Scotland v Georgia, Autumn Tests 2020: Match Preview

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1. The rugby park 2016 score line was 43-16.

   1. Ta – too much copying and pasting from a previous article!

2. Fairly obvious team selection I reckon. A mix of getting players match-fit, rested, capped and also getting some combinations going. So I would go:

   1- Kebble2- Turner3- Fagerson4- Gilchrist (C)5- Toolis6- Thomson7- Cowan8- Fagerson9- Horne10- Hastings11- Van Der Merwe12- Johnson (If fit)13- Jones14- Maitland (If available)15- Kinghorn
   16- Brown13- Sutherland18- Berghan19- Cummings20- Ritchie21- Price22- Lang23- Harris

   [EDITED NOT VERY CAREFULLY FOR LENGTH – RB]

3. Gilco Captain? He doesn’t warrant a place in the team, never mind the captaincy. His recent showings for Edinburgh suggest that he does not really have leadership qualities.

   1. Based on some of the YouTube videos he has featured in recently for Edinburgh,, awards interview and a stadium update,, he doesn’t exactly strike you as an out-going, overly confident chap.

   2. Yeah, I’m really not a big fan of Gilchrist. Don’t think he should be in the squad. But he’s fine vs Georgia and is the only experienced/captain calibre player in that team.

      Cotter did appoint him Scotland Captain pre-injury remember.

4. Totally agree, Gilchrist is lucky to be in the squad.

   This is no time to play jazz with Wales next week so think the team will be:

   Maitland, Graham,Harris, Johnson, VDM, Russell, Price,Kebble, Brown, Z Fagersen, Toolis, Cummings, Ritchie, Watson, M Fagersen. Subs: McInally, Sutherland, Nel, R Gray, Cowan, Horne, Hastings, Jones.

   No doubt Gregor will do what he loves best with this game…play jazz!

5. Maitland seems to be appearing in selections for Friday despite him being lined up to play for the BaaBaas on Sunday. I also have my doubts as to whether Russell is actually available as international window doesn’t open until Saturday night.

   On that basis:

   15. Kinghorn, 14. Graham, 13. Harris, 12. Johnson, 11. VDM, 10. Hastings, 9. Price

   1. Sutherland, 2. Brown, 3. Fagerson, 4. Gray (R), 5. Cummings, 6. Ritchie, 7. Watson, 8. Thomson

   16. Rambo, 17. Kebble, 18. Nel, 19. Toolis, 20. Fagerson, 21. Steele, 22. Lang, 23. Jones

   1. That’s a shame about Maitland, hopefully he’ll still get his 50 caps this autumn.

      Yeah probably Russell won’t play then but be interesting to see if he starts against Wales. That’ll be his 50th cap I think.

   2. Smidge – seemingly no Maitland
      Backs: Ali Crossdale (Saracens)* Fraser Dingwall (Northampton Saints)*, Owen Farrell (Saracens), Piers Francis (Northampton Saints), George Ford (Leicester Tigers), George Furbank (Northampton Saints), Willi Heinz (Gloucester), Jonathan Joseph (Bath), Ollie Lawrence (Worcester Warriors)*, Joe Marchant (Harlequins), Jonny May (Gloucester), Alex Mitchell (Northampton Saints)*, Ollie Thorley (Gloucester)*, Anthony Watson (Bath), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

      1. You’re right John, No 48 cap Scotland player Maitland in the England squad to play the Ba Ba’s
         ????????

      2. Time for bed me thinks……night night

6. Georgia Squad

   Not available that would have been selected

   Maitland – Russell – Hogg – Gray – Skinner.

   (As close to first choice starting based on earlier six nations games, with prep for Wales in mind, some experiments on bench)
   I think this is a good game for Jamie Ritchie to get to captaincy experience with Brown to help if needed.

