France appear at Murrayfield on Sunday for what is now likely to be the deciding fixture in Group B of the Autumn Nations Cup. With the news that all of Fiji’s fixtures have now been cancelled due to a rash of positive Covid-19 tests, Scotland could go into the final “deciding” round slightly undercooked – but if they beat France at the weekend they’ll also be top and in with a chance of silverware.
If they isolate sufficiently, Fiji may be allowed to play in the 4th place match at BT Murrayfield, likely to be against Georgia or Wales, but like most fans, the Scotland camp had been looking forward to playing against the free-flowing Fijians.
“Disappointing to hear that news. We spoke to the players after the training session to tell them that announcement was going to be made, and you can tell the players are disappointed. It’s one less game to play for their country and we knew that certain players were going to get the opportunities next week because of what they’ve done in training and also the fact there’s a six-day turnaround.
“it is a change of plans, it was going to be an intense week of training going into that Fiji game so we now we have that 2-week build up to finals weekend.
“I chatted with our leaders and the coaching group this morning about what that now means for our build-up to the final weekend. We’d like to carry on, but we’ll see how we manage that, whether it’s a few days off and come back in, because we’ve been together now for almost 7 weeks.”
France are restricting game time across their squad but their own game with Fiji being cancelled means that they have released a group of top line players – who Scotland were scheduled to swerve – back into selection.
“You want to play the best teams when they’ve got everyone available.
This weekend we were due to play NZ before the world all changed and normally when you play NZ they’re ranked #1 in the world, certainly in my experience, and now we’re getting an opportunity to play France who have been the best team in the world in terms of results since the World Cup. You want to see where you are, you want to take on the best teams because the wins are even more special when you can record them. They’ve certainly created a real focus and edge in training.”
The only change to the starting line-up against Italy in the backs is Blair Kinghorn replacing clubmate Darcy Graham on the win, but an entirely new front-row will start.
Oli Kebble starting in place of Rory Sutherland was almost a given, seeing as the *LEGALLY MANDATED LION’S CHAT KLAXON* potential Lion was carried off the pitch last wee, Fraser Brown starts ahead of Stuart McInally, and completing the trio – in perhaps the most surprising move – sees Zander Fagerson drop to the bench with Simon Berghan starting at tight-head.
“With Simon we felt he deserves the opportunity with how he’s played and trained. Some of the work he’s been doing scrum-wise in training has been excellent, he made a very good impact down in Wales and we feel he’s earned this opportunity, but we also have the knowledge that Zander should be on for the end of the game.
Zander has been outstanding in this campaign and we see him making a big impact when he comes on.”
After the head-knock which forced him off and scared the bejesus out of us against Italy, Jamie Ritchie has passed all necessary protocols to combine again with Hamish Watson in the back-row, and Matt Fagerson returns to anchor the scrum.
“Matt started against Georgia, picked up an injury, but he’s done really well to come back and was available last week after a full week of training. We’re pleased with how Blade’s played in both games, especially the last 20mins of the Italy game I thought he was excellent in defence, so now it’s up to Matt to show what he can do,”
Can Scotland repeat the feat of the spring, when the vaunted France were sent packing? Or will their undeniable growth as a team since then be too much for a Scotland unit settling into their new identity and pretty re-shuffled since last week?
“It’s hard to win away from home in 6N, we’ve obviously got a record that shows that, but with France… it’s more of a cliché now.
“This France team seem to be different. They’ve got a lot of guys that came up through the U20s together and play without fear.
Winning in Wales (Feb 2020) must’ve been a massive boost for them, they’ll be thinking ‘We can win away in some of the toughest environments to play in’. I think the home advantage isn’t as relevant in these Covid times as it was before. It feels as ‘false’, or different, for the home team as much as the away team, so that’s going to be a challenge for us. We beat them in March with 60k Scots behind us, so we’ll need to create our own atmosphere and our own energy this weekend.”
Scotland: Stuart Hogg (capt), Blair Kinghorn, Chris Harris,
Sam Johnson, Duhan Van Der Merwe, Duncan Weir, Ali Price;
Oli Kebble, Fraser Brown, Simon Berghan, Scott Cummings,
Jonny Gray, Jamie Ritchie, Hamish Watson, Matt Fagerson.
