Toony is planning for taking on world’s best
GREGOR TOWNSEND named seven uncapped players in his squad for this week’s training camp.
But the likes of Matt Fagerson and Darcy Graham might have to be patient for that first cap, as the Scotland coach showed he isn’t about to award them like confetti, not picking the likes of D’arcy Rae and George Turner after taking them on the summer tour.
“We’re going to be playing six out the eight teams in the top teams in the word in our next seven games,” explained Townsend.
“Obviously we’re in the top eight so the only team in the top eight we’re not playing is South Africa, so we’ll need our best team in every fixture.
“Now if one of these young guys comes through they’ll have done it on merit and that’ll be brilliant. For this squad gettogether we’re looking for the best players available that could have a chance of playing in November and the Six Nations.
“Given our injuries, it has meant a couple of players have come through, so who knows come November time.
“But it’s very important we maintain momentum. Given the fact we’re playing the top teams in the world we have to put our best team out there.e.
“The way the Novembervember fixtures fall, we’re playingaying Samoa first and then two wo teams in the top four ur ( New Zealand and d Australia) so there’s no room to experiment too much.
“We need our best team to beat Samoa to help build momentum ahead of that All Blacks game.
“Innovation will come ome in other ways. One of the most-exciting things foror me now about coaching at national level is that you get to watch a lot of what’s going on, learning from other teams and discussing things with your fellow coaches about what could really work for us, how could we get an advantage over the best teams in the world.
“But, in terms of selection, it will be different to when I was at Glasgow, where
you had to rotate and manage your best much more.” RotatRotation is a key consideration when it comcomes to fly-half, where Finn RRussellll hhas made himself almost indispensable for Scotland.
“He’s an outstanding player,” added “Toony”, a quality stand-off himself.
“If you saw the Australia game in the summer he was world-class that day. It’s great to have a player of his ability available to us.
“Now we have to make sure that we have
depth in that position. Players in the training squad such as Phil Burleigh, Greig Laidlaw and Greig Tonks are capable of playing at 10.
“But we are looking to those players who aren’t in the squad putting their hands up.
“The challenge is out there for Duncan Weir, for Ruaridh Jackson, for Adam Hastings, Tom Heathcote at Worcester, to play their way into the squad.
“We don’t have a huge amount of players in that position for this group. Peter Horne and Finn are the best two we have available so the others have to show up.”