   Blair Kinghorn – Darcy Graham – Chris Harris – Sam Johnson -Duhan van Der Merwe – Adam Hastings – Ali Price – Nick Haining – Hamish Watson – Jamie Ritchie (Co-Captain) – Grant Gilchrist – Scott Cummings – Zander Fagerson – Fraser Brown (Co-Captain) – Rory Sutherland

   Replacements (ideal position I would like to see them come into)
   Huw Jones (15) – James Lang (12) – Scott Steele – Blair Cowan (7) – Richie Gray (5) – Willem Nel – Stuart Mcinally – Oli Kebble

7. Surely in the reference to Dodson and GBH on players the word “yet” has been omitted ? 😁

8. If the international window doesn’t open until Saturday as Smidge says above, does that mean no England based players can be picked I.e. Harris who makes a lot of the teams above?

9. Just on the international window – per the temporary provisions of Regulation 9 a Union’s Right to Release for this period is:

   “In relation to players eligible to represent any Northern Hemisphere Union or Southern Hemisphere Union, so that the selected Players are assembled at a location determined by those Unions and available to train at least five clear days prior to 24 October 2020;”

   So players selected had to be in Scotland, ready to start training on the 19th.

10. Friday is a ‘friendly’ ,well it is for us, I bet they wont see it that way. Are we offering full caps for this one ? Does anyone know ? What is the purpose of the friendly ? What is the objective of such a game.

    With so many of our squad in recent European games , we must be in a great place to beat Wales. Surely !

    1. I think the press is calling it a friendly as it is not part of a) the remaining six nations fixtures or b) the Autumn Nations Cup.
       All matches against Tier 1 or Tier 2 countries are full caps, unless otherwise agreed between the two sides.
       This is a good warm up against a side ranked 12th in the world (we are only 8th). Otherwise we’d be going “cold” into an important game away to Wales.
       We can beat Wales, but only if we are prepared mentally and don’t implode, as we usually do at the Millennium.

       1. We can beat them but it’s very unlikely, despite perhaps there poor form earlier in year. We have not won away to Wales in over 10 years, there team will have numerous British & Irish lions, we won’t have a single lion who has started a test.

          4 clubs vs 2. This should be a loss on paper.
          All I’m saying is I wouldn’t have your hopes to high.

       2. Without the (vain) hope would we be Scotland supporters?

       3. If we beat Wales , we will have evidenced an improvement. If we don’t, we can talk about that, if and when.

          As for Georgia , I would like to say it does not count, but it does. We appear to be a utility back short in the 23 and we have 2 new caps. Kinghorn is an occasional player and not at his best. Not a lot of continuity to draw on if we need to call on a few options away from the pack. Another gamble. That’s all folks

       4. Neil : We only have two domestic sides but we have 4 European cup winners and the most exciting 10 in France . Ritchie, Hogg and Russell are favourites to go with the lions and the exceptional talents of Watson and Graham and the latent potential of Duhan in reserve. I think Zander and Sutherland are in excellent form. If we had a hooker that could get his darts right we have a strong front 5 and a competent back row . They are complemented by all three hookers who are former back rows with turnover strengths. As for Centres , we have a Currie cup winner likely to be excluded, what does that say about Toony’s confidence in his backs! Nope this is it , we must beat Wales and it starts on Friday. There is no reason , why our best side, will capitulate, even in Wales.

11. Interesting team. Lang at 12, 6-2 split on the bench, Fagerson at 8, no Huw Jones, no
    Puddin’.

    1. Hastings presumably cover in midfield but does leave us a bit thin. I know Georgia are physical but seems a bit overloaded in the back row. Shame Jones isn’t even on the bench as his new found flexibility would be useful and not convinced Kinghorn is at his best. But at least something to look forward to on TV on a Friday night!

    2. Is he planning a 10 man game? Duncan Weir is your man for that. I am pleased for Rob Harley. Nothing worse than losing your in form players and they get no game time. I am past commenting on Toony’s unconventional selections, however , I would have selected Turner in the 23. We need both Brown and McInally for Wales . Fingers crossed they come through unscathed.

