The fly (half) who came in from the cold

Oct 13, 2020

WELCOME: welcome one and all to the latest issue of the Thistle newsletter. International rugby is on the horizon and the excitement is building as Gregor Townsend names his Scotland squad for the Autumn Nations Cup. We give our take on Townsend’s selections and also look back at continued Pro 14 action, including the first pro team victory of the season, on top of all the important news from the last seven days in Scottish rugby. Subscribe below if you haven’t got us in your inbox every week.

SCOTLAND SQUAD: Gregor Townsend announced his Scotland squad for the upcoming Autumn Nations Cup. Here is the squad in full:

Perhaps the most pleasing news is the return of Finn Russell after his self-imposed/Toonie-mandated exile from the national set up, music to the ears of Scotland fans given his recent superlative form. It will also be fascinating to see what newly-Scots qualified Saffas Oli Kebble and Duhan van der Merwe bring to the party. A back three of Duhan, Graham/Maitland and Hogg is mightily exciting, while Kebble adds much-needed depth at loosehead.

Despite naming a large 40-man squad, there was no room for the “who he?” bolter selection that has become a favourite of Townsend’s in recent years. However, there were a few areas of contention:

Nick Grigg included ahead of Mark Bennett
James Lang recalled from the international wilderness, ahead of Matt Scott and (sacrilege) Chris Dean
Scott Steele versus Sam Hidalgo Clyne
Jamie Bhatti, currently 3rd choice loosehead at Edinburgh, chosen ahead of Alan Dell

These calls do not appear massively controversial however, and Townsend should be able to field a strong starting XV from the squad selected, particularly with an eye on Scotland’s outstanding Six Nations match up versus Wales.

Many fans (us included) were dismayed at the apparent omission of Northampton centre Rory Hutchison, yet reading the fine print he has not been included due to injury (alongside Luke Crosbie, Duncan Taylor, Kyle Steyn, Byron McGuigan and Alex Craig)

What are the readers’ thoughts on the Scotland squad? Leave a comment below!

For more on the squad, we cover it all in our latest podcast as well. Download it here.

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PRO 14 RESULTS: Glasgow picked up their first win of the new Pro 14 season, defeating the Scarlets 20-7 on Sunday evening at Scotstoun. Glasgow took a deserved 10-0 lead into the second half, with the impressive Oli Kebble crossing and Hastings adding 5 points with the boot. Scarlets second row Sam Lousi was then red-carded for a direct hit on Tagive’s chin, which sadly led to the winger being removed for an HIA after looking sharp for the first 50 minutes of the match. Ryan Wilson soon added another score, and it looked like the Warriors would cruise to a comfortable BP victory. However, Glasgow decided to make our Sunday evening viewing as stressful as possible, with ill discipline and poor tactical control allowing the 14-man Scarlets back into the match. Fair play to Danny Wilson’s charges though, for keeping out the challenge and picking up their first win of the season.

Before Saturday evening’s match in Limerick, Edinburgh fans might have been reasonably happy coming away from Munster with a bonus point loss. However, given the capital side were in the lead up until the 75th minute, it does feel like Cockerill’s charges conspired to throw away a match they really should have won - a common theme of recent months. An improvement on Ospreys last week, yet we feel this rather sums up the current mood at mini-Murrayfield:

YOU’VE BEEN TANGO’D: Here at the Thistle we love nothing more than lampooning a new kit launch. Disappointingly, recent releases have actually been pretty decent, namely the new Scotland number and Glasgow’s Caledonia Reds inspired training kit. And then along came the new Edinburgh training kit, modelled below by the delighted/confused/gutted Mark Bennett and Andrew Davidson. Apparently channelling Edinburgh’s famous ‘burnt orange’ colours (no, us neither), the strip brings to mind Dundee United, Tango and Donald Trump after an overzealous fake tan application. Or is it a play for Irn-Bru sponsorship? Regardless, hopefully this number remains firmly on the training paddock.

