Stuart McInally has chance to stake claim for World Cup captaincy

Stuart McInally and the Scotland team took the tram to Edinburgh Airport to catch their flight to Nice. Picture: SNS

The 29-year-old was the first Scot to lift international rugby’s oldest trophy for a second year running in a dark blue jersey for 35 years and will lead the national side again in Nice today as head coach Gregor Townsend’s men finally get to unleash the summer-long frustration of training in this evening’s first World Cup warm-up Test against France on the Riviera.

The competition for World Cup captaincy is between McInally, the veteran scrum-half and former skipper Greig Laidlaw, who isn’t involved this weekend, and Edinburgh flanker John Barclay, who held the role before his Achilles injury and does play in the south of France this evening

“Me and John get on very well,” said McInally with a smile at BT Murrayfield yesterday before the squad departed for the Côte d’Azur,

“It’s great having him on the pitch because when I got my first real involvement with Scotland, he was the captain. It’s now great to be in that leadership group with him, you learn so much. You’ve got Hoggy [full-back Stuart Hogg] there as well and Gilco [Edinburgh lock Grant Gilchrist]. It’ll be an easy job for me being captain.”

McInally added: “John and I get on really well and he speaks so well on defence. Throughout training he just steps up and talks on that so I don’t have to worry about speaking on everything. Everyone’s just happy to lead and contribute. It’s not a big deal.”

McInally endured the trauma of missing out on the last World Cup, England 2015, when he injured his neck days before the squad’s departure.

“I’ve actually not thought about it, and I am being honest when I say that,” said McInally. “I’m really just focusing on these warm-up games. The captaincy is something I’m happy doing. If I do get the opportunity, wow, it’d be a great honour and a really proud moment.

“But there are so many other great leaders on the squad who can lead this team. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

A back-row player in the first part of his career before converting to hooker, McInally has had some difficult moments to deal with. But, after finally earning his first Scotland cap against Italy in Turin in 2015 before misfortune struck, he is now looking like the leading contender to lead the nation to Japan next month.

“I get a lot support from the coaches and it’s a confidence boost to be picked as captain, no doubt,” he continued. “I’m very proud to do that. Even these warm-up games, it’s still a Test match for Scotland. A chance to captain my country is always a massive honour for me.”

McInally’s Edinburgh club coach Richard Cockerill, whose 27 England caps will be surpassed by his protégé tonight when he makes it 28 for Scotland, has labelled him as one of the best hookers in the world on current form.

Scotland forwards coach Danny Wilson agrees. “I think he’s extremely rounded as a professional and as a player. I’ve been really impressed with him since before I worked with him.

“As an opposition coach [with Guinness Pro14 side Cardiff Blues] I could see the quality of the player, and since coming into the environment I have seen it in spades.

“And not just the player – the leader and the person he is as well – he’s very important to the environment. He’s very level-headed, great leadership skills, and we all see that week in and week out. He always gives 110 per cent, whether that is with Edinburgh or Scotland.

“He’s improved aspects of his game. To think he came from back-row to hooker, and now the level he throws and scrummages. The depth we are starting to create at hooker – him and Fraser [Brown] have battled it out for a long time, and now the two younger lads at Glasgow coming through – is great for us.”

Wilson agreed that the journey McInally has been on in terms of a positional switch and injury setbacks have added to the character of what seems to be Scotland’s leader heading into next month’s World Cup.

“Massively. We’ve got to be patient with players, and patient with experiments like that,” said Wilson of McInally’s move from the back to the front row,

“Sometimes the natural thing feels like to say straight away that something isn’t working so it must be a bad decision, but Stuart is a prime example of a good decision which was made for him to change position, and to allow him the time for it to organically happen – maybe by dropping down a level for a while to get used to it – as opposed to forcing it, and look what comes out the other end: a player who in my opinion is a world-class hooker.”

McInally added: “A lot of people just see you playing 80 minutes on the pitch but I am aware of all the work that goes in. It makes it all the more special.”