Replacements: George Turner, Jamie Bhatti, Zander Fagerson, Sam Skinner, Blade Thomson, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Duncan Taylor, Sean Maitland
80 responses
Frances team looks predictably awesome. Let’s hope Jalibert sh**s the bed again.
Scotland…well, there are a few eye-brow raising selections. Maybe Toonie is just trying to give people opportunities but in a 6N test Berghan wouldn’t be starting above Fagerson, Kinghorn above Graham or Maitland is perhaps a bit of a surprise, Taylor comes in despite his last appearances for Scotland being terrible and not really playing a lot of rugby since (whilst Jones is warriors player of the month). Harsh that George Horne still hasn’t had a look in and number 8 merry go round continues.
But on the whole it is weak where we’ve struggled for a while and strong where we’re usually strong. Big chance for Matt Fagerson to nail down the number 8 shirt.
We have a cracking record against France at Murrayfield now and on a bit of a roll but tbh not too optimistic. I think France’s pack and defence is very aggressive and we might struggle a little bit, meanwhile they have so much danger in their backline we really need to cut out mistakes and control the tempo of the game – just not sure we have the quality in the team atm to do that, we started so slowly against Italy any repeat if that and we’ll have lost by half time.
OTOH we have some impact off the bench up front – Fagerson, Turner, Skinner and Thompson should all bring a little bit of oomph.
Duncan Taylor! Be honest, who saw that coming?
When did he last play a game for anyone ? Premiership has not started yet ? I must be dreaming , surely it is a wind up .
To be fair he was fantastic for Saracens up to an including the Racing game.
But he would be perfect alongside a Jones.
Interestingly, is this the first time three Duncan’s have taken the field for Scotland?
Smacks to me of ……. anyone but Jones! Has Taylor been in the squad this autumn? When was Taylors last top grade game? Has he been playing for Sarries?
AFAIK Taylor wasn’t announced as being part of the squad but there were pictures (last week/early this week?) of him and Weir training together – looking spookily like members of the 1978 World Cup squad.
Might have seen it coming if we even knew he was fit again and in the squad. He was excellent for sarries in the champions Cup pre injury.
Well that reassuring. He was mince at the World Cup.
An in form Taylor would be a big upgrade in Harris right enough but it’s a long time I’ve seen him play well for Scotland.
When you look at France’s midfield against ours it is pretty concerning.
An injury prone hair do and the Rolls Royce Currie Cup winner back at Glasgow with Toonie ‘keeping and eye on how he progresses at Fullback’. Understudy to Hogg , whom he is still trying to build a side around. Scotland are 1 queen bee plus 14 worker bees. Stop telling your players they are not good enough.
For me Toonie listened , learned , got a side that could beat a wounded Wales, the mighty Italy and even mightier Georgia, but now he is facing the real test , he has resorted to his usual maverick, inconsistent approach. Toony knows best.
Magnus Bradbury?
Matt Fagerson at 8 against France? Sorry he is not big enough at this level. And Ritchie regardless of the fact he passed the protocols should have been rested and Skinner given the opportunity to start. We should be using these games to blood guys and build their experience up so that we have strength in depth in every position. If Watson is injured who can step in to replace him? I think Fagerson could do a job there.
If Ritchie is fit then he should play. We have strength in depth in every position. If Watson is injured then Ritchie can play there, as he did when Watson was last injured.
Skinner has made it clear he wants to play lock, but having him on the bench covers 4,5 and 6.
You seem to be under the misapprehension that you need to be huge to play 8. Obviously it helps but he is only slightly shorter and lighter than his opposite number, and comparable with other 8s.
Agreed Merlot. Townsend has never gone with a big, lazy, ball carrying 8, a la Vinapola, thankfully. Fagerson is the Wilson style 8 who links with the backs. We have plenty of other bruising ball carriers in the pack. Watson, despite his size, is one of the most effective carriers in the northern hemisphere.
Townsend has never chosen a Vunipola type cause he’s never had one to pick! Denton was closest to this but ultimately was not available often enough.
I think Duncan Taylor is in to cover for Weir’s hair if it gets injured. Only logic I can see there ;)
Duncan Taylor was utterly superb at the tail end of last season. Hence his inclusion and we could certainly do with a bit of verve in midfield. Kinghorn has been training at 10 this week. Interestingly, the ABs said a way back that they would convert him to a 10. Disappointed that Skinner isn’t in the back row. We need that grunt and quality. Other than that, solid team.
