The Scotsman Rugby Show from Paris

The Scotsman

Chief rugby writer Graham Bean in Paris joins sports editor Mark Atkinson to discuss Scotland v Ireland in the World Cup.

Transcript

00:00 Hello and welcome to this episode of the Scotsman Rugby Show. My name is Mark Atkinson, Sports

00:09 Editor and I'm delighted to be joined this morning by our Chief Rugby Writer, Graham

00:13 Bean, who is by the looks of it sitting in a nice Parisian cafe enjoying a coffee. Good

00:18 morning Graham, how are you doing?

00:21 I'm good Mark, thank you, how are you?

00:25 Yeah, looks lovely where you are, a nice tree-lined cafe terrace that you're sitting in there.

00:32 Yeah, it's a nice early autumn sunshine, we're in Clichy, a little bit north-west of the

00:39 centre of Paris but it's very nice, yeah. It's a nice kind of quiet little place but

00:45 it's, yeah, looking forward to the game.

00:48 Yeah absolutely, I'm guessing you're probably well away from the masses of Scotland and

00:53 Ireland fans that are going to descend on Paris in the next 24 hours?

00:58 Yeah, I've seen one Ireland fan near where we live but no Scotland fans yet but I think

01:03 they'll be congregating around the centre pretty soon, today and tomorrow.

01:08 Absolutely, this is a huge match in the World Cup, we've all been building up to Scotland

01:14 and Ireland. To be honest, ever since the draw was made we knew this game was going

01:18 to have so many implications on the qualification. Teams were announced, we'll come to Arran

01:24 in a second but Scotland's the main one for us. There was one big surprise at scrum half,

01:30 wasn't there? Focus through, what were your thoughts on that?

01:36 Yeah, he's by and large shown faith with the same team that played South Africa in the

01:40 opening match, just one change at the start of 15 and that's at scrum half. Ali Price

01:45 has been brought back in for Ben White, which was a bit of a surprise. White's been our

01:52 number one scrum half for Scotland all year, from the start of the Six Nations right through

01:57 to the build-up to this tournament, played against South Africa and Tonga. But Price

02:04 is back, back at number nine. Gregor Townsend really talked him up yesterday, as you'd expect.

02:12 He cited his performance in the warm-up game against France, against Etienne, the way he

02:18 played when he came off the bench against South Africa and also the game against Romania

02:22 last week in which he scored a try in that fairly easy win. He also talked about the

02:31 way Price responded to being dropped from the team. He felt he handled it in a mature

02:36 way. He worked hard in training, he helped Ben White with his game. I think all these

02:43 reasons combined, he's decided that Price deserves another chance at number nine.

02:50 It must be a sore one for Ben White though, who, as you say, has been the scrum half of

02:57 choice for some matches now. We all expected him to be playing regularly in the big matches.

03:05 He's not even made the bench, has he, at Gomburg, with George Horn as the replacement scrum

03:09 half. Can you explain why they've done that versus Pomos and also just talk a little bit

03:13 about White himself?

03:14 Yeah, that's right. White's dropped out of the 23 entirely, which is harsh on him. I

03:22 think the reason really is George Horn is seen as a great option off the bench for Scotland.

03:28 He adds such pace when he comes on and he really gets things moving quickly. He's also

03:34 a good goal kicker as well. I think the logic is they want something like that on the bench.

03:41 Bring it on, last 20 minutes, change the tempo of the game, kick goals if required. To offer

03:48 something a little bit different as well. It's unfortunate for White but you can see

03:53 the logic in it.

03:54 Apart from that though, Graeme, as you alluded to, it's a very strong and settled Scotland

04:01 team. We've got the Hewpill Lotu centre partnership there, the back row as we expected. It's all

04:09 set up for the Scotland team to put in one last big performance. They need a bonus point

04:14 win or a win by an eight point margin to do the job. It's a tricky one for them, isn't

04:22 it?

04:23 Yes, it's really tough. It's really tough. But it is a show of faith by times and in

04:28 this kind of tried and trusted players, they didn't perform particularly well against

04:32 South Africa. I think there is a sense that they need to atone for that. They need to

04:37 show what they're really capable of on the biggest stage. A lot of the players are saying

04:43 it was all that was going to come down to this match. They knew that this was the decider.

04:48 I think it's a determination from the Scots to really try and put the proper Scotland

04:55 game out there and show that they're better than they played in that South Africa match,

05:00 which was a bit flat. Scotland's backs in particular just never really got going.

05:06 The bookmakers favour Ireland massively. They're not giving Scotland much of a hope. But I

05:11 know you were reading the keep, that respected French newspaper this morning. The French

05:18 media are giving Scotland a bit more of a chance. They're saying it's not beyond Scotland.

05:23 Is that right?

05:24 Yeah, that's right. It's quite interesting. They've got a spread in the game this morning

05:30 and the main part of it is about Ireland. But there's a bit of Scotland down there on

05:36 the bottom where the headline is.

05:42 So not impossible for Scotland, they're saying. Even though they've not been in Ireland since

05:47 2017, the players have displayed a self-confidence since the start of this World Cup, which makes

05:52 them believe in their destiny. That is what Jamie Ritchie was saying yesterday. It's the

05:59 biggest game of his career, he said. He used the phrase, "They're determined not to die

06:03 wondering." They're going to go out there, they'll give it absolutely everything. If

06:08 it's not enough, it's not enough. But this is the last chance for Scotland to do something

06:13 at this World Cup.

06:14 Ireland have got a very strong team. I think their only issue came at second row and they've

06:21 had to bring in Ian Henderson because of injuries. I think they made a change at hooker. I think

06:26 it's Dan Sheehan that's come in. But apart from that, their team is pretty settled too.

06:31 We're talking here about one of the best teams in the world and one of the best ever Irish

06:35 teams that we're going to have to beat here.

06:38 Yeah, I mean, they beat world number one for what was it now, 14 months I think. And in

06:45 a 16-game winning run, they beat New Zealand in New Zealand. They won the Six Nations,

06:51 the Grand Slam. They beat South Africa this tournament. They really think they can go

06:58 on and win this. The team is settled, they've got a strong squad. It's going to be so tough

07:07 for Scotland, especially the fact that they have to, it's not just a win for Scotland,

07:10 it's a win for Scotland. They've got to win and deny Ireland a bonus point in the process.

07:15 I don't think the bookmakers are getting much wrong, but Scotland have always got a chance.

07:22 What's the rest of the day got in store for you? We know Crickertown spoke yesterday,

07:26 but there's more press activity today, isn't there?

07:31 Yeah, we're going to head down to the Stade de France later and speak to the Scotland

07:38 camp. I think Steve Tandy, the defence coach, is speaking today along with Grant Gilchrist

07:44 and Hugh Jones to talk about tomorrow's game. And then obviously the match tomorrow, 9 o'clock

07:53 kick-off, French time at Stade de France, sold out. It should be an absolutely brilliant

07:59 atmosphere.

08:00 Yeah, it's a lot of drinking time for those Scottish and Irish fans tomorrow in Paris

08:07 ahead of a 9 o'clock kick-off. But it should be some atmosphere. And yeah, we're all very

08:12 much looking forward to it, although the expectation levels have to be tempered slightly, as we've

08:16 discussed here, Graeme.

08:17 I'm going to let you get on and read the rest of the keep and also finish the rest of your

08:21 coffee. Thank you for joining me this morning from Clichy in Paris. We'll have all of Graeme's

08:27 pieces from the game, the previews, reviews and analysis on the website and across the

08:32 newspapers over the weekend.

08:33 From myself and Graeme, it's goodbye for now.

08:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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