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GREGOR TOWNSEND has made three changes to his Scotland starting XV ahead of Saturday’s Calcutta Cup showdown versus England.
Blair Kinghorn returns from a knee injury to take over the full-back jersey and Kyle Steyn – who was a late call-off for the team’s defeat to France two weekends ag because his wife was in labour – returns on the right wing. Kyle Rowe and Harry Paterson drop out of the squad altogether.
Meanwhile, in the pack, former captain Jamie Ritchie is called back into the side at blindside flanker in plece of Matt Fagerson, who also drops out of the squad altogether.
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The remainder of the starting XV and the bench is unchanged from the France match.
“The players have really delivered up-front,” said Townsend, when assessing Scotland’s recent run of wins against England. |Whenever you play England you’re going to be tested in the set-piece and the contact area. The basis of our victories and our really good performances have been through the forwards, and that’s allowed our backs to come into the game. Our preparation has been really good (in the past).
“We really believe in our forwards [for this game], both those starting and those off the bench,” he added. “England always have a big pack, they have a tradition through their age-group rugby and in the Premiership of mauling, of scrums being so important, but we’ve shown against most packs we’ve come up against that we can compete with the guys in the world rugby.”
The coach then explained his thinking behind restoring Ritchie to the starting XV whilst preferring Andy Christie to the discarded Fagerson on the bench.
“For Jamie, he’s really accepted the challenge that was there about a month ago that there’s increased competition in the back-row and for that reason he was no longer going to be captain. But since that conversation he’s played two games for Edinburgh and one for Scotland in Cardiff and he’s played well. We believe this game will suit his strengths and the experience he can bring to the team as well will be a boost,” explained the coach.
“His breakdown ability, particularly defensively [was the key consideration] – he’s one of the best of the world at jackals [and] we’ve got another world-class jackler in Rory Darge.
“England I imagine have gone got two opensides with Ben Earl playing No 8 and Sam Underhill with seven on his back. I believe that the breakdown will be really important.
“Jamie also played really well for Edinburgh last weekend. It wasn’t a great team performance but Jamie was one of the standout players. That’s very encouraging that he’s got on, got two or three jackals, carried well, chased well. He’s been determined to play his best rugby and we’re seeing that increasingly over the last few weeks.
“We thought Andy Christie did really well off the bench and that’s an important role for us, especially in a big fixture like this,” Townsend continued. “We believe he can come off the bench and make a big impact and bring on energy. He covers all three positions too.”
Townsend was also asked about his decision to retain Ben Healy as specialist stand-off cover on the bench, despite Blair Kinghorn – who has experience of playing that position at international level – returning to the team. That call means there is no room in the match-day 23 for Rowe, who has performed admirably in Scotland’s two games so far in this Six Nations.
“It was more a discussion around having a 6-2 or 5-3 split on the bench,” said Townsend. “We just feel with it being Blair’s first game back from injury – albeit not a long period out – it’s asking a lot for him to come back, play Test match rugby and also run at 10 during the week.
“It was a long discussion, because we believe the contact area will be huge and having another forward on the bench might have helped us. But we back all the forwards we have to perform.”
Having spoken at length about his frustration at some of the refereeing in both the Wales win and France loss, Townsend opted for a pre-match charm offensive this time round.
‘I think Andrew Brace is one of the best referees in the world,” he said. “We’re looking forward to a game where the referee doesn’t play a big role in this week.”
Scotland (versus England at Murrayfield Stadium, Saturday, 4.45pm): B Kinghorn; K Steyn, H Jones, S Tuipulotu, D van der Merwe; F Russell (c), B White; P Schoeman, G Turner, Z Fagerson, G Gilchrist, S Cummings, J Rirtchie, R Darge, J Dempsey Substitutes: E Ashman, A Hepburn, E Millar-Mills, S Skinner, A Christie, G Horne, B Healy, C Redpath.
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Olivia Martin is a dedicated sports journalist based in the UK. With a passion for various athletic disciplines, she covers everything from major league championships to local sports events, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis.
