Scotland head coach, Gregor Townsend, has made an intriguing selection for this game. It’s one that’s been planned for a while now though. Ten of the XV also started the warm-up match at home to Georgia at the beginning of September with another three coming off the bench (Fraser Brown would have been involved as well but for injury). How much will that advance preparation benefit the dark blues against Russia on Wednesday?
Tale of the tape
BACKS
43 Tries 75
90kg Average weight 89kg
168 Total caps 294
16 RWC caps 27
1 RWC debutants 0
26.2 Average age 30.2
FORWARDS
909kg Pack weight 873kg
16 Tries 23
263 Total caps 178
26 RWC caps 20
2 RWC debutants 0
28.4 Average age 28.6
SUBSTITUTES
19 Tries 28
186 Total caps 322
19 RWC caps 22
0 RWC debutants 1
28.4 Average age 30.2
14 changes to Scotland starting XV from last Test (v Samoa)
- Darcy Graham (11 v Russia, 14 v Samoa) is the only player to return.
- This is the 3rd time there have been 14 changes to the starting lineup under Gregor Townsend. The previous occasions were between the end of the Six Nations and the first Summer Test in both 2018 and 2019.
.
15 Blair Kinghorn
14 Tommy Seymour
11 Darcy Graham
.
13 Duncan Taylor
12 Peter Horne
.
10 Adam Hastings
9 George Horne
.
1 Gordon Reid
2 George Turner
3 Zander Fagerson
.
4 Scott Cummings
5 Ben Toolis
.
6 John Barclay (c)
7 Fraser Brown
8 Ryan Wilson
.
16 George Turner
17 Simon Berghan
18 Willem Nel
19 Grant Gilchrist
20 Magnus Bradbury
21 Jamie Ritchie
.
22 Henry Pyrgos
23 Chris Harris
.
BACK THREE
ADV Scotland
.
.
CENTRES
ADV Scotland
.
HALF BACKS
ADV Scotland
.
FRONT ROW
ADV Scotland
.
.
SECOND ROW
ADV Scotland
.
BACK ROW
ADV Scotland
.
.
.
FORWARD
REPLACEMENTS
ADV Scotland
.
.
.
BACK
REPLACEMENTS
ADV Scotland
.
15 Vasily Artemyev (c)
14 German Davydov
11 Vladislav Sozonov
.
13 Vladimir Ostroushko
12 Dimitry Gerasimov
.
10 Ramil Gaisin
9 Dmitry Perov
.
1 Valery Morozov
2 Stanislav Selskii
3 Kirill Gotovtsev
.
4 Andrey Ostrikov
5 Evgeny Elgin
.
6 Vitaly Zhivatov
7 Tagir Gadzhiev
8 Nikita Vavilin
.
16 Sergey Chernyshev
17 Azamat Bitiev
18 Vladimir Podrezov
19 Bogdan Fedotko
20 Andrey Garbuzov
22 Anton Sychev
.
21 Sergey Ianiushkin
23 Yury Kushnarev
Overall
Backs – advantage Scotland
Russia have lost scrum half Vasily Dorofeev and wing/centre Kirill Golosnitsky to injury. They’ve also swapped in Ramil Gaisin at stand off ahead of 111-times capped Yury Kushnarev.
At 9, 10 and 12 Scotland have the architects of a thumping 44 – 15 away win against Argentina in 2018. At 11, 14 and 15 they have players who’ve scored a dozen Test tries in the last year. This is a team set up to do some damage – they just need the ball.
Forwards – advantage Scotland
Tighthead Kirill Gotovstev starts his 4th match in a row for Russia – a heavy workload for a prop in the space of just 20 days. Talismanic flanker Tagir Gadzhiev has played all 240 minutes so far and will almost certainly go the full 80 once more against Scotland.
Valery Morozov and Andrey Ostrikov were the only players in the the Bears’ RWC squad who plied their trade outwith Russia’s Professional Rugby League last season – both with Sale. Ostrikov was coming to the end of his time in Manchester with nearly 100 Premiership games under his belt. He only made 1 league start during his final campaign though. Morozov managed 3 Premiership starts in his first season for the Sharks.
A sizeable Scottish pack has all the tools to take charge of this game. If they execute effectively at the setpiece and breakdown they’ll be able to unleash an extremely potent backline. Just doing the basics is fine – even if the game gets a bit loose it’s not for the forwards to get distracted by the razzle dazzle, but rather keep up a constant supply of quick, clean ball.
Subs – advantage Scotland
Both sides have gone for a 6 forwards, 2 backs split on the bench (confusingly flanker Sergey Ianiushkin is listed at 22 for Russia!) While Scotland have opted for this to protect players ahead of the Japan game, Russian head coach Lyn Jones’ hand has been forced by injuries. There is no scrum half on the bench with first choice Dorofeev injured (and no third 9 in the squad). In fact, both back replacements are primarily stand offs, which will further restrict Russia’s options late in the game.
Miscellany
– 3 men on the Russian side (it would have been 5 but for injuries) and 8 in the Scottish team played some part in the 2 European Challenge Cup games between Krasny Yar and Edinburgh during the 2017-18 season – the capital club won both by a combined score of 151 – 14.
– At 909kgs this is the heaviest pack named during the Townsend era.
– 6 players in the Scotland lineup played in the U20s 15 – 10 win over Australia during the 2016 World Rugby Championship in Manchester – Scott Cummings, Zander Fagerson, Darcy Graham, Adam Hastings, Blair Kinghorn and Jamie Ritchie.
– The only lower-ranked opponent than Russia (currently 20th in the world) that Scotland have taken on during Gregor Townsend’s tenure were Canada, who were ranked 21st when they were beaten 48 – 10 by an experimental Scottish side in Edmonton.