AN appeal against the three-week bans handed out to Ross Ford and Jonny Gray is due to be heard in London this morning – but Scotland effectively recognised that the suspensions will not be quashed entirely when they named their starting XV yesterday for tomorrow’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Australia at Twickenham.

Fraser Brown comes in for Ford at hooker while Tim Swinson takes Gray’s place in the second row – not bad replacements at all, even if they lack experience.

Peter Horne and Blair Cowan have also been drafted into Scotland’s line-up, Horne coming in for Matt Scott at inside centre while Cowan replaces Ryan Wilson at blindside flanker, with John Hardie keeping the openside berth in the back row.

Head coach Vern Cotter was bullish. He said: “These guys are competitors. It’s a great challenge to get a sportsman to play one of the best teams in world rugby. The focus is to win. That’s the mentality we’re taking.

“Australia are the form team and among the favourites to go on and win the World Cup. We have things that we can throw at them and upset them. We’re going to move forward and have a real go at them.

“It’s always nice to be part of the final eight of any qualifying competition, the guys are very excited about being here.

“We will go into this game with the belief that we can compete with and dominate a very strong Australian team, and move forward into the last four.

“They are a front-foot momentum team so defence will be key but that also applies to getting our hands on the ball and expressing ourselves as we like to.”

Captain Greig Laidlaw said Scotland are not there to “make up the numbers”. He said: “We’re not just going to sit back and let Australia come and play at us. We’re solely fixed on putting in our best performance when we take that field. If we do that we believe we can be in the hunt.”

Australia have suffered a double injury blow with two of their best players, full-back Israel Folau and flanker David Pocock, missing out. Ben McCalman is in for Pocock, while Kurtley Beale replaces Folau at full-back.

The other two changes are Rob Simmons and Michael Hooper returning in place of Dean Mumm and Sean McMahon, who drop to the bench. Stephen Moore and Matt

Giteau will become the seventh and eighth Wallabies to reach a century of Test caps.

Head coach Michael Cheika has picked a side with a total of 818 international appearances, making this the most experienced Australian XV to start a World Cup match.

Fly-half Bernard Foley will have a personal battle with Laidlaw – he needs four points to overcome the Scotland captain’s tally of 60, currently the most of any player in the World Cup. Cheika said the best thing his men could do to honour the new centurions would be to qualify for a World Cup semi-final.

He said: “Stephen and Matt are already very highly respected members of our team.

“Their reaching this landmark makes all of us in the team very proud. Every opportunity in the gold jersey is cherished and the 100th for these lads is a great opportunity for everyone to see how much they love playing for Australia. It is also a great chance for the selection playing against Scotland to improve the performance of our team from how we played in our last game.”

THE RUCKER

GUTTED as I am that Ross Ford and Jonny Gray will miss Scotland’s World Cup quarter-final tomorrow, it is no consolation whatsoever that two great Australian players will be absent through injury.

Israel Folau and David Pocock have been as good, if not better, than any players in their positions during this World Cup, and it will detract from the match as a spectacle that they are not on the pitch. 

Zimbabwe-born Pocock has become something of a hero of mine. His destructive powers at openside flanker are legendary. He is a game changer, as was proven in the last World Cup when he missed the pool match in which Ireland shocked the Wallabies but returned to devastate South Africa.

He is not your average rugby player, being a campaigner for social justice and a committed environmentalist who was arrested and charged last year at a protest at a coal mine.

He has also fought back from two career-threatening knee injuries and doesn’t deserve to be languishing on the sidelines for this match.


REGULAR correspondents have given me their predictions for tomorrow’s shindig at Twickenham. Kenny Scott says he is “hoping for a win but past experience points to a glorious defeat”. Tommy G says: “We’ll miss Ford and Gray more than they will miss Folau and Pocock, so I’m not hopeful.”

Shona Benton wrote: “The Wallabies looked scarily strong against the Welsh, especially their impenetrable defence ... we have had recent successes against them, so the resilient Scottish ‘hope and heart’ surfaces … I’d love to think there’s a chance.”

Let’s hope for a great game and a Scottish win. But that’s hope rather than certainty.


STILL my email inbox bulges with comments about the Ross Ford and Jonny Gray case, refereeing standards and law changes. Ni Holmes wrote: “Your column struck a chord. The thing that stands out to me is the use of the sin-bin, which you mentioned in the passing. 

“In ice hockey, where it originates, the penalised team gets the player back whenever the opponent scores. Without this, the sin-bin favours stronger teams that can rack up multiple scores against weaker teams that cannot make the same impact against a team a player down.”

A very, very good point. Why a fixed 10 minutes for a yellow card for an offence that can range from a simple technical matter to a deliberate punch or dangerous high tackle?

Agree or disagree? E-mail nationalrucker@gmail.com