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Scotland make 10 changes to their team to face Ireland
By Online Editors
Gregor Townsend has made 10 changes to his side to take on Ireland in Sunday’s World Cup opener in Yokohama. Scotland defeated Georgia 36-9 in their warm-up match in Edinburgh on September 6, but Townsend has rung the changes to face the Irish, naming a starting team featuring a total of 630 Test caps.
Full-back Stuart Hogg and winger Sean Maitland return to the back three to partner Tommy Seymour. Greig Laidlaw and Finn Russell return to start at half-back, with midfielders Sam Johnson and Duncan Taylor the only backs to be retained.
Ryan Wilson and Jonny Gray are the only forwards to remain in a pack which features the remaining six changes, including a new front row trio of Allan Dell, captain Stuart McInally and Willem Nel. Grant Gilchrist returns to partner Gray at second row, while Hamish Watson and John Barclay join Wilson in the loose forwards.
“We have had a really productive week’s preparation in Nagasaki ahead of our arrival in Tokyo, with our players adapting to the time zone and weather conditions out here in Japan,” said Townsend. “As we have got closer to the game our training has been more about fine-tuning the hard work that has gone in over pre-season into a focus for Sunday’s game.
“Our team has a lot of experience playing together in major games for Scotland, with a bench capable of making a difference when required. That cohesion, experience and leadership are very valuable in a build-up to a match of this magnitude as well as during the 80 minutes on Sunday.
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“In Ireland, we face a quality opposition who, over the past number of years, have earned the right to be the No1 ranked side in the world.
“We know them well and are well aware of the strengths they possess throughout their squad. We expect them to play very well, as they did in their most recent games against Wales, so only our best performance will do in order to win.
“The prospect of facing them in the opening round of a World Cup is a fantastic challenge for our players and supporters around the world.”
SCOTLAND (v Ireland, Sunday)
15. Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs) – 69 caps
14. Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 52 caps
13. Duncan Taylor (Saracens) – 23 caps
12. Sam Johnson (Glasgow Warriors) – 6 caps
11. Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 42 caps
10. Finn Russell (Racing 92) – 46 caps
9. Greig Laidlaw (Clermont Auvergne) – 73 caps
1. Allan Dell (London Irish) – 25 caps
2. Stuart McInally CAPTAIN (Edinburgh) – 29 caps
3. Willem Nel (Edinburgh) – 31 caps
4. Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) – 36 caps
5. Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 52 caps
6. John Barclay (Edinburgh) – 74 caps
7. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh) – 27 caps
8. Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 45 caps
Substitutes:
16. Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 42 caps
17. Gordon Reid (Ayrshire Bulls) – 37 caps
18. Simon Berghan (Edinburgh) – 22 caps
19. Scott Cummings (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps
20. Blade Thomson (Scarlets) – 2 caps
21. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 27 caps
22. Chris Harris (Gloucester) – 10 caps
23. Darcy Graham (Edinburgh) – 7 caps
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Latest Comments
BB can’t pass? Right…
Go to commentsEven the 20/30 cappers did too I reckon.
IDK, I think Jordan has a limited life span in this side unless he can develop more to his game. Like you go on to mention, I think theyres more important things to worry about than the effectiveness of someone's extra strings, or secondary components to their game.
Bash backs are Fosters thing, and to a large part they've made it work. Theyre now one of the best teams in the world.
They boy's trucked it up a bit against Italy in the redzone, and against France, wasn't that effective without the right players probably.
Try and take a look at it this way. Dissapointed Havili and Blackadder were in the side? Havili despite clearly shown that he can't do what the team needs at 12 was kept on for the RWC. Back goes down and he brings in Blackadder who doesn't play. Refuses to drop Christie when he should and look who starts this season. Beauden Barret not playing well enough to keep his 10 jersey but we gotta keep him in the side. Weve only got one 8, we stuff developing another I'll just play Ardie every game.
This years team wasn't burdened overly with injuries but they were in every position Razor might have wanted to try and development, severely limiting options. I'm not defending Razor as there was also plenty of other opportunity to make up for it and he was a little gunshy, but I'm also not going to overly criticise him because he chose cohesion over a black slate.
I think more and more people are on board with it being time to try alternatives, but then again, how would they have reacted to a loss against Italy? 😉
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