Agree about DT. My take is that GT sees the 13 role as pivotal to his gameplan. Taylor when fit is a class act and is easily the best of the centre options to step in and to deliver GT’s requirements at 13 if Harris is injured.
Taylor clearly wasn’t fit enough to play in the world cup…but did…and it was a poor result…like the whole world cup in general.
Maybe his fitness is at a better stage now….if so…on form he is probably our best centre.
Usually a player, however, has to play himself into form. DT has barely played the last few years… will be very tough to immediately jump to a high level against arguably the worlds form side.
Is Toony thinking that our finisher front-row, if he started with Zander, would look very vulnerable (Berghan, Turner, and Bhatti)?
I would always have Nel on the bench. He’s still our best scrummaging TH by a distance.
especially with the French subbies who are rather big scrum beasts
Also disappointed that Nel has not made bench but suspect it is a balancing act between winning the match, maintaining the unbeaten run and giving game time to the Squad players. Still a strong team and looking forward to impact of Zander & Skinner from the bench.
TBF, Berghan has done much better at this level than I expected but both he and Fagerson often get on the wrong side of the ref at scrum time. Picking both in the same 23 is high risk.
If it is tight in the last 10 mins, we can’t afford to be getting pinged in the scrum and forced into defending in our own half with a scrum under pressure.
Yeah and the French have rotated their front row to start their normal reserve front row and bring their normal starters off the bench.
My last memory of Duncan Taylor was his ‘running through treacle’ break against Ireland at the RWC. I really hope Toonie is sure of his fitness this time around otherwise he may as well have drafted John Barclay back in too.
The whole team selection for the Ireland game was appalling wasn’t it.
The one good thing from the RWC19 experience was that it forced Townsend to face up to the shortcomings of his coaching and selecting.
Did it, how??? It’s the same midfield for example. Other changes are pretty much natural evolution.
The whole gameplan has changed and he’s now selecting to deliver it. And he went through RWC19 before he addressed the set piece or the defence.
Interested – how is the game plan different exactly?
Well it was not good, it was ridiculous, he took us out early and into tier 3 selection. He has not learned, he is back to his old tricks, thinks the coach wins games by playing his wee experiments. Just show faith in the existing players.
We went from “fastest rugby in the world” to focusing on field position, a slower, much more structured approach that asks the opposition to play out their own half or kick it back to us.
Townsend seemed to identify a need to change way too late. Aspects of the more conservative approach were seen at RWC19 but the required components – especially the drilling of the forwards and an effective, aggressive defensive system – weren’t put in place until after the RWC and he dithered over getting rid of Matt Taylor.
I think in Scotland’s position we need to focus on winning today not building to the next World Cup…but Taylor is definitely not going to the next World Cup and Harris will be pushing it. I hope we see opportunities for other talented 13s pretty soon as we know what happens when we rely on old time favourites to keep their form high for one more season.
Come over to the dark side and join me. ‘We’ do know what happens when we overlook talented players. But it is not us that pick the side. It is Gregor Toony.
Bringing promising young players in is far more effective if they are brought sporadically into a group who are confident and achieving relative success. Blooding new players would be better after the next six nations when they have a good platform and squad to learn from.
RWC19 – After the lamentable fastest rugby in the world mantra and the subsequent woeful defeats V Ireland & Japan (not to mention the cringe worthy Dobson / SRU input) I’d have had GT out & brought Cotter back.
However give GT his due (whether it be good luck/good recruitment or whatever) his record since has been good.
I don’t agree with his selections but a winning performance on Sunday makes it 6/6 (I think), which is no bad.
Taylor (I thought) was done at international level but…..
My one specific criticism – Kinghorn (in average form & hasnt improved in 2 years, Taylor in – Huw Jones out
Taylor = Speechless shaking head in disbelief. What is he thinking now!
Nice troll by the way on the teams in the 4th placed Match !
Not going to rehash the same opinions as I’ve had for the last few games.
We really need to pick an 8 and stick with them for a few games to give them a run and some confidence. Too much chopping and changing at the moment.
Taylor on form is a great player – presumably has been “impressing in training”…… but a bit of a concern. Feel sorry for Jones.
Is Horne injured? Must not fit Townsends plan if he isn’t as been dropped without having a bad performance.