12. This selection stinks of Townsend seeking attention, can’t handle the limelight being on the new caps or Russell’s return and so decides to have a 6-2 split to get people thinking about him again.

13. No Huw Jones is biggest thing for me, Kinghorn’s progression has stalled IMO & he’s been poor foe Edinburgh lately.
    I sort of get Russell not starting, Hastings is good but not in the same class as Finn.
    Interesting the 6-2 split, yeah Georgia are physical…………….but everyone is physical these days

14. Sounds like Toony already lives rent free in your head…

15. The 6-2 split on the bench was almost inevitable, given Georgia’s strengths.
    I’ve a funny feeling that backrow is likely to be starting again next week, so maybe Toonie is thinking of swapping them all out as a possibility. Both Toolis and Cummings can go the whole 80.
    If that were the case I’d have picked Cowan on the bench, though, rather than DuPreez.
    Kinghorn over Jones? Yes on experience, and I think Huw will be on the bench next week, if not starting.

    1. Where would you start Jones next week? He won’t start at 15 as Hogg is back and he won’t start at 13 as Harris seems to have it locked down and Jones hasn’t played there for a long time.
       I doubt he’ll make the bench either as you’d assume Price and Finn will start meaning Horne and Hastings on the bench leaving a back bench spot for Maitland/Kinghorn (assuming he goes back to a 5:3 split)

       I think it’ll take a Harris injury for us to see Jones back in the squad.

       1. Harris isn’t going to play all 6 games this autumn though. Jones will get a chance – whether that is at 13 is another matter.

       2. I think Grigg will take that 13 spot off Jones though, he is first choice 13 at Glasgow now.

       3. Hopefully Hutchison will return from injury in time to play some part in this test series.

          Grigg isn’t good enough at test level IMO.

       4. In my opinion, Grigg is not International class. He is a Pro14 level and not a high level either

16. I like the team selection. Im not sold on Hugh Jones at international level. His attack is proven but his defense in terms of tackling and positioning just hasn’t looked good enough and we now have increasing options in attack. He is a good player but he has his flaws and defense is extremely important through the middle.
    Glad to see Gilchrist not selected even if only due to injury …he just looks lame at this level.
    Fagerson ive never thought of as an 8….but would be glad to be proven wrong…since we have been dire at 8 for goodness knows how long.
    Anyway, good mix of experience, new promising and backups. Its Georgia…not NZ.

    1. Personally, I think Jones’ defensive flaws have been massively blown out of all proportion.

       1. I’m with you FF, it was 2 years ago ish, Jon Davies (who at that time was the world’s best centre) “did” Jones once & sort of “did” him again in the same game, I remember Jonathan Jiffy Davies analysing it about 10 times, those incidents & it not going well at Glasgow knocked his confidence. Before that Jones was absolutely sensational, I’d have him before Harris, Kinghorn.

17. Yes they have been over exaggerated. He could have played for Wales and England , he chose us and I feel we have let him down, not the other way around. In order to miss a tackle you need to put yourself in harms way. Huw Jones is an honest player, honest enough to put himself in a tackle likely situation, every time. I admire that honesty. I do not think Glasgow were ready for him, he came to late to the party.

18. My thoughts. To state the obvious the 6 vs 2 split will be fine unless a back gets injured. Kinghorn is a necessity due to the lack of Hogg or Maitland, I’m not convinced the Jones at 15 experiment is ready for an international test. Duhan is in to get him up to speed with international rugby, he is the form winger so I would hope all going well that he will feature in most of the Autumn games. Toonie continues to put his faith in Harris (or Harris still has photos of him) so no surprises there. James Lang is a bit of a tombola one, I would have thought Sam Johnson needs the game time. Finn is on the bench to save the blushes of having him come straight back into the starting 15. Not really much to say about the forwards, J Gray presumably not available and R Gray hasn’t really stuck his hand up IMO. Harley certainly has form for Glasgow but I still think he is one of “those players”, a giant at club level but never seems to cut it at international level.

