Six Nations: Andy Robinson looks to Greig Laidlaw to turn team around
Greig Laidlaw will start against Wales. Picture: Ian Rutherford
SCOTLAND coach Andy Robinson has placed his faith in Edinburgh scrum-half-turned-stand-off Greig Laidlaw to usher in a new try-scoring era for his Test side when they head to Wales on Sunday looking to right their RBS Six Nations campaign.
Glasgow stand-off Duncan Weir comes in for Laidlaw on the bench and Stuart Hogg, the Hawick teenager who has been in fine form with Glasgow this season, replaces the experienced centre Graeme Morrison among the replacements. Both players are uncapped, and the other change is a first call-up to the Test squad for Glasgow prop Ed Kalman, who provides the front row cover.
Hogg and Weir both scored tries in the A team’s win over the Saxons, and Kalman was part of a fine A team effort. Robinson said: “I’ve always stressed the importance of the ‘A’ team and the part that Duncan and Stuart played in the game at Netherdale last week is another reason for my continued excitement and belief in Scottish rugby.”
He also paid tribute to Laidlaw’s ability to move from the scrum-half position to fill a gap at Edinburgh and go on to prove that he has the quality to make the step up to the next level.
“He is a gifted footballer who is acclimatising very well to the differing demands of the stand-off position from having spent most of his career at scrum-half.”
He confirmed that Dan Parks had not figured in his plans for this weekend’s match, but revealed that Parks had intimated he was considering retiring after the World Cup, only for him to rethink when Robinson was left without his first-choice fly-half Ruaridh Jackson due to injury.
He added: “Having lost last weekend I believe the time is right to move on and look to developing our emerging talent at stand-off.”
Scotland team to play Wales at the Millennium Stadium Cardiff on Sunday (kick-off 3pm):
15 R Lamont (Glasgow Warriors)
14 L Jones (Edinburgh)
13 N De Luca (Edinburgh)
12 S Lamont (Scarlets)
11 M Evans (Castres)
10 G Laidlaw (Edinburgh)
9 C Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors)
1 A Jacobsen (Edinburgh)
2 R Ford (capt, Edinburgh)
3 G Cross (Edinburgh)
4 R Gray (Glasgow Warriors)
5 J Hamilton (Gloucester)
6 A Strokosch (Gloucester)
7 R Rennie (Edinburgh)
8 D Denton (Edinburgh)
Substitutes:
16 S Lawson (Gloucester)
17 E Kalman (Glasgow Warriors)
18 A Kellock (Glasgow Warriors)
19 J Barclay (Glasgow Warriors)
20 M Blair (Edinburgh)
21 D Weir (Glasgow Warriors)
22 S Hogg (Glasgow Warriors)
Referee: Romain Poite (France). Assistant referees: Peter Fitzgibbon and Simon McDowell (both Ireland). TMO: Giulio de Santis (Italy)
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Comments
There are 30 comments to this article
Page 1 of 2
MrJaffa
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 02:10 PM#29....what a clown....... so we should be picking players purely based on their age should we????? sorry mate....you are the best stand off we have, but you are 26 so sorry...no thanks..............................you do realise he was a scrum half when he was 21.......... you have noticed that we only have 2 professional outfits in Scotland???? and that 5 years ago Dan Parks was stand off for one of them and Phil Godman was stand off for the other.....oh yes....we picked Godman......we thought he was the young running stand off we needed.....and....and....and.....he wasnt..................... This is international rugby for goodness sake........You pick the best player for every position. If the best player is 21.....you pick him...... If the best player is 31 .....you pick him............. I dont remember many complaints for playing Chris Paterson when he was 28 onwards........ I dont hear many complaints about Alan Jacobsen???? I am more than happy to take potentiall 4 or 5 years of top quality rugby from a 26 year old if he is the best player.
R Green
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 07:35 PMI've just discovered disturbing news. Greig Laidlaw is 26, yes 26 years old. Now this is probably nothing new to most people on this site, but to me this is shocking. This is the future of scottish rugby, this is the promise!! A 26 year old. Saints preserve us. Dan carter was capped at 21 and by his 26th birthday he had ran the British Lions ragged. Toby Flood was 21 when he first got capped. I knew rugby was struggling in this country...but...words fail me!!
La Barrière de Senlis
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 06:01 PMAlthough I would add a point about the last Scotland games, the focus is on the fly half and the back line, however last week we missed badly K.Brown, the ball from the break down was not clear and quick enough, and if a strong support to the ball carrier had been there, there were enough breaks to score at least 2 tries!
donsmalc
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 02:36 PMCussiter is a far more aware scrum half than Blair and it is good to see him paired with a proper stand off. Roy Laidlaw and Gary Armsrong would have struggled with Parks at 10. No comment about De Luca. He touched the ball about 6 times against England and lost it every time,time to give the young lads a chance.
