Rugby Archive

Scotland coaches have dished up a few wacky selection ideas down the years, but Scott Johnson was surely breaking new ground at Murrayfield yesterday when he unveiled his team to face Italy based, at least in part, on the hitherto unexplored principle of trichological determinism.

For a generation of Scottish rugby players who have repeatedly failed to produce results, time and patience may finally be running out.

Scotland's interim head coach Scott Johnson has been forced to make two changes to his side for this weekend's RBS 6 Nations clash with Italy.

Scotland's management today name the team who have the task of staying in touch with European rugby's elite.

Al Strokosch could miss the rest of the RBS 6 Nations Championship while eight of the Scotland A team that beat their English opponents on Friday have been drafted into the senior squad smarting from Saturday's comprehensive 38-18 defeat at Twickenham.

A subsidiary point was made in emphatic fashion at Twickenham on Saturday but the real questions will be answered by rugby's oldest international rivals in the coming week after England defended the Calcutta Cup considerably more impressively than they had done in Edinburgh one year ago.

If Alex Salmond feels the result of Scotland's independence referendum is looking a bit touch-and-go, then he could do worse than round up the don't-knows and bus them down to Twickenham for the day.

Scotland interim head coach Scott Johnson blamed his side's inability to match England at the breakdown yesterday as the principal reason for their defeat, and his viewpoint was supported by official match statistics that showed England won 106 rucks and mauls – almost twice as many as Scotland's 55.

Let's start with the good news.

As he prepares to send Scotland into battle for the first time as their head coach, against England at Twickenham, Scott Johnson has been lifted by a message from the man he replaced in the job.

Once Scotland's coaches had decided Al Kellock would not be in their starting XV in their RBS 6 Nations opener against England at Twickenham this afternoon, the only serious challenge to Kelly Brown's position as captain had gone.

SCOTLAND'S senior players were watching them on television at their team hotel in Surrey, and the country's second-stringers gave their viewers a massive fillip with a voracious and gutsy performance in gruesome conditions, built squarely on defence, but with alacrity in attack as well when the chances arose.

Scotland's management may have shown their touchy-feely side when they allowed Al Strokosch to take paternity leave as they gathered to prepare for the RBS 6 Nations Championship but there will be none of that at Twickenham tomorrow.

His new coach has warmly described Greig Laidlaw as a French-style scrum-half but, while he accepted the compliment gratefully, the man who makes his first Test start in his preferred position on Saturday knows there is a better place for Scottish scrum-halves to come from.