It’s nice that we have shored up the defence and are grinding out games, but I feel that Townsend is going too safe and needs to pick at least a few more exciting attacking players to get the right balance.
Feel like France will be a big ask and we will probably lose, but will be a good marker for where we really are.
M Fagerson was first pick vs Georgia. He obviously was out since due to injury…it’s not inconsistent for him to get his spot back.
Ok, I haven’t really seen DT play since RWC but how do we get from not being in squad to being on bench vs a resurgent French side & query covering for 10? Huw Jones must be wondering what’s going on. Is Graham injured, can’t remember but Kinghorn on current form is a surprising choice, unless he’s the cover for 10. A little nervous about this game; we need to front up – which we actually now have recent form to back up – but need a firing back line too. Not sure an aging DT is the right selection, but would love to be proved wrong.
You will not be wrong .More changes,more confusion,more trying to over think, more tactical domination . No opposition coach will ever out think Toony.He is intimidating..A straight line out throw would be a bonus.
How can you comment on someone if you’ve not watched them play?! Taylor was unreal in Sarries v Leinster, arguably the best player on the park. He had a massive amount to do with them winning. He was on class form when the season restarted and clearly fits the mould of how Scotland are trying to play now. He’ll be a hell of a lot better than Jones at stopping Vakatawa. It would be like a revolving door with him playing
Who said you need to defend to be an outstanding Scottish back? Not important if you can flatter in attack.
Darcy Graham dropped, as I predicted, the Italy game really did show he is to small a man to play against the top tier1 nations. Gregor wont risk playing him against a powerful French side
Mate, just… let it go. At this point you’re just trolling.
He’s a great rugby player. Accept it.
He’s injured…..
Maybe Darcy would impress you more Jamie if he saw a little more ball, he is like a little terrier whenever he gets a sniff.
I don’t question his attacking ability, but he is useless under the highball and positionally defensively week, not traits that i will tolerate at this level.
Toony has dropped him from our hardest match for a reason folks.
Yes to rest him as it had already been decided due to the 6 day turnaround of next week’s game. The squad had been chosen prior to any knowledge of the Fiji cancellation.
he is , a border terrier at that, not that Toony is influenced by that! I do not understand why he would be rested this week of all weeks , so I don’t get Tam’s comment either.
Hi Broono Townsend explained the decision yesterday. Some squad rotation reasons and giving some lads opportunity to show their qualities.
Tam: I do not accept anything Toony says at face value, so what does ‘squad rotation and all that, players a chance’ mumbo jumbo mean? That is just words with no substance. What do I mean ? look at our pool, which team do we need to beat to go top ? Surely this is the week to play your best 23?
Would you not expect to see Darcy in our best 23 ? Or do we think Toony is being cunning and saving his best 23 for the next stages whether we go top or go second ? If he really meant what he said, why not leave Hogg out, he has another captain, Hogg has played rugby every week right through both European and Championship finals, if anyone needs a break it is Hogg.
No I am calling that explanation ‘bobbins’ absolute bobbins. I see no reason to rest Darcy, he is a great player and in my opinion 1st pick. I like your trusting attitude, but it makes no sense. I think yow have got it wrong and Toony will always play a borderer over a city guy , he cannot help himself, he is from a bygone age.
Zander on the bench , don’t get that. Most improved player this season. Mind you , the french props are strong even off bench. Bhatti will need to be on form. I think this squad can do well now, whatever team he picks, as long as they are managing expectations in the changing rooms.I don’t get a warm feeling that Toony has a skill in that department.
This team is all about the breakdown…three jackals in the back row plus Brown. Maybe partly explains Taylor and SHC on the bench…
Presumably this is our tactic to counter France’s “beef and champagne” approach.
Let’s hope Barnes is rewarding jackalers tomorrow otherwise we’ll be stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey
Not really getting folks gripes with the team, it’s not massively different to last week other than enforced changes. Berghan starting is a bit of an odd one admittedly. Kebble in for Sutherland injury and is arguably an upgrade based on the last couple of games. M Fagerson was touted as the first choice before he got injured so why are folk surprised to see him back? As much as I would love it, we don’t have a Billy V, can only urinate with the… Graham’s injured and Kinghorn was on the bench last week, so surely not surprising that he’s the one to get promoted (although it’s debatable that he’s the right guy). Other than that the teams pretty much the same. Maitland coming in on the bench, something that was guaranteed to happen for me he is first choice winger (although Duhan is doing an excellent t job of challenging that view). Taylor is a class player, was indeed mince at the World Cup but so was everyone else and that was 14 months ago, he deserves another shot. He’s good defensively which seems to be Toonies thinking now as opposed to mad attacking centres, and he has great hair.