Lola sport
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 02:02 PMJaffa your eating to many oranges its affecting your brain. I obviously refer to AR team choice re backs. I say Laidlaw 9 Weir 10 Scott 12 Sean 13 Danellie 14 Hogg 15. Jones should never be in, have to suffer watching his many errors at Edinburgh. Evans one try per eight games for Scotland and you think he should be in - get real. You are happy to risk so to speak Laidlaw as a newbe but not Scott or others. Did you see them in the A match, I did and many other games. A mass of newbes for England worked well in Calcutta match so why not us if ever there was a time to do it then it is now. You mostly have the back row i want. So where is your issue? With the addition of Visser i agree with your train of thought - it would be a set of backs that can and will score tries and take us to 2015 and beat England in the final 30-10. Did i say i am available as a SRU selector!!
jimmybro
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 01:58 PMFor my tuppence worth, that is not a bad team. Yes there are other players coming through who need a chance but after the dismal performance against England you'd hope that the players are hurting and looking to make amends. S Lamont has been alright at 12 in the past and I think he is there to give Greig some experienced support and to chop down Roberts when he goes on a run. Personally I think it will work ok. Although I always feel Sean plays best after he's been dropped so perhaps there is something missing in his pre-match motivation? The main problem we will face is that the Welsh backs looked awesome on Sunday and we are going to be doing well to contain them.
Mlyons1951
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 01:53 PMEvery single comment so far is about the backs. Nothing new there among rugby supporters but surely even some of them can see that rugby is about setting up a strong forward moving platform. Scotland's has gone backwards or, more frequently, sideways for a dozen years now. But hey it's not so much fun talking about forward skills!
donald marr
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:35 PM#20 Cusiter a much better player than Blair? I don't see it myself. Blair is the certainly the more dangerous runner. Not that I see No 9 as a problem particularly..Another lifeless performance at Cardiff could I fear, spell the end for Andy Robinson,under whom we have shown improvement, more due to young developing players like Gray and Denton,than anything else and certainly not selection policy.
Gogexile
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 11:58 AMAs an exiled Welshman I'm reasonably happy with AR's team selection for Sunday. Having watched lots of rugby in Scotland including the A match at Gala he has lots of options to choose from but to my mind he hasn't shown enough bold ambition this week. Hopefully if Wales win this Sunday they will do you a favour and AR will clear out some more deadwood, although I doubt it. I still believe lots of Scottish rugbt stems from identfying young players far too late. Players in Wales are identified for County Rugby at as young as 1112, here in Scotland the nearest you get to this is a two day session at local level (Key National Themes) at age 13 with no matches but boring off putting repetatve drills. Players need to be identified early and developed properly.
MrJaffa
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 10:40 AMCant actually believe some of the comments I am reading here....... #7 Lola - you seem to be saying that 9,10,11,12 are ok but 13-15 have all had their chance and should be dropped in favour of another 10,12 and a 10\15 along with one of the slowest wingers on the planet. By your comments I presume that you think that 1 game was enough for Lee Jones and he shouldnt play again? and drop Max Evans? you are having a laugh!.................12 is STILL the problem position for Scotland (it always was, the press just liked blaming the Australian 10)...... it would be great if Matt Scott could make the step up but it would be incredibly risky playing new players at 10 and 12. I suspect he might come closer to the reckoning come the summer. The 6 nations is too intense and pressurised to through them straight in (and he isnt available yet) but would love to see the following backs line up come the summer tour......... 9 - Blair\Cusiter\Lawson (they ARE all good), 10 - Laidlaw\Weir, 11 - Jones 12 - Scott, 13 - Evans, 14 - Visser, 15 - Hogg. By the summer Laidlaw Weir and Jones would have about 5 caps so not complete newbies and the scrum half and Evans would be experienced.......... who knows...... but I think that line up would score tries and could be the future as well.
tuton1056
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 09:32 AMThe selection of scrum half needs greater perspective outwith Cusiter and Blair. Both of them have the same problem. Their passing is very slow and both of them crab across the park. Cusiter's passing on Saturday was pretty poor. A lot of his passes were high and slow. However, he is a much better player than Blair, with more to offer in breaks and aggressive tackling. Need to get a scrum half with a very fast, long pass which gives the stand off an immedaite advantage. Don't know if Lawson is possibly the answer?
tuton1056
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 09:32 AMThe selection of scrum half needs greater perspective outwith Cusiter and Blair. Both of them have the same problem. Their passing is very slow and both of them crab across the park. Cusiter's passing on Saturday was pretty poor. A lot of his passes were high and slow. However, he is a much better player than Blair, with more to offer in breaks and aggressive tackling. Need to get a scrum half with a very fast, long pass which gives the stand off an immedaite advantage. Don't know if Lawson is possibly the answer?
jdships
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 09:02 AMWith what's at his disposal IMO Robinson has picked as good as it gets with the exception of Cusitor and perhapsLamont at No 12 . How after all these years Cusitor still cannot move the ball without taking that one more step we will never know .
braveheart64
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 06:03 AMDidn't think Robinson would make too many changes but at least Weir and Hogg are on the bench now.as i now live in Australia i must decide whether to get up and watch the game at 1am local time when i need to be up for work at 5am.This has always been my favourite fixture and i always have fond memories of the try fest in Cardiff in 1982 as that was on the day of my 18th birthday. After the heartbreak of 2 years ago dare we dream of winning this one?
bigrugbyfan
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 09:43 PMLaidlaw will benefit from Cusiter's tactical nous, Blair is not up to it I'm afraid. Sean Lamont at 12 remains a problem and I would bring in young Matt Scott as he has real passing ability. Of course Laidlaw at 9 and Weir at 10 might be another option since Laidlaw shows a great understanding of the game. still I'd get the team loaded with players who can pass the ball and play heads up rugby and not rely on systems.
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