Scotland’s second string (sorry but they were) comfortably put away a Portugal side who were a far cry from the stars of the last World Cup, but who nonetheless asked a few questions of some players hoping to force their way into Gregor Townsend’s first choice Scotland side.
We didn’t learn much we didn’t know already
This should really have been a Scotland “A” fixture. That might have been seen as disrespectful based on the Portugal we expected, but not the one that turned up which only had nine of the men who beat Fiji during the last Rugby World Cup. Some measure of continuity and a mini-test series for Pete Horne’s time in charge might actually have been more valuable, although not as good for “growing the game” as a full cap international.
Scotland’s approach was a little more cavalier than was necessary with offloads/pop passes that were a lot more clearly coming than you’d want against a top tier defence. And it might have been more sensible to treat this like a test match, certainly in terms of defence as Portugal opened them up a few times towards then end of each half.
Darcy Graham got the record equalling try as Duhan watched from the stands, but couldn’t find the one that put him over into the outright lead. The competition will resume next weekend with at least one of the men sure to feature against Australia, and probably both.
Hurd Could be the answer to Tighthead depth
Tighthead Will Hurd impressed and with the ideal backup to Zander still far from clear, the former U20s man did himself no harm with some rampaging in the loose including nice chop tackles, chasing down box kicks and at least one turnover. He seems to come alive with the ball in hand. He was also off the park by the time the Portgual replacement front row turned Scotland inside out in front of their own posts, allowing Samuel Marques to shrug off George Horne and dot down – so he might escape some of the wrath of scrum coach Pieter de Villiers for that one.
Elsewhere in the front row Paddy Harrison made a physical impression at hooker, but the form assessments of the man in the middle of the front row so often hinge on the lineout and Scotland’s went pretty poorly at times.
With Jamie Bhatti now picked in the A squad for the fixture against Chile (full team news for both sides to follow later in the week), the answer of backup at loosehead continues to rely on Rory Sutherland finding some form. Scarlets loosehead Alec Hepburn was called up to the squad ahead of last weekend so may yet come into the reckoning.
Scotland now have a Tom Jordan problem
Back in the day (see multiple articles previous) Scotland had to find a home for Chris Paterson, whose goal-kicking ability was so indispensable to a side without any try-scoring ability that he was picked anywhere there was a hole, usually on the wing when he was far more suited at fullback or even standoff (where he was rarely given a chance).
In Tom Jordan’s case you can swap “goal kicking” for, say, “all-round brilliance” or “line-breaks”. Since his first cap off the bench against Fiji he has been on fire. Even with the relative riches available, and despite not calling fullback his natural home, he’s Scotland’s form back three player and needs to be included,
A particular highlight on Saturday was his superb offload to put the rapid Number 8 Josh Bayliss away in the corner, even as Jordan was in the process of falling over from an ankle tap tackle. UPDATE: this was Rory Hutchinson, apologies!
Gregor Townsend may not want reshuffle to accommodate Scotland’s newest back but he might have to. With his ability to cover multiple slots making him a shoo-in for 6N or RWC campaigns where a forwards heavy bench is needed, right now for a one-off game against the Wallabies it’s looking likely one of Blair Kinghorn or even, whisper it, Duhan Van Der Merwe may have to make way to accommodate him.
There’s no mistaking that Bristol have picked up a hell of a player with his awareness and versatility and bags of future potential.
Scotland will need to be ready for Australia
Given so few of the main XV who will play next weekend featured in this match, it’s hard to know how we are placed to face Joe Schmidt’s red hot Wallabies who hammered a hapless Wales side.
It’s likely Graham and Jordan will feature again but with large parts of the starting side settled, any remaining involvement might be through promotion to the bench; double try-scorer Arron Reed or Scotland’s youngest ever cap Freddy Douglas will have to wait for future opportunities.
Johnny Matthews only had 15 mins but interestingly neither he nor Harrison was named in the A squad so any two of the four hookers might feature. It seems likely to be Ashman/Richardson again, but you wouldn’t bet against the Toony Tombola spinning one final time this autumn.
