The headlines elsewhere will mark the return of Darcy Graham to the starting XV – the only change from the team that lost narrowly to England two weeks ago – as the big news. However the more discerning among us, while delighted with Darcy’s return, will view the most welcome sight as the return of a sensible 5:3 bench split, allowing for Scotland to play to their strengths late in the game.
That of course means the return to the 23 of George Horne, albeit on the bench. Ben White has scored in every game this tournament and is rightfully starting alongside Calcutta Cup “scapegoat” Finn Russell who, Graham aside, leads an unchanged backline.
Jamie Ritchie’s excellent performance against England sees him retain his spot at blindside flanker with Matt Ferguson dropping to the bench.
Wales have kept the faith with the team named by interim coach Matt Sherratt, who performed so admirably against Ireland.
Although they still lost, Welsh fans have never been so happy to maintain a 15-match losing streak and won’t be short of confidence coming to Murrayfield after Scotland once again showed a weak underbelly in this tournament. It actually means it will be the first time Wales have fielded an unchanged starting 15 since the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Scotland: Blair Kinghorn, Darcy Graham, Huw Jones, Tom Jordan, Duhan van der Merwe, Finn Russell, Ben White; Pierre Schoeman, Dave Cherry, Zander Fagerson, Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist, Jamie Ritchie, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey.
Replacements: Ewan Ashman, Rory Sutherland, Will Hurd, Gregor Brown, Matt Fagerson, George Horne, Stafford McDowall, Kyle Rowe.
Wales: Blari Murray, Tom Rogers, Max Llewellyn, Ben Thomas, Ellis Mee, Gareth Anscombe, Tomos Williams; Nicky Smith, Elliot Dee, WillGriff John, Will Rowlands, Dafydd Jenkins, Jac Morgan (capt), Tommy Reffell, Taulupe Faletau.
Replacements: Dewi Lake, G Thomas, Keiron Assiratti, Teddy Williams, Aaron Wainwright, R Williams, J Evans, Roberts.
21 responses
Scotland team: please, please, please, please, please don’t underestimate wales and end up losing to a crap team because we’ve not turned up to play 🙏🏻
I cannot believe it is that time again. If there is one game remaning that Cymru feel they have a chance to win , it is this one. Ir Alban are favourites, the bookies odds against us winning are massive, so if you have a few extra quid , put it on us ! At least you can afford the beer to cry into should we turn up and you do not which (let’s be honest) is not unheard of. Ok I know that is not funny but forgive me . Cymru am byth .
Always good to hear from you, Daihard. Wales showed great spirit and improvement against Ireland a fortnight ago and it was good to see that. Please don’t continue that improvement too much at Murrayfield on Saturday. I hope you enjoy your visit to Edinburgh.
Would like to see the the dink,the grubber and the kick-pass coming off the bench today.
Excuse the the’s..front tooth mithing.
Never come away fully satisfied wirh a win. Are we only team who cant score from a yard out! And to allow the welsh back in demonstrated our usual lack of ruthlessness. Still i guess we won and we did play some good stuff at times
A shambles of a final thirty minutes. With the exception of Matt Fagerson the forwards off the bench turned us from a decent Test pack into a club one. It will be tough enough anyway for our starting eight against France in Paris next week. We’ll be in danger of getting absolutely hammered up front if we are as feeble and disorganised as we were today after the replacement forwards came on.
Good points? Backs were sharp, once again. Leaving to one side Kinghorn’s imo shocker against Ireland, he has been very good this 6N and deserved MoM today. VdM much better these days at looking to offload at key moments instead of simply piling into contact. Tom Jordan is a major asset to the team.
I’d like to think that if Finn had played the full 80, he’d have calmed things down in the final quarter.
Finally, hat tipped to Faletau. An outstanding player who, at the age of 34, is a reminder of how good Wales were in their prime.
Scored a ticket to the game today so only going on what I saw in the ground.
First half was excellent, really very good, dangerous and clinical. The last 30-40mins, really after we scored the last try, was dreadful, utterly dreadful. The bench seemed to be a real drop off, referee turned against us, although I think most of the penalties against us were fair, we got a couple of lucky knock on calls too. We looked tired, which we shouldn’t have, the subs were all on pretty early.
That farce at the end was well, a farce. I know it doesn’t matter but that nonsense gifted Wales 2 bonus points. Kinghorn played well but my Scottish MOTM was Tom Jordan. Actual MOTM for me was Faletau, class act, gave his all and was a shining light in a Wales team that really aren’t and weren’t very good. Very odd feeling at full time, it was like we had just lost, hard to get too excited when you have been played off the park for most of the second half.
Well said. It feels like a loss. We should have put 60 on them. So first half was good , second was dire. What comes in between – The dressing room.
What happened in there I wonder ! Who was in there , I wonder ! no I dont , I know.