    Good to see Ritchie in there as VC, like John Barclay when he came in for a start you got the, he’s going to captain the team some day impression. Hopefully it won’t take as long as it did for Barclay.

19. Ali Price as VC as well, he is never a boss. Harley just does all those things we never see, a players player. When was the last time we played out a game without a back going off injured ! It is a certainty . Refelcting on your comment, I am not sure why Toony has taken Jones into the squad, he has no obvious place for him, he has not played midfield for, well I cannot remember when ! What are our expectations of Friday ? A game we simply must win or a runaway victory, or just stretching legs for the Wales match , I really do not know what I am expecting. Good point about Finn, but will he start in Wales? Will he be the Magician or the apprentice in Toony’s eyes. A long way to go on this one yet.

    1. Toony said in his press call/conference thing afterwards that Huw Jones would have been the third back if they had gone with a 5/3 split instead of 6/2 on the bench. See The Offside Line for more.

       1. Thanks Rory . Good to know Toony has a plan for Huw Jones. This guy deserves our backing.

       2. Ah just read that article. Toony said a lot but committed to very little for Huw Jones. He says he considered him on the bench for 13 and 15 but , ultimately, Kinghorn and Harris have had a great 6 nations. He had considered him in context of a 5/3 split but for me he killed the hope when he said he is ‘keeping an eye on Huw’ and he is ‘keen to see how he progresses at full back’. Does he see him as Stuart Hogg’s back up ! You could read anything into it or out of it. Gutted for Jones.

    2. He played 13 against Ireland and England.

    3. I’d be staggered if Finn doesn’t start against Wales tbh

       We should win with minimum fuss against Georgia, whether or not we rack up a big score. They have a new coaching team and as well as issues at tighthead they have a lock with only 20 minutes test level experience in Kerdikoshvili. They’ll be doughty up front but so long as we don’t play loose and give away cheap scores we should face relatively few problems.

       I expect a 20-30pt win.

       1. I think he should just ease him in , I would have preferred to rest him for Wales TBH.

       2. Rest Russell v Wales?

       3. Naw rest him this weekend for Wales John. Why risk injury against Georgia. Just make sure he is injury free for the big game.

          On the face of it Finn has played a lot of rugby lately, he is likely to get on when Price is going off and I cannot see Lang starting against Wales, So why ? What is the benefit and are they significant !

       4. Finn hasn’t been with the squad for ages – it’s good to get him working with the match day squad and through his paces with an unfamiliar partnership.

20. FF: You have inadvertently complemented my point. He will get his unfamiliar partnership if he starts against Wales , why do that twice ? Horne is unlikely to start with him against Wales ! If Price was on the bench , I might agree. We know Finn can play with numerous teams mates, he was part of the SRU rotation policy at the Warriors. New coaches , perhaps !! But that is a soft one , is that worth risking him being injured or HIA’d on the weekend prior to the most important game this 6N. Georgia don’t have great skills , they are however a bit rough. I will look for forward to it .

    I am just wondering is the first time we have ever hosted a Friday night International at Murrayfield?

    1. Not too worried about Russell as he has to survive big lumps targeting him weekly in the French league.

       I had similar thoughts about Sutherland though. I really want him fit for Wales and I would have been tempted to start Kebble in his first international alongside his club mates in the front row.

       Maybe Toonie is thinking if we win the first scrum then its game over.

       Interested in peoples thoughts but is Sutherland/Brown/Fagerson now our first choice front row? I think it probably is.

       1. I agree your first choice front row. Sutherland is a rock now, Brown is a top class hooker and great around the park, and Fagerson has come on leaps and bounds since his Test debut a few years ago as a youngster.
          It’s a powerful front row.

       2. Fagerson has become one of the most important people in the team. His scrummaging is a real weapon, his carrying is class and his work rate is unbelievable – he regularly plays 80 minutes for Glasgow!

          When people talk about potential Scottish lions it’s always Hoggg/Russell/Watson/Ritchie but I think Zander is right up there.

