Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend’s starting XV selection for tomorrow night’s World Cup Pool B decider against Ireland in Paris threw up one minor surprise, with Ali Price being handed the No 9 jersey as reward for his fine form off the bench at this tournament and when starting against minnows Romania last weekend.
However, it is the bench selection that really shines a light on Scotland’s mindset going into this game.
Needing to win by eight points, the conclusion has clearly been reached that grinding their way to glory is not tenable against arguably the best streetfighters in world rugby, so Scotland will look to stay in the contest for the first hour then throw the kitchen sink at Ireland in the final 20.
The out-of-sorts Ben White – who has been Scotland’s first choice scrum-half when fit throughout this calendar year – has been dropped out of the match-day 23 altogether, meaning George Horne will be asked to come on to inject tempo during the closing stages.
Meanwhile, the six-two split between forward and backs replacements, which includes the selection of two back-rowers in Matt Fagerson and Luke Crosbie, is designed to facilitate the sort of fast ball off which the Scottish backline pride themselves on being able to wreak havoc.
"We feel that Ali has played really well during this period and trained very well,” explained Townsend. "He was excellent over in St Etienne [for Scotland’s warm-up match against France], he was very good off the bench against South Africa and we saw what he'd been doing in training during that Romanian game.
"The accuracy in his pass, the confidence in where he is in terms of taking on defenders, making passes which lead to tries, all that is great as he's been a key player for us over the last six or seven years.
"For him to be back in that excellent form is a real boost. I have to say it was a difficult decision as Ben started for us in the Six Nations, he's a really good player, very confident, very aggressive and with a great kicking game.
"His rise in terms of where he's come from in the last couple of years has brought the best out of Ali recently as well as George.
"We see George as someone who has done very well for us off the bench and he deserves that opportunity again to make a difference this weekend.
"We feel the game is going to be one which is hugely physical, and we know how crucial quick ball is to our success in our attack,” Townsend continued.
"To help that we felt another back-rower [on the bench] would bring that freshness, energy and aggression that will be required for us to keep producing quick ball and defensively slow down the opposition.
“There was a debate around going to 6-2 in the first place, and when we have gone to 6-2 in the past we have had two second-rows – we have Sam Skinner and Scott Cummings can cover the back row so that was something we looked at – but we just felt that Luke Crosbie's aggression on both sides of the ball [was what we needed].
“His [Crosbie’s] performance against Romania was outstanding. He didn't get mentioned that much after the game but the amount of rucks he hit, the tough carries he had to do in an 80 minute performance showed us that he's ready to make a difference.
"He played very well for us in the Six Nations, in particular the England game which was a difficult environment to go and play in, when he did what we expected from him which was to front up physically, to bring aggression and give us quick ball.”
Scotland stand-off Finn Russell admitted earlier this week that he hadn’t considered the possibility that he may need to slot a drop-goal – his first ever in open play – if his team find themselves just short of that magic eight-point winning margin tomorrow night. However, Townsend provided some reassurance that this possibility has now been covered off.
“He looked quite good in training knocking them over the other day so you [the media] have obviously inspired him to get out there and practice,” the coach smiled. “Finn, Blair Kinghorn, who knows [might step forward to take the kick]. These are all hypotheticals. The most important thing is we work hard for every point we can earn and we take every opportunity in their 22.
"The pressure of sport is always there,” Townsend added. “No-one knows who is going to win the game at kick-off. Anything can happen. It is about adapting to situations, about keeping your focus when things are going well to keep it going well and to make sure you are back on track as a team when things aren't going your way.
“You can get momentum back, you can change the score-line very quickly, and I know this team can do that. We have done that in the past.
"Regarding this particular scenario, we definitely want to be the team that goes out there fearless with nothing to lose. That's the way we've been thinking and planning this week."
Scotland (versus Ireland on Sunday @ Stade de France, kick-off 8pm GMT): B Kinghorn; D Graham, H Jones, S Tuipulotu, D van der Merwe; F Russell, A Price; P Schoeman, G Turner, Z Fagerson, R Gray, G Gilchrist, J Ritchie, R Darge, J Dempsey. Substitutes: E Ashman, R Sutherland, W Nel, S Cummings, M Fagerson, L Crosbie, G Horne, O Smith.
