Scotland travel to Wales this weekend for their third weekend of back to back international test matches, under the new Six Nations format where nobody gets a breather.
Scotland have a fairly major history of failing to back up big wins against England with the next result invariably being a loss (Wales being the spoilsports as recently as 2021 and 2022). Wales are undeniably looking like the weakest team in the Six Nations at the moment, but that does not mean Scotland cannot make themselves look like complete idiots by losing to them. Let’s not forget, wins in Cardiff are still a pretty new thing for Scotland.
Wales also have the recent advantage that Steve Tandy knows Scotland’s players very well indeed, having coached them for a number of years.
Scotland last 10 games against Wales
Scotland last 10 games away from home against Wales
In anticipation of potential slip-ups, Gregor Townsend has named arguably the strongest team yet for round three, with a return for Duhan van der Merwe the big news. He comes in on the left wing for Jamie Dobie (shoulder) and Blair Kinghorn returns at fullback.
In the pack Gregor Brown has moved from the from the second row into blind side flanker to replace Jamie Ritchie (knee) and Max Williamson joins Scott Cummings in the boilerhouse. Grant Gilchrist returns on the bench, and his inclusion may not be to do with lineout issues but could be to do with his ability to bolster the scrum if it struggles as it did last weekend.
Matt Fagerson moves to Number 8 for the injured Jack Dempsey (bicep), while on the bench Townsend again opts for a 5:3 split with Horne, Jordan and Darcy offering excitement for the attack and the usual names in the pack. Also interestingly, George Turner has been rotated at hooker with Dave Cherry the housewives favourite getting the start.
Scotland record with Matthew Carley as referee
There are must win games and must win games. This falls in between: it’s a must win to retain the credibility restored by the Calcutta Cup win, and for the fans to believe in their team. Lose though, and what will really happen? We’ll end up somewhere between 4th and 6th like we all thought anyway. And Townsend will still have his job.
We could end up there anyway, that’s how close the tournament is these days. But a decent win and the try bonus already collected against England could be really helpful if we are actually aiming at, say, third. In short, despite the travesty in Rome, Scotland is in a good position and must show they are ready to capitalise on it.
Wales: Louis Rees-Zammit, Gabriel Hamer-Webb, Eddie James, Joe Hawkins, Josh Adams, Sam Costelow, Tomos Williams; Rhys Carre, Dewi Lake (capt), Tomas Francis, Dafydd Jenkins, Ben Carter, Taine Plumtree, Alex Mann, Aaron Wainwright.
Replacements: Ryan Elias, Nicky Smith, Archie Griffin, Freddie Thomas, James Botham, Kieran Hardy, Jarrod Evans, Blair Murray.
Scotland: Blair Kinghorn, Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu (capt), Duhan van der Merwe, Finn Russell, Ben White; Nathan McBeth, Dave Cherry, Zander Fagerson, Max Williamson, Scott Cummings, Gregor Brown, Rory Darge, Matt Fagerson.
Replacements: George Turner, Pierre Schoeman, Elliot Millar Mills, Grant Gilchrist, Josh Bayliss, George Horne, Tom Jordan, Darcy Graham.
24 responses
The team for Wales has Kinghorn & Van der Merwe back, I don’t think Jordan deserved to be dropped after Saturday. I’ve never been a fan of Kinghorn & I’ve never understood the clamour to get him back in. He’s fine against Tier 2 nations like Portugal & Tonga but he lacks too many basic skills, poor under high balls while him & VdM are probably the worst tacklers in the squad. Happy with the pack selection although why bring Gilchrist back on the bench, Alex Craig deserved that place for his recent form. Glad to see Bayliss in the 23, he’s an excellent player who has never let Scotland down when selected. Despite my reservations above I still think we will beat Wales but it could be closer than some think.
All sensible changes given the circumstances I think. Not sure on the merits of Gilchrist on the bench, for me he is just the embodiment of the toothless pack, that was completely absent last weekend, that we regularly seem to have. I would have started Darcy Graham before Van der Merwe but I guess Darcy is seen as more of a right winger? Certainly usually seems to play that side and Duhan usually left? Make of break time for Kinghorn, he has rarely dazzled me in a Scotland shirt, too many errors or botched manoeuvres, but is undoubtably a fine player, time to show it.
I can see another repeat of last year or even worse the 2010 debacle, where we go racing into a massive lead then somehow turn it into a far tighter affair than it should be and jeopardise the win. Dare I say it, we are turning into the France of old, “depends which team turns up”, capable of both playing the best rugby on the planet and being absolutely rank.
Good article and comments. Kinghorn does give heart in the mouth moments but can be great if put into space. High ball was supposed to be much better since going to France however haven’t seen in for Scotland or the Lions. Also thought Italy was Gilchrist’s last game. Hope all the returning players go well. We must shake this record of losing after beating England.
Great team selection given injuries. Not sure why DVDM gets so much flack…..worst tackler in squad…?! Not sure that’s true, and not frankly why we need him, he’s a finisher and people need to remember his meters made, tries, defenders beaten….. he’s been savage fir Scotland.
Hopefully dry or roof closed on Saturday and we’ll deliver our game.
Ticket sales at the Principality have risen this week. Only 8000 left to sell. We are improving but yr Alban are a challenge. All we hope for is to reduce the deficit and enjoy LRZ on the break. Cymru am byth.
Daihard,we cant play 8o mins high tempo rugby..end of.
Bide your time,apply the blitz on Russell,lob a few up for Kinghorn and the best of luck.
I say that as we have some evolving to do before the world cup.