       3. Best TH in the home nations at the moment. He’ll be at Exeter in a couple of years…

       4. Or maybe even Brizol with our old friend Pat Lam.

21. Lots of people are talking about Sutherland as a potential Lion. I think the other 2 have a shout as well. If Brown can consistently hit his target in the lineout then I think he is the complete package. If Fagerson does some damage to the Welsh front row and continues that form for the rest of the year then he has to be in the mix as well. This upcoming Wales game is starting to look really important when it comes to demonstrating potential to Gatland. The change of ground and lack of a crowd might really help us down there.

    1. It does not matter what we do, Gatland will pick below average Welsh & English before us Scots get a look in.

       I have seen all this chat on the blog back in 2012/13 & 2016/17. We will get a token Scot or 2 and that’s it.

    2. I think both props have a great opportunity to get on the plane.

       Brown may be handicapped by the seeming 50/50 sharing of the shirt with McInally. Both are quality so if either pushes themselves to the fore they’d have a shot but continuing to share gametime may limit opportunity to impress when up against the likes of Cowan-Dickie and others.

    3. I think it will be tough for Brown to get into the Lions squad. George and Cowan-Dickie are nailed on as far as I’m concerned and I can’t see Gatland leaving Owens at home, even if he is half-fit. If Kelleher has a breakthrough season with Leinster and Ireland, I can see him being in the equation as well.

       1. I think you’re absolutely right, but all four of those players are as hit and miss as Brown and McInally in the lineout, no better in the tight and no better in the loose. From 5m out, though, LCD stands alone.

22. As an aside, Maitland was one of the Baa Baa players who left the hotel and went out. Game v England has been called off.

23. A lot of the Scotland squad are in Glasgow team this weekend. Sam Johnson making his comeback

    Huw Jones; Tommy Seymour, Nick Grigg, Sam Johnson, Ratu Tagive; Pete Horne, Jamie Dobie; Aki Seiuli, George Turner, D’arcy Rae, Hamish Bain, Richie Gray, Ryan Wilson (capt), Tom Gordon, TJ Ioane.

    Replacements: Grant Stewart, Alex Allan, Enrique Pieretto, Fotu Lokotui, Chris Fusaro, Sean Kennedy, Brandon Thomson, Niko Matawalu.

24. interesting to see how the centre pairing go, we also need to see king horn improve his decision making, he does have the habit of butchering try scoring overlaps. As an aside wales on Saturday a whopping 806 caps wyn Jones (congratulations) has more caps than the entire Scottish backs.

    1. He has butchered those overlaps twice so far in the first half

       1. And one more now in 2nd half

       2. Good skills at the end, still not convinced by him at international level though.

25. A trademark Chris Harris not catching the ball for Hastings chip there.

    1. Harris has been shakey so far.
       Hastings seems a bit disinterested.

       Pity Graham is too small for international rugby…..

       1. As indeed Shane Williams was (not)

26. 1st half analysis:

    Pretty good.
    Playing in the right areas.
    Defence is excellent (against a poor attack)
    Scrum is 50/50 (against a good scrum)
    Line out good.
    Attack is rusty in the backs, good in the forwards.
    Hastings boot needs to be more accurate.
    Attack needs to straighten up to allow Duhan more than 1 meter of space.

    Overall considering the circumstances 1st half = 7.5/10

    My Man of the match for first half is Scott Cummings.

    1. Kinghorn is not great. His choices are wrong

       1. He has made some bad desicions like that kick, he has made some good runs ball in hand before slipping though.

    2. I agree on Cummings. He’s been really good in the first half. He should start against Wales, probably with J Gray alongside.

    3. Cummings has been great again – by far our best 2nd row.
       Backline really not shown much so far – bets Russell will change that when he comes on?
       VDM hasn’t been given the ball in any useful space.
       Forwards have generally looked decent

27. Terrible defence, but shocking tmo decision – it doesn’t matter if Cummings touches it if it was already going forward…..

