6N: Scotland v Ireland: home squad get clean bill of health as two Irish forwards are ruled out
Yesterday at 05:00 PM
THE Scotland squad that saw duty in Sunday’s 31-19 win over Italy have all been passed fit to play against Ireland on Sunday, assistant coach Pieter de Villiers said today. By contrast, two key forwards have been ruled out by the visitors – although another two members of their squad have overcome their injuries.
The two players who will not be available to the defending Six Nations champions are tighthead prop Tadhg Furlong and second-row Joe McCarthy. Furlong, who has played the last six Tests for the British & Irish Lions, missed Ireland's win over England with a calf injury, while McCarthy also sat out the 27-22 victory in Dublin with concussion.
Ireland had hoped they would be back for the trip to Edinburgh, but their scrum coach, John Fogarty, said: "The game will come too soon for them."
'Washed-Up Warriors' embark on epic cycling challenge
TOL Pod: Episode 28: Ciao bella!
Obituary: Peter 'PC' Brown: an inspirational Scotland captain who did things his own way
However, Fogarty had better news about two other players who were injury doubts for the game in Edinburgh. Finlay Bealham, who started in the No 3 jersey instead of Furlong, injured an ankle against England. And wing Mack Hansen needed treatment on a cut knee.
Speaking after a squad training session, Fogarty said: "They trained just now. It looks positive for both of them. They took part in the full session and should be ready."
While Furlong in particular is a big miss, De Villiers, Fogarty’s counterpart in the Scotland coaching team, insisted that Ireland still have formidable strength in depth. "They are a team with depth, and I think Bealham has done really well for them,” he said. “He’s a strong low scrummager and as a unit, they fire well.
"So there certainly isn’t any weakness – because their depth is up there. Ireland have shown in the past that whatever changes happen to their collective, they tend to have that collective as their strength."
Of course, there are still two key absentees from the Scotland ranks – squad captain Sione Tuipulotu, who is out for the whole tournament, and lock Scott Cummings, who will miss most if not all of it. However, the squad picked up no new injuries in the victory over Italy, while Sam Skinner, who was drafted into the squad at the start of the week, now seems to be in contention for a place in Sunday’s matchday 23.
“It was a physical game,” De Villiers said of the Italian match. “I thought Italy played well and really brought the game to us. It wasn’t perfect, far from it. But we started well, which we wanted to do. We ended well, which we wanted to do. So we have to fix that middle part.
“But we came through that without any injuries, which shows resilience as well from a physical perspective and that’s positive.
"Sam is fit,” the assistant coach continued. “He’s come back well with his club and he brings balance to our skill set in terms of the locks. That gives Gregor [Townsend] the best possibility to go and make his choices in terms of what he wants for [Sunday].
“We’ve got physicality, we’ve got youth, we’ve got experience. Sam brings a lot of lineout experience in terms of calling and he also brings a lot of maul experience as well. So that leaves Gregor and JD [forwards coach John Dalziel] with the best possible mix in terms of making the right decisions for [Sunday].”
Scotland have lost the last 10 games against Ireland, with the last victory having come in 2017 during Vern Cotter‘s last Six Nations campaign as head coach before he was replaced by Townsend. That losing run has included a couple of comprehensive losses, but De Villiers believes his team are edging closer to getting it right.
"Over the years, we've grown consistently against them. So it’s time for us to go and look for a win against them. When you play one of these top teams and they’re ranked higher than you, it’s always going to take time to go and construct that win.
"It’s important for us to be sure that we get everything we want to do right – and consistently right – to be able to go and get that win.
"You have to grow as a team and that growth sometimes comes over time. Believing in it and making sure for 80 minutes you get everything in every department right – I think the players are all in a good place with regards to that."
- You can book your Six Nations hospitality and VIP tickets with Seat Unique HERE, an Official Hospitality Partner of The Murrayfield Experience
The post 6N: Scotland v Ireland: home squad get clean bill of health as two Irish forwards are ruled out appeared first on Scottish Rugby News from The Offside Line.
