The Scotsman Rugby Show - Scotland v Wales preview - video Dailymotion

The Scotsman

Graham Bean and Mark Atkinson preview Scotland's next Six Nations match against Wales.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to this episode of the Scotsman Rugby Show. I'm Mark Atkinson, Scotsman Sports

00:06Editor and I'm joined today by our Chief Rugby Writer, Graeme Bean, ahead of Scotland's next

00:12Six Nations match against Wales. Graeme, good morning. Another Six Nations week for us.

00:19Match day four. Big one for Scotland, this against Wales. Really need to react after

00:22losing to England last time out.

00:25Yes, it's a huge game for Scotland. I think there's an expectation that Scotland will win,

00:34given the contrasting fortunes of the two teams. But Wales showed signs of a revival in that match

00:43against Ireland a couple of weeks ago, so I think Scotland are rightly wary going into this game.

00:49I think the new manager bounce that Fraser Brown, our columnist, talked about could still

00:57have an impact this weekend. We'll see what sort of Wales team turn up at Murrayfield.

01:03Of course, Wales parted company with Warren Gatland last month and their performance against

01:08Ireland was far more like the Wales that we've known over the last decade. Conversely, Scotland

01:15had that agonising 16-15 loss against England. But it would be fair to say that Gregor Townsend

01:21hasn't thrown the baby out of the bathwater. He's just made one change for the game. And Darcy

01:28Graham coming back in, did that surprise you at all? No, I don't think so. I think Scotland played

01:33really well at Twickenham, especially in the first half. They dominated and they really should have

01:39won the match. Maybe they didn't do the most of the possession and territory they had.

01:47So he stuck with the team. He's been very consistent with the selection throughout

01:50this championship actually. So yeah, Darcy Graham's back fit and available. So he comes in for Kyle

01:57Rowe on the right wing, the only change to the starting 15. I was a bit unlucky for Kyle Rowe

02:04because he played very well at Twickenham. But Darcy's such an important player for Scotland

02:10I don't think it's a surprise that he's brought straight back in. He's such a dangerous attacker,

02:16isn't he? So Darcy Graham on one wing and Doohan on the other is a great option to have.

02:22It's a team, Graeme, that you could say is set up for a positive response. It's about as strong

02:27as Townsend could go. It is, yeah. Yeah, definitely. It's a very experienced team as

02:35well. I think we saw against England how devastating Scotland's backs can be when they're

02:41on song and they're getting good ball. They outscored England by three tries to one. They

02:48just didn't perhaps make the most of all these entries into England, 22 that they had and

02:56obviously Finn Russell had about an off day on the kicking tee. But it's a game.

03:04It's two weeks ago but we're still harking back to this match at Twickenham. It just seemed like

03:08such a missed opportunity. Scotland end up losing by one point and it's made such a difference to

03:17how this campaign is now shaping up. If Scotland were to lose to Wales that would be three defeats

03:24in a row and we'd all be doom and gloom. But I don't think they will. I think they are too

03:32strong for Wales. I think they've got better players and they've got more experienced players

03:36and there's a greater consistency of selection throughout this Scotland team. So I think they

03:42will be too strong. You mentioned Finn Russell. There's been a lot made of the three kicks that

03:49he missed. Gregor Townsend was pretty strong again in his defence of his stand-off. There's

03:55really no change to the kicker, is there? We've got to remember that Finn Russell last season was

04:01almost perfect from the tee, wasn't it? He was. He was brilliant. His conversion rate was excellent

04:07and was 96% I think it was across the championship which was the best of any of the goal kickers in

04:13the tournament. He struggled a wee bit. I think he got three out of five against Italy in the

04:17opening game and then he didn't kick against Ireland because he went off after around 20

04:23minutes. So he didn't get a chance to take any of the kicks. Against England he missed all three

04:28conversion attempts. There was no penalty opportunities. So I think that gives him

04:32three from eight in total which is obviously not great for a frontline goal kicker. But

04:38Gregor Townsend was absolutely 100% behind sticking with Russell as a goal kicker yesterday.

04:45I mean there are other options in the team. Blair Kinghorn is a kick and they've got George

04:50Horne on the bench. There's also Tom Jordan too. But Russell's done this for a number of years

04:55and I think you've got to stick with him, haven't you? You've got to show faith with the man. He's

05:02not the sort of character that gets phased by misses. He's a very cool customer and I'm sure

05:10he'll step up to the mark again tomorrow. Finally, Graham, you mentioned Fraser Brown's column,

05:17former Scotland's Nationalist who writes for the Scotsman. He made the point that should Scotland

05:22do the unthinkable and lose here, it could be a very uncomfortable position for the SRU

05:29in regards to Gregor Townsend's long-term future. It does feel like we've reached another fork in

05:36the road in terms of Townsend's tenure in this little spell of games. Should he get the victory

05:43against Wales and a good performance against France, it almost erases the pain of the past

05:48couple of matches. But if they were to lose, it would really heap the pressure on him.

05:54Do you agree with that assessment from Fraser Brown and do you believe that this Scotland team,

06:01as you said, can go and beat Wales but also go to Paris in the last game and still be a

06:06really big force? Yeah, I think they certainly can beat Wales. I think going to Paris in the last

06:13day, that's a much tougher match obviously. They've won there before under Townsend.

06:20I think it's important to note as well that Townsend's contracted until

06:23April 2026 so he's got another full season after this one. If they were to lose to Wales at home,

06:32I think there would start to be a little bit of pressure building on them and

06:39they'd go into that France game under the cosh. But I can't see that happening to be honest.

06:46I think Scotland are too strong. This is Gregor Townsend's eighth season. I think people do

06:55anything like politics and sports. People get bored of the same leader, don't they, after a

06:59while and people start to get a little bit impatient, start agitating for change. So,

07:05yeah, we'll see what happens. I think there's a bit of pressure on Townsend in this game

07:08tomorrow but as I say, I think he'll be fine because I think the Scotland team is too strong

07:13for Wales. I like that optimism, Graeme. Fingers crossed we'll have all the coverage of a win,

07:20a defeat or maybe even a draw on scotland.com and in the newspapers. Graeme, I know you've got a

07:25press conference to attend this morning. The captain's run so we'll let you crack off to

07:29Murrayfield and we'll have all the coverage over the weekend. Thank you for joining us and goodbye.

07:34Thanks.

The Scotsman Rugby Show - Scotland v Wales preview

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