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Why Scotland newbie Matthews merits his call-up - Steve Tandy
By PA
Steve Tandy admitted Johnny Matthews has earned his chance after the Glasgow centre was called into the Scotland squad for the first time.
The 25-year-old hooker was drafted in as a late inclusion for the trip to South America following concerns over clubmate George Turner, who has been struggling with illness.
“George Turner has picked up a bit of an illness so we just wanted a bit of coverage there,” Scotland defence coach Tandy explained.
“Johnny has been firmly in our thoughts and round the discussions for selection.
“At Glasgow you’ve got Fraser Brown and George Turner, and Johnny has really matched up with them and performed in some big games. It’s an exciting opportunity for him but also for us to work closely with him.”
Turner remains in contention to feature on the tour which will include an A team game against Chile next weekend and then three Tests against Argentina.
However, it was announced on Friday that Gloucester fly-half Adam Hastings and Harlequins’ Huw Jones have withdrawn from the squad due to hamstring and back issues respectively. No replacements have been called in for either player.
“It’s unfortunate for the boys missing out but we feel round the backline we’ve got enough cover there to take on the tour,” said Tandy, explaining why no new backs have been called in ahead of the squad’s departure for South America this Sunday.
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I like Andy’s critical approach to all hot issues especially when it comes to the rugby big “bosses”. However, sorry Andy, I don’t support your “we shouldn’t be questioning the integrity of Karl Dickson or any other official”. May I ask why? They do have a lot of responsibility, but they are people like us with all their sins and weaknesses. We have to respect their decision during the games, but why they became untouchable afterwards and people cannot even criticize them and the ones, who does express their concerns, got punished for publicly analyzing their mistakes and asking questions. If they believe they did right, there shouldn’t be a problem for any of the refs to answer these “questions” publicly. I don’t really remember such cases. However, I do remember how Craig Joubert shown his running skills in 2015 or Pascal Gauzere shined in Cardiff in 2021. I do believe that Rassie, as anybody else, had a full right to share his vision of Nic Berry’s performance the same year. I do not support the hate in any form especially in public one, but creating the cast of untouchable refs and rugby bosses is not for me. As for Karl, he had all means to question his appointment for the game and since I don’t now whether he did it, blaming just RFU wouldn’t be quite correct at this moment. I love the game of rugby and almost every time I watch it I don’t support any team, I just wanna see the good game and fair referring. Sorry, Karl. last Saturday you got my Craig Joubert”s award of the round. It is up to Karl to prove that I am wrong, not to Andy or RFU’s corporate bla-bla-bla. Something like that…
Go to commentswell remember the blues had a guy called jed rowlands for a season. remember scott took his coaching team with him give him time
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