Team-by-team Six Nations Previews: Scotland
It is possibly surprising to realise that Scotland coach Gregor Townsend is embarking on his sixth Six Nations campaign. In many ways he still seems new to the job, just beginning to get his feet under the table.
Enthusiastic, hopeful and plotting a better future but actually he is now a hardened campaigner, indeed the ultimate sign of that is that there is already considerable talk and speculation as to his next move after Scotland.
Some are linking him to France where allegedly a role as an attack coach will be up for grabs post RWC2023. That could be a little unsettling for all concerned, or it could sharpen everybody's minds. This is possibly the last chance to make good on all the promise of the Townsend era.
Part of the problem north of the border is that Scotland perennially feel like they are just on the cusp of a new era so there is no sense of either progress or in fairness regression. Over the past five Championship campaigns they have finished 3rd, 5th, 4th 4th and 4th.
In the cold light of day, for all their exciting moments and promise and particularly their strong showings against the old enemy England, Scotland have marked time under Townsend given the talent available. Not disastrous by any means – remember they used to regularly give Italy a run for their money for the wooden spoon – but no sign really of that breakthrough Scottish fans have been hoping for.
So can 2023 be any better? Can Townsend finish with a flourish if indeed his tenure has entered its final year?
The auspices are decent but they usually are in recent seasons. Glasgow and Edinburgh are both going well in the URC and Europe and their players arrive in camp in good form and confident while the fixture list falls nicely. England could be at their most vulnerable first up at Twickenham, which holds no fears for this group of Scots anyway, while they will enjoy home advantage against Wales, Ireland and finally Italy. That last game could either see them pushing for something pretty special or salvaging the season but no matter it's reassuring to be on home turf on Super Saturday.
Other than Adam Hastings there have not been too many big injuries, so they start in good shape but of course questions remain and as ever Finn Russell is one of them. He is rehabilitated in the squad well enough and will clearly start but his form at Racing, where he is seeing the season out before joining Bath, has been patchy though it has picked up recently. Scotland very much need him in genius mode at the helm.
PAUL REES VERDICT
The pieces are there but need to be put in place
Position: 5th
SQUAD
FORWARDS: Ewan Ashman (Sale), Josh Bayliss (Bath), Simon Berghan, Jamie Bhatti, Fraser Brown (all Glasgow), Dave Cherry (Edinburgh), Andy Christie (Saracens), Luke Crosbie (Edinburgh), Jack Dempsey, Matt Fagerson, Zander Fagerson (all Glasgow), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh), Jonny Gray (Exeter), Richie Gray (Glasgow), Cameron Henderson (Leicester), WP Nel, Jamie Ritchie, Pierre Schoeman (all Edinburgh), Javan Sebastian (Scarlets), Sam Skinner (Edinburgh), Rory Sutherland (Ulster), George Turner (Glasgow), Hamish Watson (Edinburgh)
BACKS: Chris Harris (Gloucester), Ben Healy (Munster), Stuart Hogg (Exeter), George Horne, Huw Jones (both Glasgow), Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh), Sean Maitland (Saracens), Ruaridh McConnochie (Bath) Stafford McDowell, Ali Price (both Glasgow), Cameron Redpath (Bath), Finn Russell (Racing 92), Ollie Smith, Kyle Steyn, Sione Tuipulotu (all Glasgow), Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh), Ben White (London Irish)
Stuart Hogg has endured a patchy injury-affected season with Exeter but looked lively in the autumn internationals when the Scots just about finished in credit. They will have been disappointed to lose to Australia for the first time since 2016 and angry with themselves for squandering a good and dominant start against New Zealand, eventually losing that game 31-23 but there was a workmanlike win over Fiji and a high scoring romp against the Pumas to finish. Argentina can blow hot and cold but you can't argue with a 52-29 win.
The Scots can still look devastating going forward when the force is with them and keeping the tempo high and attacking intent is the way forward for them but sometimes they lose their nerve in that respect and occasionally their pack simply don't deliver the quick possession they require. The thought remains that Scotland's game plan can be disrupted by high quality opponents.
There can also be lack of joined up thinking on the pitch under pressure and there is also the slightly vexed question of just how Scottish this squad is and does that matter when the chips are really down and you are looking for that extra one or two per cent. Does pulling on the Scottish jersey and the whirr or bagpipes automatically make you into an homogenous rugby unit. It's a legitimate if slightly controversial question, which upsets some, and I would rephrase it slightly. How bloody difficult is it to merge so many players from so many rugby cultures? In the Six Nations squad Gregor Townsend named ten players who have played representative rugby at the Junior World Cups for other nations, namely England, South Africa, Australia and Ireland. Between them they have won 82 U20 caps for nations other than Scotland. One of those also played for Tonga Schools while an 11th Javan Sebastien also won U18 caps for his native Wales.
Two of the 11, Jack Dempsey and Ruaridh McConnochie, played at RWC2019 for nations other than Scotland and McConnochie of course has won a Commonwealth Games bronze medal for England at sevens.
In addition, Cumbrian Chris Harris came up through the England system and played for England Counties while at university, WP Nel played his rugby at Western Province, Boland and Free State before moving North and ‘becoming' Scottish while there is a clutch of Scots who learned their rugby in northwest England – Ali Price, Hamish Watson and Ewan Ashman.
I suspect that for Townsend, cosmopolitan man of the rugby world that he is, none of this really matters. Born and bred in Scotland he enjoyed a formative spell in Australia and played professionally in England, France and South Africa. He dipped into various rugby cultures at his leisure, but Townsend was/ is an exceptional individual.
No rules have been broken, some of those U20 caps are of course qualified as heritage players anyway, although I'm not sure the World Rugby change of eligibility regs last year was really designed to allow T1 players like Dempsey and McConnochie to just switch allegiance when they fancy, or their Test careers had stalled elsewhere. That seems too much like having your cake and eating it too.
It doesn't cast rugby in a particularly good light but in terms of a team's performance does it matter? Very possibly. It's difficult enough at all times to mould and coach a Six Nations squad but when you are trying to integrate all those different strands and accents with the home grown players and fly in the likes of Russell who is maverick player it can get complicated.
So we will see. Can Townsend finally pull all this together? The Scotland squad is an exciting collection of rugby talent that should in all honesty be leaving a bigger footprint on the Test scene.
