steenkamp will start at prop in place of CJ van der Linde, who himself was a late replacement for Tendai Mtawarira.
Juan de Jongh will start at outside centre in place of Jaco Taute, who, like Van der Linde has been included on the bench.
Meyer said: “Our focus has been on improving from our performance against Ireland last week.
“We saw the match between Scotland and New Zealand and that the Scots scored three tries against the All Blacks – which is more than any other team has managed this year.
“It was their first Test back since their season started and they will not be an easy opponent on Saturday, but we’ve also brushed off some cobwebs in Dublin and have had a good week on the training field.
“We lost on our last visit to Edinburgh and realise Saturday will be a massive battle, but it’s one we are looking forward to.”
South Africa: Z Kirchner; JP Pietersen, J de Jongh, J de Villiers (captain), F Hougaard; P Lambie, R Pienaar; G Steenkamp, A Strauss, J du Plessis, E Etzebeth, J Kruger, F Louw, WAlberts, DVermeulen. Reps: S Brits, H van der Merwe, CJ van der Linde, F van der Merwe, M Coetzee, M Steyn, J Taute, L Mvovo.