I just noticed that the 2023 World Cup draw takes place in three weeks (on 14 December). I guess it makes sense for Toonie to rotate and give some players an opportunity given that the group seedings have already been decided thanks to WR.
Really hope we draw Wales and Japan.
Haha the “pool of moderate discomfort” awaits somebody.
Whereas a feisty Argentina ourselves and even Fiji might make for a difficult time for the Irelands and Waleses out there.
In the end rank 3 is not much worse than rank 2
WRC seeding is, of course, a total farce.
Accept thoughts on Darcy greyhound being rested, but leave the dagger in the sheath for now.
It’s hard to believe the number of anti Townsend comments surfacing once again when we’re on a five game winning run. There’s a balance to be had between keeping consistent fist choice XV and giving squad players experience an the chance to impress. There’s a selection or two I’d question as well, but I’ve no idea why people are harking back to a couple of bad games in th RWC. Move on, the team has done.
I think that indicates a lot of people are not confident about France, who with Dupont look really good. If Russell were playing I would be quietly confident. France at Murrayfield is a fixture where the madness is usually quite effective. Although if Weir kicks well then I will be happy.
The bench is very much geared towards the pack. Think it could be quite an ugly game tomorrow. But if we get a result I wont mind one bit.
Rugby is a full contact sport…its hugely taxing on the body to play with short duration recovery times. Especially at international level. Squad rotation is essential when playing in compressed tournaments.
We also need to rotate in order to develop players so that they can step in for injuries and our performance level doesn’t drop.
Fair enough squad selection from GT imo.
Yes Ruggers, I quite agree with you , we missed the summer tours , so we need to bring in new players from somewhere, sometime. I think we should do something completely novel, maybe we should try them out , when we have actually topped the group Ruggers ? How about that for innovative thinking.
I hate to see Scotland just blending and an doing the same as the other nations. Drafting in an old crock from nowhere just to rotate the new lad Lang back to where he belongs, on the shelf. That will really build his self esteem. If he comes back from that, he will be a true robot.
Just checked world rankings France are now 4th ! We have to be realistic for tomorrow. 5 wins on the trot is amazing. Italy and Georgia see us as the home nations side to beat , they are not easy games for Scotland, they are sides with hope and belief when they play us. Wales were very average away from the crowd, a great scalp to take. However in the last year we have traded positions with France around 7 , 8 and 9 but they are currently accelerating their way up the table to 4. We need to be realistic , under Galthie coaching team, France are a different side .
Since we last beat them at Murrayfield they’ve only played two more games. Realistically, of course we can beat them. Let’s hope we do
France are 4th – so what? We beat them quite comfortably at Murrayfield in March and I’m convinced we’d still have won even if they’d kept 15 on the field.
Italy and Georgia target us? When was the last time one of them beat us?
Sure, it will be tough tomorrow against an improving France team and, yes, we might lose but on the other hand we could win it. A finely balanced Test, and some of our fans need to stop thinking that we’re the Scotland of 2000 to 2014, because we’re not.
JMc: The ‘so what’ answer is this. They are 4th we are not and I cannot ever remember a time when we were 4th.
As you comment , we beat them last time, however you may have missed my point , they have accelerated up to 4th since then , we have not ? That is rapid change for France IMO. How did that happen ? that is the question in my mind. What can we ,as lovers of scottish rugby, learn from that rapid growth.
I never said I think this is the Scotland side of any era before , I hope that was not directed at me ? My point was France’s speed of improvement since we last played them. I can see it with my own eyes and the WR rankings underpin that subjective opinion. I can see lots if people getting very agitated if it all goes horribly wrong today.
Exactly Ben, what is keep us, that is the ‘so what’. What is keeping is at 7 , we have travelled all the way from 9.
I dont think Italy and Georgia do see us as the ‘home nations team to beat’.
On current form we are as good as the others and improving.
