Hamish Watson admits Scotland World Cup selection is 'bit of a guessing game'

Hamish Watson during a Scotland training session at Oriam.

Watson has been a cornerstone of the national side for the best part of a decade and his palmarès include three Calcutta Cup wins, being named Player of the Six Nations in 2021 and a British & Irish Lions Test cap from later that year when he played in the first Test win over South Africa. He is one of only a handful of players in the current Scotland squad who have experience of beating the Springboks, which could be a useful asset in the World Cup opener against the holders in Marseille on September 10.

The previous two tournaments have dealt Watson a cruel hand but he knows he will need to prove himself all over again in the next couple of weeks to ensure his place on the plane to France. Competition for back-row places is fierce and Scotland’s forthcoming double header with the host nation will be used by Gregor Townsend as the final arbiter as he prepares to trim his squad down from 41 to 33.

“Whenever you go into these games before a World Cup you know you might only get one shot or one game to show what you can do,” said the Edinburgh player. “Obviously the coaches know all the players pretty well anyway - it’s not a very new squad, which is good - there’s continuity within the squad. We know we’re going to have to be at our best collectively, but also individually you’re going to have to put your best foot forward, which is a bit of added pressure as well. But that’s the way it is.”

Watson wasn’t involved in last weekend’s win over Italy, Scotland’s first warm-up match, but is likely to start against France at Murrayfield on Saturday. “I thought my form was coming good at the end of the Edinburgh season so it’s about trying to pick up where I left off,” he said. “I know it’s sometimes a bit easier said than done and I think that’s what everyone is going to try and do.”

There was a time, not so long ago, when the Scotland back row almost picked itself: Watson at openside, Jamie Ritchie on the opposite flank and Matt Fagerson at No 8. The arrival on the scene in the last year of two of Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey and Luke Crosbie has strengthened the pool but also created a bit of a headache for Townsend. A try-scoring appearance off the bench from Josh Bayliss against Italy last Saturday only served to complicate things further. Watson is acutely aware that not all seven back-rowers will go to the World Cup and has not been given any indication of how many Townsend will select.

“It’s a bit of a guessing game,” said Watson. “There are seven in the squad at the moment and there are 33 players going. So imagine it’ll be five or six. It might depend on whether they take a second row who can play that position. Who knows?”

Sam Skinner would fit the latter category but the suspicion is that Townsend may take as many six dedicated back-rowers. Bayliss may be the unlucky one. He wasn’t in the coach’s original World Cup training squad but was drafted in to replace the injured Saracens flanker, Andy Christie.

At 31 and with most caps, Watson is the most experienced member of the back-row coterie but wouldn’t be drawn on the current hierarchy. “You’re asking the wrong person to pick pecking orders but I think if you don’t back yourself you’re doing the wrong job,” he said. “There is an amazing group of players in that back row and it’s probably one of the most hotly contested positions. It’s going to be tough. Boys have come in who have made that group more competitive. You’ve just got to try to play really well and then I guess it’s up to the coaches.

“Any competition that comes in, whether they’re older or younger or just had a really good season with their club, it drives the other players in the group. We’re all competitive people, that’s why we are what we are in our sport. We’ve always had to compete for stuff and that’s the way you want it. You never want to rest on your laurels.

“If, as you say, the team picked itself 18 months ago then that’s probably not the position you want to be in as a player, especially at international level. You want there to be a competitive edge, you want it to be hard at training, you want to look at other players and be driven on by them, or vice versa, and I think that’s what we’ve got at the moment in the back row, and across the board, really.”

Watson admitted his previous World Cup experience was a motivating factor. He was left out of the squad for the 2015 tournament in England and then suffered a serious knee injury in the opening match against Ireland four years later in Japan which ended his participation. “2015 was pretty disappointing. I remember after that game against Italy getting cut and it was pretty gutting, even as a young lad. You hope you’ll have another chance which I did in 2019 and felt really good going into that World Cup, playing really well in those summer Tests. But then I was injured towards the end of the first half against Ireland.

“It’s a bit of extra motivation but you don’t want to look too far ahead. If you start doing that you end up not playing well in these warm-up games. For everyone, it’s a case of not looking too far ahead and getting on the plane to France and going from there.”