Andy Robinson has announced Scotland is to have two captains for the autumn internationals – incumbent Mike Blair and widely touted replacement Chris Cusiter who led the A team to victory in the IRB Nations Cup. Whoever is on the pitch leads the team, presumably with the usual switch around the 60 minute mark (though I’d hope not). This seems like a sensible compromise between picking a captain months ahead of any indication of form (cf Borthwick, Steve) and not picking a captain till the team announcement which gives us nothing to get excited about in advance. Based on current form I reckon that Cusiter will be the starting captain, and think he is probably long overdue for a chance to show what he could bring to Scotland. His break is much improved (especially seeing as Blair seems to have forgotten about his) and his service seems to me a lot crisper. Team announcements for who will join them in the match squad will be next week I imagine. You can see Robbo’s full announcement here.
Rest time for most of the Scottish boys this weekend while England kick off against Australia and Wales aim for a first victory against the All Blacks in fifty-something years. Speaking of the All Blacks, anyone else think the Barbarians team to face them in the usual end of term silliness match should just be the Lions? It would be great to see how they fare on home soil. Even better if they got another crack at the Boks, but such things dreams are made of…
