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Selected Lions star dramatically rules himself out in 'self-less' last-minute call
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The Townsend promise about selection for Scotland versus Georgia
By PA
Scotland boss Gregor Townsend has insisted he will not wrap his key players in cotton wool for his team’s last Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Georgia. The Murrayfield clash takes place on Saturday 26 August, just a week before the Scots fly out to tournament hosts France and a fortnight prior to their opening match against South Africa in Marseille on September 10.
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Townsend has already had fitness concerns around Jamie Ritchie, Ben White and Duhan van der Merwe this summer, while Zander Fagerson picked up a two-game suspension following his red card in the recent Test at home to the French.
The peril of playing warm-up matches ahead of the World Cup was best highlighted last weekend when French fly-half Romain Ntamack was ruled out of the tournament after damaging his anterior cruciate ligament in a fiercely-contested showdown with the Scots in Saint-Etienne.
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Despite the risks, Townsend feels there is more benefit to be gained from getting his strongest players as much game time as possible ahead of the tournament.
“It would be nice to have another two or three games before the World Cup but the reality is we have to be at our best in three and a half weeks’ time (for South Africa) and we are getting closer to that,” he said.
“We will be going strong against Georgia. The more our strongest group of players get to play together, the better we will be for that South Africa game. The players want that too. Everybody wants to play that Georgia game.
“We understand there will be a group of players who haven’t played much rugby going into the World Cup but our goal will be to get that group that is most likely to be involved against South Africa to get those connections in a Test match environment.
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“The players have been magnificent in training but training doesn’t replicate what you are going to get in a game. The Georgia game will be very important for us in how we continue to improve and progress before we play South Africa.”
Townsend named his final 33-man squad on Wednesday and is encouraged by the quality and attitude of the personnel within it. “We are delighted with it,” he said. “It’s great that so many players are available for this World Cup. We had real long debates when we moved our 41 down to 37 and then 37 to 33.
“We know there are some really good players who have missed out on the squad but the ones here are in great physical shape. They are going to drive us forward and their form is growing as we start the season.”
When it was put to him that the current Scotland squad is widely deemed to be the strongest ever, Townsend said: “It’s hard to say. Some of those World Cup squads have been pretty impressive, especially the one in 1991.
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“All I can say is it’s the best group I have ever worked with (as a coach) in terms of what they are producing on the training field and that includes time I spent with Glasgow, Scotland over the past six years and also in my short time with the Lions.
“They are delivering every day a game that stresses them in terms of the skills and fitness involved. We are starting to see that transfer into the games.”
