AS he named a team with just three changes from the side which dismantled Georgia in the final Autumn Test, head coach Vern Cotter did not talk down the size of the task facing Scotland tomorrow when they play Ireland in the opening RBS 6 Nations match at Murrayfield.
Ireland beat Australia and famously recorded their first ever victory over the All Blacks in November, so there’s no downplaying the enormity of the challenge facing Scotland.
“It’s a big game,” said Cotter. “All the Six Nations games are important and we certainly kick off with one of the form teams of the moment if you look at what they have done in November.
“Our record in the last two outings hasn’t been particularly good against them so we understand that it will be difficult, but at the same time there’s a lot of excitement within the group to get out there and kick the Six Nations off with a home game at BT Murrayfield “There’s been a few nerves during the week, and the players have put together a reasonable plan to take these guys on. If they do simple things well, it will open up opportunities.
“They are getting better and better at creating opportunities and shutting down the opposition’s opportunities.
“We are still waiting for that game when everything clicks and we nail it, so it’s a good opportunity against a team like Ireland to put in our best performance.”
Cotter’s policy of building strength in depth in the squad showed as he recalled Josh Strauss, Huw Jones and Fraser Brown.
Stormers centre Jones comes back into the starting line-up in place of Mark Bennett, having recovered from the foot injury that ruled him out of the match against Georgia in November.
Jones will reform the midfield partnership he forged in the first two Autumn tests with Alex Dunbar in between returning half backs Greig Laidlaw and Finn Russell, and the back-three trio of Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland and Tommy Seymour, who contributed half of Scotland’s 10-try tally in the autumn.
Twenty-times capped Glasgow hooker Fraser Brown is promoted from the bench in place of Ross Ford who drops to the bench and has a good chance of gaining his 103rd cap.
With ball carrying skills at a premium, Strauss wins his 10th cap and replaces clubmate Rob Harley. His inclusion at No 8 sees fellow Warrior Ryan Wilson make a positional switch to the blindside of the back-row, with Edinburgh’s dynamic flanker Hamish Watson holding down the openside role he occupied throughout the autumn.
Second-row brothers Jonny and Richie Gray return to the boiler house with young props Allan Dell and Zander Fagerson packing down either side of Brown in the front-row.
There are four further changes to the bench, with Edinburgh Rugby tighthead prop Simon Berghan in line for a test debut if called upon from the replacements.
Elsewhere Tim Swinson, Duncan Weir and Bennett occupy the remaining back replacement spots in place of Grant Gilchrist and injured Warriors pair Pete Horne and Rory Hughes.
Cotter said yesterday: “Although it’s a reasonably settled squad, it’s nice to have an uncapped player and some reasonably new players in the team, who bring their enthusiasm along with the others.
“We’ve been growing our depth and our versatility within that, so we have a number of different options that allow us to continually attack the opposition, which is our main focus.”
He added: “We probably have a little more strength in depth this year. We have lost WP Nel, a big loss, but that gives opportunities to Zander and the others who have been selected. I think we will get closer than those last two games in the Six Nations.”
Not surprisingly, nine of the starting XV are from Glasgow Warriors, and if they can bring the excellence they have recently shown in Europe to bear on Ireland, Murrayfield might just see an upset.
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