VERN Cotter is set to give some of his star names their first match of the Rugby World Cup warm-up campaign on Saturday as Scotland try to build on the weekend’s 16-12 win over Italy. The Italians are also expected to select some of their most experienced players as they seek revenge at Murrayfield for the loss in Turin.
Mark Bennett and his Glasgow team-mate Jonny Gray are among the first-choice players who should start against Italy as Cotter seeks to ensure that a first win in seven games will be the start of a lasting improvement. “Mark hasn’t played and he tells me he’s very keen to play,” the Scotland head coach said of the centre, who had shoulder surgery in April. “We haven’t seen Jonny Gray and he will get a run next week,” he added of the lock, who has risen to the top of the second-row rankings ahead of his brother Richie.
“We will see guys who haven’t played in the first two games play [at Murrayfield],” Cotter continued. “It will have been important for them to have seen some good performances from their team-mates, and we’ve seen how Italy play. They’ll probably change next week with the World Cup in mind and will want to get something out of it.
“I expect the same physical, confrontational game from them, because that’s how they play. They have a very good scrum and lineout and are very aggressive at ruck time.”
While pleased with the win in the Stadio Olimpico, Cotter insisted there was still substantial room for improvement. “A lot of positives came out of it. Most of all we wanted a team performance.
“We need to improve a few things - discipline is one of them - and when we do we’ll get better. Strategically, apart from a few areas I thought we maintained the game plan and stuck to it. Within that, the players expressed themselves.
“We found a way to win. The score was very similar to the score we had a few months ago [when Italy won 22-19 at Murrayfield]. It’s very important to build on this next week. Rugby is a construction game. You put the pieces together and build them. You lay foundations.
“To come through a game and lose narrowly last week . . . . we did some good things. But it could have gone either way, so we need to improve, be more accurate. We can perform better.”
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