CLUB RUGBY - WHEN WILL WE SEE YOUR LIKES AGAIN? As expected, club rugby in Scotland has been pushed back to January 2021 at the earliest, as a result of recent Covid developments. While the news is not exactly a huge surprise - it has been reported that over a dozen clubs have returned positive cases in recent weeks - it is yet another blow to the amateur game in Scotland, albeit public health concerns are clearly the priority here. Clubs based in the Central Belt, the recent subject of stricter government restrictions, will drop back to Stage Two of the SRU’s Return to Rugby Roadmap, meaning they are limited to individual training and no contact.

In addition, the SRU announced this week that the Super 6 Sprint Series planned for the autumn has been cancelled, with a view to working towards a full fixture card in Spring of 2021. When will it all end?!

FINN OR HOGG? This weekend’s Champion Cup final between the Exeter Chiefs and Racing 92 at Bristol’s Ashton Gate (16.45 KO) should be an absolute cracker, that will also see a guaranteed Scottish winner at the close of play. Exeter are perhaps the slight favourites, their monster pack allied with the guile of Hogg, Slade, Nowell and co making light work of Toulouse and Bath in recent weeks.

However, as demonstrated in their semi-final against Saracens, Racing can hold their own in tight contests before unleashing the magic combo of Finn and French centre Vakatawa, enough to terrify any defense.

We are backing Exeter to do the business, which would mean winners’ medals for Hogg, Gray, Skinner and SHC. However, for the greater good of Scottish rugby, and his chances of making the Lions tour/pushing for a test spot, it really would be something to see Finn lead Racing to the title.

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GLASGOW STRENGTHEN: Glasgow Warriors added further to their squad this week with the signing of Samoan flanker TJ Ioane on loan from London Irish. The 31-year old brings plenty of experience, having previously played for the Highlanders and Sale Sharks, whilst amassing 25 caps for his country.

Whilst it is no doubt a difficult hiring market at present, we cannot help but feel slightly underwhelmed by the signing. In the last 2 years Ioane has only made 20 appearances for London Irish, one of the weakest teams in the Gallagher Premiership, and is reasonably long in the tooth. Recent Glasgow discards Matt Smith and Adam Ashe might feel understandably hard done by at the news, which begs some questions over the current recruitment policy at Scotstoun.

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SCOTS ABROAD

Exeter booked their place in a second final for the season, overcoming a strong Bath side in their Premiership semi-final clash, with no small help from their “Kilted Devonians” Hoggy, Jonny Gray, Sam Skinner and SHC. Hogg picked up a nice try and looked just as sharp as he has in recent weeks, Gray continues to impress as part of a mammoth pack (even drawing the admiration of everyone’s favourite rugby journo Stephen Jones), and Skinner and SHC did their bit from the bench
Finlay Christie helped his Tasman side to a comfortable victory over North Harbour, while second row Hamilton Burr featured in Waikato’s defeat of Counties Manukau.
Laidlaw has landed in Japan and the NTT Communications Shining Arcs (actual name) announcement was…unique

THIS IS JUST A TRIBUTE: There is nothing we love more than a well put together Scottish player YouTube tribute and we’ve spied a couple this week. See here for eight minutes of Finn Russell doing what Finn Russell does and see here for five minutes of Darcy Graham tearing up trees for Edinburgh and Scotland.

COOKIE MONSTER: John Pennycuick aka Cookie is the Scottish Kit Store Manager and often heralded as one of the good guys in Scottish rugby. Jim Hamilton did a fascinating interview with him last week which you can catch here

DOWN WITH THE KIDS: Pro 14 have clearly got the memo and decided they need to do more to engage with Gen Z/Millennials/Young People etc

How do you do, fellow kids? - Funny post - Imgur

This week saw the Pro 14 launch round 1 of their ‘Bad Lip Reading’ episodes which copies the highly successful series launched by the NFL a few years ago - see the full video here. Execution needs to improve dramatically but we like the initiative and anything that gets people talking about the Pro 14 is a good thing in our book

PLUGGING: You can subscribe to the podcast here: https://play.acast.com/s/thethistle

The Thistle Newsletter

The fly (half) who came in from the cold

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