Why Huw Jones pipped Rory Hutchinson for Scotland role and the prop plan to face All Blacks
Leading try-scorers are notable omissions
A try-scoring performance in Toulon’s win over Pau helped seal the deal for Huw Jones to win selection over the unlucky Rory Hutchinson for Scotland’s showdown with New Zealand in the Nations Championship on Saturday.
The battle to start at outside centre was one of the toughest calls Gregor Townsend had to make, particularly after the way Hutchinson played in the summer matches against Argentina and South Africa.
In the end, Jones’ recent form and his special connection with centre partner Sione Tuipulotu convinced Townsend that he should wear 13 against the All Blacks at Murrayfield.
It will be a hard one to take for Hutchinson who is not even named among the replacements. He is not the only one to miss out: there is no place in the match-day 23 for either Darcy Graham or Duhan van der Merwe, Scotland’s leading try-scorers of all time.
Kyle Rowe gets the nod ahead of Blair Kinghorn
Blair Kinghorn has to be content with a place on the bench, with Kyle Rowe preferred at full-back, and joining Kinghorn on the pine is his former Edinburgh team-mate Pierre Schoeman. Rory Sutherland will start at loosehead prop.
“They were tough selections,” said Townsend. “Huw has played a lot of rugby for us and played in those big performances in the Six Nations [victories] against France and England but missed out on the summer tour with injury concerns and also him moving to France.
“Rory [Hutchinson] played really well against Argentina and played well against South Africa too so he was the man in possession of the jersey and up until a week ago we didn't know who would be starting the 13.
“Huw put in an excellent performance for Toulon against Pau and we felt that performance backed up with his connection with Sione and the others in the squad just enabled him to get the opportunity to start.”
Regarding his decision to select Rowe ahead of Kinghorn, Townsend added: “Kyle has always played well for us. He's not had a huge amount of opportunities but he grabbed them in the summer. He was excellent against Argentina and South Africa. I think his form has been really good this season.
“Blair hasn't played that much rugby. I thought he got back into some brilliant form at the end of the season for us. He played against France and I thought he was one of our best players over in Dublin but he was at the back of a long year with the Lions and had a little injury niggle a few weeks ago.
Glasgow Warriors dominate the selection
“The last two weeks he's played well as a stand-off [for Toulouse]. He's had a lot of involvements and with him on the bench he'll be mainly covering back three and we're feeling that he's going to have a big impact on the game too.”
Townsend has picked an all-Glasgow back three to face the All Blacks, with the wing berths filled by Kyle Steyn and Jamie Dobie. In fact, the Warriors dominate the starting XV, supplying 10 players. Edinburgh, by contrast, provide only one, the hooker Ewan Ashman.
Townsend said club form was “a big factor in selection” and Glasgow are top of the United Rugby Championship but Edinburgh held that position until last weekend. It seems Townsend wants the capital side to show such form over a longer sample period.
Absence of Duhan and Darcy no real surprise
The absence of their wingers, Graham and van der Merwe, is no great shock given both have only returned recently from injuries (bicep and ankle, respectively). Indeed, both of their comebacks were cut short by further medical issues, with Graham missing the recent matches with the Lions and Benetton due to a calf problem, while van der Merwe lasted only 18 minutes of the Lions game due to a dislocated finger.
“Darcy had picked up another injury last week, so that's why he wasn't back playing for Edinburgh,” said Townsend. “It would have been great if he'd had another game.
“His calf had tightened up after the Lions game so he wasn't able to play last weekend, but he's trained fully this week, so he is available for selection. But last week he'd just been managed in training and Duhan obviously hasn't played enough rugby yet.”
Townsend also made it clear that Dobie and Steyn had now moved to the front of the queue for Scotland.
“They've started the last few games, they were starting in the Six Nations until Jamie got injured,” said the coach. “Jamie started the two big games in the summer and played really well and has been in great form.”
Schoeman on bench - but big role to play
Townsend sees Dobie as purely a winger for this match, with George Horne named on the bench as back-up scrum-half to Ben White.
In terms of the front row, he expects Schoeman to have a major role to play as Scotland seek an elusive first win over New Zealand. Nevertheless, Sutherland’s selection is something of a surprise, particularly as the Glasgow loosehead has played only once this season - against Benetton - due to a calf injury. He will be joined in the front row by regulars Ashman and Zander Fagerson.
“I think Pierre and Zander have been our number one props for a wee while now, but over the last season we've tried to mix things up on whether one of them starts off the bench and one of them starts at the beginning of games,” said Townsend
“Pierre came off the bench against Wales, made a really good impact, helped change the momentum in that game with others.
“We want to be able to get the best use of the four props, and this week we feel that's the right balance.”
Scotland are looking to build on the good start they made to their Nations Championship campaign in July. They sit second in the Northern Hemisphere standings as the competition resumes, while New Zealand also occupy second place in the Southern Hemisphere table.
Teams for Murrayfield Nations Championship clash
Scotland: Kyle Rowe; Kyle Steyn, Huw Jones, Sione Tuipulotu (capt), Jamie Dobie; Finn Russell, Ben White; Rory Sutherland, Ewan Ashman, Zander Fagerson, Gregor Brown, Scott Cummings, Matt Fagerson, Rory Darge, Jack Dempsey. Replacements: Gregor Hiddleston, Pierre Schoeman, Will Hurd, Max Williamson, Josh Baylish, George Horne, Tom Jordan, Blair Kinghorn.
New Zealand: Beauden Barrett; Will Jordan, Quinn Tupaea, Jordie Barrett, Josh Moorby; Damian McKenzie, Cam Roigard; Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor (capt), Fletcher Newell, Scott Barrett, Fabian Holland, Tupou Vaa'i, Peter Lakai, Wallace Sititi. Replacements: Asafo Aumua, George Bower, Pasilio Tosi, Christian Lio-Willie, Anton Segner, Cortez Ratima, Timoci Tavatavanawai, Rieko Ioane.
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU).
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