28. Russell does more in 30 seconds than the rest of the backs in 55 minutes

    1. Finn changed the whole dynamics of the backline. Horne as well will quick ball away from rucks. Hastings was poor.

    2. Yes, it’s a bit embarrassing how much better we were with him in the field.

       I rate Hastings but that midfield of Hastings-Lang-Harris was pretty dismal.

       Georgia really were pish.

29. Hastings kicking will not do against 6 Nation opposition.

30. 2nd Half analysis

    Try for Georgia was forward.
    Defense overall 9/10
    Mcinally needs to learn to throw, Brown clear 1st choice now.
    Toolis did well
    Russell switched the team on.
    Attack once Russell on is good.

31. Initial thoughts

    Russell changes everything – world class. Needs the right players around him though, made some brilliant passes that then fizzled out as nobody taking advantage. Harris just hasn’t got the spark in attack, neither does Kinghorn.

    Cummings was immense, as was Brown and generally all the forwards did well.

    Wingers did well with what they were given – VDM had a couple of defensive errors but solid, Graham was always looking for work.

    Hastings average and poor with the boot, centres largely AWOL.

    Not many performances to change Townsends 1st choice team – Russell head and shoulders above Hastings, Horne electric and deserves some starts.

    Would like to see Johnson at 12 and still think 13 is a big problem – Harris may have good defence but not showing enough in attack, Jones has the talent but not been playing 13, Grigg never been quite there.

32. Line out was much improved. And several tries through a rolling maul. Still a lot of errors a team like Wales will punish. I just hope this squad can do the same against tougher opposition.

33. Time to stop playing amateurs in the centre (team for next week)

    Stuart Hogg – Darcy Graham – Huw Jones -Finn Russell – Duhan van Der Merwe -Adam Hastings – Ali Price – Matt Fagerson – Hamish Watson – Jamie Ritchie – Scott Cummings – Jonny Gray – Zander Fagerson – Fraser Brown – Rory Sutherland

    Replacements: Sean Maitland – Chris Harris – George Horne – Cornell du preez – Sam Skinner – Simon Berghan – Stuart Mcinally – Oli Kebble

    Ben Toolis – Possibly Sam Johnson unlucky to miss out.

34. Yes Toolis, Cummings and Brown had the lineout ticking nicely, enough for Georgia to give up competing in the air pretty early and then the maul was so easy for them. pack was good throughout.
    Back line was disappointing It’s hard to see what Townsend sees in Lang but I guess it was his first game. Harris did what Harris does. good D, average in attack, Darcy is consistently excellent and Duhan didn’t get much chance to play. Kinghorn is in a bit of a slump at the moment.

    It’s hard to know how Lang and an unfit Johnson could be picked in the squad ahead of Matt Scott.

    1. Really is surprising Matt Scott is not in the squad (I suspect he is getting exiled like Dunbar was)

    2. Lang got his third cap, and it’s insane that Scott hasn’t played for Scotland this year.

35. Cummings was MoTM in my opinion. A pretty impressive rip for a man with supposedly skinny arms. Townsend’s experimentation at centre is baffling. Seems happy to overlook form and give guys like Lang a run out. Why am I always nervous at kick-off and re-starts? We always seem to knock on or lose territory and/or possession, particularly straight after we score. That needs to get sorted out.

36. Fairly good runout for the first game together in so long. Plenty of mistakes but that’s to be expected. Thought Brown cemented his place in the 2 shirt though Lang and kinghorn did themselves no favours. I also never fully appreciated just how much better we are with Finn at 10 until today. I don’t think Hastings had a bad game but Finn is another level.

    Overall, bit rusty but with the boys still to come back next week, quietly confident about next week.

37. It was so obvious when Finn came on just how much space opened up, Wales don’t want to face him. All in all some pleasing performances, D’arcy once more showed just what a menace he is, the forwards showed control and good decision making and the new caps al, stepped up when required. A good nights work regardless of the opposition. Now fingers crossed wales get drubbed tomorrow