There is just too many hard luck stories this and every 6N. We gifted England, we gave this lot something to build on and let down the loyal fans. Something is still not right – we should be 2nd or 3rd by now.
Next week will be a great game. Both sides like to run and play positive rugby. I believe this fixture brings out the best in both France and Scotland.
Paris is our second home.
“It felt like a loss”
Go out and touch grass ffs lol
The purpose of Management is to change the game on the plus side
Instead we nearly lost.
Cmon Gregor
First off,Ben Thomas was guilty of the most despicable act on a fellow player,an eye gouge. Quite how you can be pushing your hand into someone’s face then bend your fingers into a claw without it being recognised as a gouge by the referee, I’ll never understand.
Secondly, the Scots impression of the French “bomb squad “,should be known as the ” capitulation squad ” never have so many from the bench turned the game in the oppositions favour. Lucky to see out a win.
We need to keep the starting 15 on the field until they absolutely empty the tank as the backups coming on too early kill us.
The repeated inability of our forwards to score when parked on an opposition goal line proves (a) player brainlessness, and (b) coaching blindness. Townsend answered Tom English’s level question on the pod as to why we don’t take kickable points and win games by increments instead of glory tries by saying “Drop goals aren’t part of the modern game.” What utter stupidity. In the same way that it took Russell to ignore Townsend’s directives at Twickenham in 2019 to completely turn the game around, these professionals need to play beyond his orders.
Townsend needs to receive his marching orders. On Saturday the game was nearly lost by his decision to replace Russell, White, Zander and Cherry with second-grade numpties after 50 minutes who changed the entire shape of the team. We were then left with the ineptitude of Ashman, combined with jumpers giving penalty after penalty away at the line out for the same illegality.
I agree 100% with those who say that Townsend has done well with limited resources. But his tactical fixations have cost us too many close matches. No one is ever in role for ever, and Paris should be his swansong. Different thinking is required from a different head on different shoulders. Let’s hope we frustrated supporters get someone who has more resources in own brainbox and fewer mealy-mouthed platitudes in his gub.
The “nonsense” is to actually try and state what he has said is nonsense, the idea he hasn’t made that point from a place of education is hilarious, its been a trend and theme for a long time that few times tend to use drop goals and more so in the 6 Nations
https://www.rugbyworld.com/tournaments/rugby-six-nations/why-dont-teams-go-for-drop-goals-more-often-in-the-six-nations-164237
“This gamble is additionally reflected by the fact that, since 2010, no other Six Nations has produced more than five completed drop-goals (In 2023 there was only one) – thereby reducing it to relic status, and one perhaps not worth the risks required”
In a game when Scotland had already secured a bonus point try, had the game won, the addition of such small points gains was nigh on redundant to Scotland
The decision to replace Russell was the correct one, he was limping and should have been off earlier to preserve him for a game where he would be vital ie France. That the team couldn’t hold shape when he went off is on Toony/the players, but the decision itself was sound.
Thanks for clarifying re Russell, Rory. Didn’t spot that from my vantage point behind the sofa.
Yeah he was moving around ok cos he is tough, but if you look particularly after he kicked the last few times just before he went off, each time right afterwards he was hobbling as if the kick had hurt to do. Read somewhere yesterday it was cramping though so nothing he shouldn’t be able to recover from.
This is a problem that Scotland’s forwards have had for quite a few years now. Ireland has execution of this down to a fine art
Townsend and Russell cant see the writing on the wall for reading off the same page these days.
How a 10 and an ex 10 agree to exclude chips,grubbers and the kick-pass from the game plan beats me and that “all-in” running rugby style is beating us..or nearly.
You could call us the “All Back’s”.
I watched the game again, with a special eye on the clock. In all honesty the wheels didn’t really come off until 70 mins, but we did start to fall off around 60 mins once the whole front row changed. There is a problem when Ashman comes on as he currently can’t throw or scrummage, but when combined with the other FR changes on 61 mins it really becomes a problem. Ashman, having been decent prior to the 6N, really is playing poorly both at the set piece and in the loose where he’s a penalty liability. The set piece really disintegrates and then the field position battle goes against us. We still had enough ball to be threatening and had Jones not fumbled the ball, or had we not been held up twice, it might have looked a bit different. So we weren’t as bad as I’ve seen us where the whole team goes to bed, but the FR off the bench really put us under pressure. I have no bet in the Johnny Matthews fight, but we need a better bench option at hooker if Ashman is in a bad spot form-wise. So it wasn’t quite as bad as I feared, but the replacement FR really is a huge issue and they can’t come on as early as they did.
At least once when we were held up, Darcy Graham was screaming for the ball out on the wing, we had a numbers advantage, Wales were defending very narrow but still they insisted on keeping it tight, poor decision making. Agree with Ashman and the front row though.