A’ Team To Take Inspiration From Scotland Victory

A’ Team To Take Inspiration From Scotland Victory

The Scotland ‘A’ team sat huddled together in a Bucharest restaurant on Saturday night to witness the senior Scotland team beat Argentina in Tucuman over 7,500 miles away. Now having reviewed their own performance against Georgia in the opening game of the IRB Nations Cup in the Romanian capital, which they lost by a single point (21-22), the ‘A’ team are taking motivation from their fellow countrymen into their next test against Namibia tomorrow night (Tuesday 15 June, kick-off 5pm local time/3pm BST). The Scotland ‘A’ team sat huddled together in a Bucharest restaurant on Saturday night to witness the senior Scotland team beat Argentina in Tucuman over 7,500 miles away.New Glasgow signing and try-scoring debutant Chris Fusaro will start the second game of the IRB Nations CupNow having reviewed their own performance against Georgia in the opening game of the IRB Nations Cup in the Romanian capital, which they lost by a single point (21-22), the ‘A’ team are taking motivation from their fellow countrymen into their next test against Namibia tomorrow night (Tuesday 15 June, kick-off 5pm local time/3pm BST). Head coach Sean Lineen said: Everyone’s delighted with the senior team’s brilliant victory in Argentina and that should inspire us against what is another World Cup outifit in Namibia. The way the Scotland team played was outstanding. They moved the ball well and they defended outstandingly well and that’s something we’re looking to aspire to with the way we’re trying to play. Although the ‘A’ squad experienced the frustration of recording a loss in their opening match, Lineen remains positive about the overall performance of the team. Once we’d digested and got over the disappointment of the Georgia game we realised that we were up against a pretty physical outfit, he continued. I thought a lot of the youngsters really stepped up. We could’ve won the game but for a couple of missed kicks right at the end. The main area of concern is that Scotland gave possession away 29 times during their first 80 minutes together. However, by working with his assistants Nick Scrivener and Stevie Scott, the head coach recognises that those mistakes, characteristic of a young squad, can be eradicated allowing them to return home better players. That number of turnovers is symptomatic of a lot of youngsters maybe trying to push a pass that’s not on. I’ve been really impressed with the way they have come together in the last couple of days. It’s a group of incredibly young players and I want them going back better players. Looking ahead to the second of three internationals at the IRB Nations Cup, Lineen is expecting yet another intense encounter as Namibia are at full strength and playing some fast and physical rugby. Lineen continued: They play an attacking brand of rugby so it’ll be a good game – there’s no doubt about that. They’ve got an incredibly quick back three, they’ve got a nine who is a quality player – he helps them tick – and up front they’ve got some hardy men. They know their rugby and this is their World Cup squad but we want to make a mark here this week so it’s important that we do well. Scotland have made 13 changes, five positional, to the starting XV fielded against Georgia. In the backs, only Jack Cuthbert and Mark Robertson remain. Colin Shaw and Rob Dewey are unavailable for selection due to injury therefore John Houston moves to the wing from inside centre where he is replaced by Bryan Rennie. Ben Cairns is installed at outside centre. The half-backs are rotated to give Mark McMillan and David Blair their first starts of the competition. The forward pack is reshuffled to hand Andrew Kelly and David Young starting berths in the front row. Bruce Douglas moves from loosehead to tighthead prop. James Eddie is given the nod once again in the second row, however, this time he will move to the other side of the scrum to partner Fraser McKenzie. In the back-row, flanker Chris Fusaro, who scored off the bench last week, starts ahead of Scott Newlands. As a result, captain Ally Hogg moves to blindside and Roddy Grant dons the number 8 jersey. On the bench, both National Academy prop Lewis Niven and Glasgow Warriors fullback Peter Horne are poised to make their Scotland ‘A’ team debuts. Scotland A team (sponsor Murray) to play Namibia in the IRB Nations Cup at the Stadionul National Arcul de Triumf (kick-off 5pm local time, 3pm BST) 15 Jack Cuthbert (Bath) 14 John Houston (Edinburgh) 13 Ben Cairns (Edinburgh) 12 Bryan Rennie (Exeter Chiefs) 11 Mark Robertson (Edinburgh) 10 David Blair (Edinburgh) 9 Mark McMillan (Glasgow Warriors) 1 Bruce Douglas (Montpellier) 2 Andrew Kelly (Edinburgh) 3 David Young (Edinburgh) 4 Fraser McKenzie (Edinburgh) 5 James Eddie (Glasgow Warriors) 6 Ally Hogg (Edinburgh) CAPTAIN 7 Chris Fusaro (Heriot’s)* 8 Roddy Grant (Edinburgh) Substitutes 16 Fergus Thomson (Glasgow Warriors) 17 Ed Kalman (Glasgow Warriors) 18 Lewis Niven (Edinburgh Accies)* 19 Scott Newlands (Edinburgh) 20 Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh) 21 Alex Blair (Edinburgh) 22 Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors)* = Member of Scottish Rugby’s National Academy

Spread the word

Newsletter Sign-up

Sign-up for our newsletter today to receive the latest updates, content and releases from Scottish Rugby.

Sign-up

Principal Partners