Genuinely wish Wales the best for a good fighting performance, nonetheless, with the attendance ticket sales going up, I have a sneaky feeling you valley boys think that you have a chance to snatch this one, after all its only you Scots, we have the wyrd on you?
Another 5 / 3 split , not sure that is sustainable for weeks 4 and 5 but a more balanced side with everyone playing in their regular positions. A bit boring by Toony standards but it feels like a reset with the business end of the 6N in front of us.
Like most I am puzzled why Toony has gone to the Pro d2 to find a hooker, however the man himself, has never let anyone down as I recall. We are all behind you Dave Cherry.
On train to Cardiff. 1-10 are odds never seen before
Got to be confident though we need to stop the boom and bust Keep the ball moving Quick set piece. Scotland by 15- 20 + Like the back 3 with the roof closed
First half implosion. Made worse on TV by that whine-voiced Welsh git Davies talking non-stop. Would be nice to hear Andrew Cotter’s impartial commentary instead.
Atrocious first half. Losing the collisions and too many handling errors particularly from Cherry. Wales deserve their lead and shown much more desire.
Jiffy’s bias is just insufferable. I can’t believe the BBC haven’t told him to tone it down.
Agree, Davies is bitter, the most biased pundit on television. Most pundits struggle to hide their persuasion but try to offer some kind of balanced arguments, not Davies, bitter from start to finish, shouldn’t be on duty.
Great Character to get back into it and win. But my god that was the most disgraceful effort i have seen from a Scotland side for the first 40 minutes. Extremely lazy in the small things. No more Vacations to Spain please!
Townsend hangs on by the skin of his teeth. Good to see him have the foresight to yank off Williamson & McBeth early at least.
Why on earth is Scotlands starting hooker a 41 year old from ProD2??
I think you can now say Japan and Scotland were intimidated at the Principality stadium.
Aye but there should be no reason to be. Wales played ok but that was us at our worst for 50 minutes similar to Argentina. It just looked like the players did not care, not comparable to the performance only a week ago.
Why does this keep happening?! There is no excuse.
Scotland showing the worst of themselves beat Wales at their best at the end of the day.
I disagree Douglas , it was nothing like Argentina , it was quite the opposite. Argentina were beaten and we let them in. In this game we were well behind and came back to win.
In Cardiff you need to silence the crowd in the first 20 minutes and put that pressure on them. But if they get ahead , it is a long hard afternoon.
Scotland should have taken 3 points from the penaly immediately on the yellow card. We fluffed the lineout drive and allowed Wales to exist with a penalty . Advantage Wales, we allowed that. We never learn and the longer it goes on the longer the burden of history weighs us down.
It has always been like that , an intimidating place and Scotland never learn.
Dodged a bullet there. Poor performance with plenty of errors but just did enough.
We are top of the table, for now, maybe we should just enjoy this moment. Both Scotland and England showing signs of fatigue after last week IMO.
I am also pleased that Toony took decisive action and got Shoeman and Bayliss on in the first half.
We need to take the positives. A win away , regardless of how ugly , is positive. We did show character to dig it out. Many scottish sides would have collapsed and it was a long way back. credit where it is due.
They were lucky with the yellow and I actually thought the ref missed at least one high tackle.
Well I thought it would be close but not that close. I lost count of the number of dropped balls & knock ons by Scotland but they got there in the end with a great second half performance by Russell. I hope Townsend now realises what a good player Bayliss is, he did comment that he had a good game, he has been badly underused, Scotland cannot afford to ignore such good players & hopefully he will start against France. In previous years Scotland would have lost that game so it was great to see them turn it around, Wales had obviously targeted this game as one they could win but at the end Scotland still scored four tries to their two, we gave away far too many penalties though.
I might have returned from Cardiff now, but the hangover persists. Great stadium, great fans, and a really great performance from Wales. They’re starting to find some useful combinations now and we knew they’d put everything into trying to claim a win at home. Ran out of steam / were a bit unlucky at the end. Full credit and I always went in expecting a close game.
From a Scotland point of view, that first 40 mins was shocking. Error count was through the roof – with a sky high penalty count to come. Schoeman and Baylis were excellent when they came on, Horne once again helped to dial up the tempo and Darcy Graham was far more dangerous than big Duhan on this occasion. Given his ability with ball in hand, think Baylis has made himself essential in the absence of Dempsey. Mixed bag from Kinghorn and Max Williamson didn’t cover himself in glory – maybe time to send an SOS to Alex Craig? We also need to look at Hiddleston as starting hooker. France is a tough test, but he’s played top French opposition with Glasgow so shouldn’t be daunted
Is it just me or are we seeing a great deal of scruity of the referee or should I say referees decisions post the match. Was the drive over legal for final try, did Matt Fagerson block the ball ! Did Finn Russell actually drop kick the ball or just punt it !I think the experts are supporting the referee however I find it rather irritation that Scotland are under the microscope for winning in Wales. That is what makes this fixture miserable. The post match analysis of what was clearly a fair win over a much improved Welsh side. What is so wrong with that.
Yeah I think with the maul it’s down to an interpretation of “bind”, Fagerson definitely sticks a hand on 16 (ball carrier) before sliding forward, if that’s a good enough bind I think he’s okay?
Not sure about the restart one, I think that’s just clutching at straws on someone’s part. Finn knows how to kick a drop.
I agree on both counts , that was my interpretation, as well. The drop kick is a nonsense and for the drive over try , MF came in from the right angle and either decidedly moved into, or the momentum moved him into the gap.
It is a predictable backlash from a scottish win in Wales IMO.
In other news and I hope it is not fake news, I see Dave Rennie has been appointed Head Coach of the AB’s. We taught him well at Glasgow.