Three wins from four would turn a good year into a GREAT year
Ahead of this year’s Autumn Tests, the Sportsmail columnist looks at Scotland’s key men and their chances of success
GREGOR TOWNSEND LOOKS LIKE HE’S NOW BUILDING TOWARDS THE NEXT WORLD CUP. WHAT ARE YOUR
THOUGHTS ON THE SQUAD HE HAS SELECTED?
There is a lot of exciting young talent in this squad. I’m delighted to see the likes of Jamie Dobie, Ross Thompson, Rory Darge and Rufus McLean involved.
They have been excellent for Glasgow this season. For the Tonga game, it obviously helps their case that Townsend can only select from Scottish-based players since the game falls outside the official player release window.
But, in all honesty, the four of them would still be pushing for selection in any case, even if the full squad was available, because their early-season form for Glasgow has been so strong.
You’ve then got the likes of Jamie Hodgson, Marshall Sykes and Luke Crosbie from Edinburgh. They will all be desperate to make an impact and grab the opportunity with both hands.
Darcy Graham is one who really stands out to me. Over the past year or so, he’s had an incredibly tough time off the pitch through a combination of injuries and personal issues.
But he now looks like he’s getting back to his best with Edinburgh and, if I was picking a first-choice back three, Darcy would be in it along with Stuart Hogg and Duhan van der Merwe.
Darcy reminds me of Hoggy in the early part of his career, when he was such an electric runner and would thrill the crowd at Murrayfield. They are players who gets people off their seats.
We have an abundance of pace in this squad. There’s Darcy, Hoggy and Van der Merwe for starters. Then you throw the likes of McLean into the mix, along with Blair Kinghorn and Huw Jones. George Horne is also an electric runner from scrum-half.
Ali Price has established himself not only as our first-choice scrum-half, but as one of the best nines in the northern hemisphere over the last 18 months. He has taken his game to a new level and ended up being one of the breakout stars of the Lions tour, starting two of the three Test matches.
I want to see him control games for us over the next few weeks and show a maturity and confidence that he will have taken from his performances over the summer.
TOWNSEND HAS LEFT OUT SOME VETERANS LIKE RICHIE GRAY, WP NEL, SEAN MAITLAND, DUNCAN
WEIR AND RYAN WILSON. HAVE WE SEEN THE LAST OF THOSE GUYS IN A SCOTLAND JERSEY?
I don’t think Townsend would ever be naïve enough to completely close the door on any of his more experienced players.
I’m sure he will have spoken to them and explained his thinking, because there’s no doubt that this is a fairly youthful squad, building towards the World Cup in a couple of years.
But if injuries start popping up, then I’m sure he would be straight on the phone to the likes of Maitland and Wilson. These are guys he knows he can trust.
The one slight surprise for me is with Gray. We’ve got a long list of injury problems in the second row just now, with Jonny Gray and Scott
Cummings both missing out. I would have expected Richie to be involved, given that he was part of the Six Nations squad earlier this year. But Townsend has obviously chosen to go in a different direction.
A FEW OF OUR KEY PLAYERS ARE COMING OFF THE BACK OF A LIONS TOUR. HOW HARD IS IT, BOTH PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY THE FOLLOWING SEASON AFTER SUCH A HUGE SUMMER?
There’s no doubt that a Lions tour does take its toll on you. That probably applied tenfold to the players in the summer given just how strict things were for them around Covid. They were stuck in a bubble and confined to their hotel rooms for a lot of the tour. Mentally, that must be really draining at times.
In that sense, they weren’t able to enjoy the full Lions experience off the pitch of immersing yourself in the culture and socialising with your team-mates.
But there’s no doubt the experience of playing against the world champions will be of huge benefit. Scotland should look to build on that.
Townsend will be aware of the workload placed on each player. With his Lions contingent, I’m sure he will look to manage them appropriately over the course of the season.
I don’t expect anyone to play all four games in the autumn. But, nevertheless, the head coach will still be picking strong teams because taking some momentum into the Six Nations next year will be key.
TOWNSEND WILL GO UP AGAINST DAVE RENNIE. IF STYLES MAKE FIGHTS, THAT COULD BE A CLASSIC. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON EACH COACH AND THEY JOB THEY’VE DONE?
Yeah, it could be a belter, couldn’t it? Of all four games over the next few weeks, that’s probably the one which stands out to me as potentially being the most exciting.
Two former Glasgow Warriors coaches, renowned for an attacking style of rugby, going up against each other in the Test arena. It promises to be a thriller.
Rennie looks like he’s doing a good job with the Wallabies. They beat the Springboks twice in the Rugby Championship last month and look like a team that is on an upward trajectory.
But Scotland actually have a good recent record against Australia.
They have won the last two games against them — both of which came under Townsend in the early part of his tenure in 2017.
The second of those games was a bit of a thrashing when Scotland put 50 points on the Wallabies at Murrayfield. They ran in eight tries as the Townsend reign got off to a flying start.
So there won’t be any fear factor. Scotland know they can beat the Aussies and I’m sure Townsend will be looking to get one over on Rennie. WHAT ABOUT SOUTH AFRICA? NO CHESLIN KOLBE AND NO FAF DE
KLERK DUE TO INJURY, BUT STILL INCREDIBLY STRONG?
Absolutely. Those two players would be missed by any team because they are truly world-class. On their day, they would both probably be in a World XV.
But South Africa have such depth. I do fear for us a little bit up front because of the injury problems we have in the second row.
That’s arguably the strongest area of South Africa’s team. They have an incredible production line of monstrous locks — Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert to name just a few. The Boks’ line-out is a huge weapon.
So if they arrive at Murrayfield with all their big hitters, it will be a huge test of Scotland’s defence and physicality, above and beyond anything in the Six Nations.
WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE
FOR US IN THIS SERIES? THREE WINS? FOUR WINS?
I have no doubt that Townsend and the players will be looking for a clean sweep. They are a confident bunch who have shown some great form over the past year.
I feel South Africa might just have a little bit too much for us if I’m totally honest. But there’s no reason why we can’t win the other three games.
I fully believe we can beat Tonga, Australia and Japan. The Australia game, in particular, stands out as being the one which could make or break the series.
After victories in Paris and at Twickenham in this year’s Six Nations, 2021 has already been a good year for the national team.
We’ve also seen eight of our players selected for the Lions, along with Townsend and Steve Tandy being part of the coaching staff.
So we’re in a position of strength. If we can take three wins from this Autumn series, however, we would turn what has been a good year into a great year.