Gregor Townsend says that selecting close to a full-strength line-up for Scotland's final World Cup warm-up match was a no-brainier – despite the risk of key players suffering injuries against a notoriously physical Georgian outfit during Saturday’s clash at Murrayfield.
Full-back Blair a Kinghorn is fit but being rested after recovering from a minor quad injury suffered against France two weekends ago so Ollie Smith starts in the No 15 jersey, while Zander Fagerson is completing the second leg of his two-match suspension meaning WP Nel starts at tight-head prop.
Loose-head prop Pierre Schoeman, hooker George Turner, and second-row Richie Gray are the only other probable starters for Scotland’s World Cup opener against South Africa in Marseilles on 10th September not involved this weekend – with Jamie Bhatti, Dave Cherry and Sam Skinner starting in that trio’s place.
Ben White is fit again following an ankle injury so is selected at scrum-half, forming a half-back partner with lynchpin Finn Russell.
Meanwhile, Jamie Ritchie will captain the side from blindside flanker, in a back-row that also features Rory Darge at openside and Jack Demspey at No 8 – reinforcing the suspicion that Hamish Watson, one of the team’s most consistent performers during the last six years, is likely to be a bit-part player during the World Cup.
“Cohesion trumps avoiding the risk of injury in a big way,” said Townsend, after announcing the team yesterday afternoon. “If it was only one week until the World Cup then that would be a different discussion, but from our last game away to France it will be four weeks until we play South Africa.
“So, getting to play Georgia two weeks after France and two weeks before we play South Africa gives us the chance to give players a rest to recover from any niggles they might get this weekend and to build on cohesion.
“It’s really, really important that the team that we believe we will play against South Africa gets as many minutes on the field and plays together as much as possible.
“The team has changed over the last few weeks but across the three games there are connections being built and there are more minutes into our players as we approach a World Cup.
“The other thing is that there is just as much chance of picking up injuries in training,” he continued. “On Tuesday at training, there were three guys who stepped out. They’re all okay but at one stage we were worried because we’ve seen it before at training when someone steps out, sees the doctor and they’ve got a six-week injury and miss the World Cup.
“Training now is so intense, and it doesn’t have to be contacted to make it intense, it might just be you're running after a kick at 100 per cent and you change direction and a hamstring or a knee goes.
“So, the whole training-game gap is no longer there, and we just cross our fingers that guys don’t pick up injuries over the next few weeks, but it could easily happen in training as well as a game.
“If you ask the players whether they would rather have a game within that four-week period leading up to our first World Cup game or do nothing, 100 per cent they would all say yes.”
Asked if it would have been handier for Scotland to face a side that didn’t put quite as much emphasis on the combative side of rugby just two weeks out from the World Cup, Townsend replied: “This is the ideal game before we face South Africa.
“Georgia's biggest strengths are the scrum, maul, and in contact, and South Africa are one of the best teams in the world with their big strengths also being the scrum, maul, and contact – so, for the team and especially our forwards, this will be a great test for what’s coming.
“Georgia are a confident team," he added. "They’ve won 12 out of their last 13 games. They’ve played two Six Nations teams in that period – Italy and Wales – and beat them both. So, we know we are going to be up against a team who believe they can win this weekend.”
Whilst insisting that his focus over the next three days will be purely on the Georgia game, Townsend will despatch assistant coach Brad Mooar to Twickenham to scout South Africa as they take-on on New Zealand in their final World Cup warm-up match on Friday , before dotting over to Bayonne to see Ireland – who are also in Scotland’s pool – face Samoa on Saturday evening.
Scotland (v Georgia at Murrayfield Stadium, Saturday 5.30pm): O Smith; D Graham, H Jones, S Tuipulotu, D van der Merwe; F Russell (VC), B White; J Bhatti, D Cherry, W Nel, S Skinner, G Gilchrist (VC), J Ritchie ©, R Darge, J Dempsey. Substitutes: E Ashman, R Sutherland, J Sebastian, S Cummings, M Fagerson, G Horne, B Healy, C Harris.