And on the evidence of the matches of recent times against either of them …they are nowhere near beating us. We can throw in a average to poor performance and still beat them. Maybe they should focus on Wales…
France have almost always had a lot of talent…but they are very inconsistent and often lose their focus in a big game. They have definitely improved in defense with Edwards as coach tho and will be tough to beat. I doubt any team fancies themselves for an easy match against us currently either.
France conceded 13 tries in 2020 6N and 15 tries in 2019, so I’m not sure they have improved that much.
On the other hand I think their defence is much more aggressive under Edwards so perhaps there has been more impact than bare stats can tell
Yep. It’s clear that Edwards has transformed France’s defence. Allied to a strong pack and a talented back line, France are a serious force again.
This will be a huge challenge tomorrow and I think we’re going to be watching one hell of a Test match.
Mon, Scotland!
Ruggers B : I do not agree and still believe Italy see us as the home nations side to beat. If you play at any level, the one thing all coaches do is remind you of the history , play back tapes of great moments, to get you motivated. Italy target Scotland for one obvious reason, they have done it before . They have not just done this once , or even twice, or thrice , but 8 times in 32 meetings, that is 25% of all the games ever played. In fact of all the six nations sides, they have beaten us the most. You might not like that history, but you cannot rewrite it, I never said their recent history was great but they last beat us in 2015 at Murrayfield. That is fairly recent in my opinion.
All a bit harsh on Italy who have not only beaten us , but have beaten us in Edinburgh twice in the 6N (in 2015 and in 2007). Other than Wales 2020 and 2002, I do not think we have beaten a team ranked higher than us away from home in the 6N. Italy are not as bad as we like to think . But who cares, we are on a run!
I think that just shows that Scotland were appalling for the first 16 years of the 6N. Since 2016 we have been on another level to Italy, who have not won a 6N game in the last five championships – no other team comes close to have put in a run as disastrous as that. If they were that bad in the late 90s they’d never have been accepted into the championship.
It does look like the first green shoots of a recovery from this crisis is emerging though. Garbisi looks the real deal and they have a formidable back row with a truly world class player in Polledri and a number of encouraging young players. Quality at 10 can go a long way to elevating a team.
But they still have a long way to go. Would anyone really bet on them winning a game in 2021 6Ns? Wales in Rome is the big one. Fingers crossed. They should even get a free hit against a Wales in their own crisis this autumn. Double fingers crossed for them again.
FF: I think Italy should have been admitted and will come back. In terms of registered players Italy have 87K Scotland only 49K, that is not quite double, but a muckle amount more. Unlike Scotland they do not have the commonwealth to draw on and with new residency laws it will get tougher for them( and us). France have the most registered players in the world with 540k. That is over 10 times the number in Scotland. If we want to improve, we need more players based in Scotland IMO.
France 6-0 up after 20 mins thanks to penalties against Berghan and Brown. France then score a try through Vakatawa running straight over Duncy Weir, 13-0. We then have to chase the game and see plenty of possession and endeavour but with no guile from our centres it leads to a 25-7 final score.
Good to keep positive 😆 What if the first penalties are for Scotland with Ritchie and Watson winning penalties at the breakdown leading to confusion in the french team about how to play Barnes interpretation with Hogg or Weir kicking us to the corner and the forwards rumbling over with brown getting a hatrick for a magnificent Scotland win?
Very interesting game, France don’t travel well & Scotland’s forwards will make it very difficult, Watson, Ritchie & Brown will be hunting turnovers & the French will be playing rugby rather than spoiling.
My main worry is our 10 12 13, slow ball limiting the effectiveness of Hogg & VDM.
Would’ve truly loved to going to the game today
France are poor travellers , they have only won at Murrayfield 7 times in the 6 Nations. In response we have won 4 times at home (excluding warm up’s) . Never away . Are you sure it is France who are the Poor travellers john ?
Both can be poor travellers! Although yes it seems we’re poorer.
I was almost a bit unhappy when I first saw we were going to play France at Murrayfield in this competition. We have so many runs against us e.g. not won in Paris since 1990, not won in Twickenham since 1983 and we’ve just broken the Wales one.
I was enjoying that we were starting to build one of our own for once against France at Murrayfield. It’s silly but I wish we didn’t have to jeopardise this run for a game that isn’t even Six Nations. Hopefully the boys do a job and keep it going!