Townsend fires warning shots at Boks
SPOTLIGHT: Gregor Townsend wants his Scotland team to play their best rugby when they face South Africa in the World Cup.
The Scotland boss has opted to field several frontline players against Georgia in their final warm-up game rather than keep them fresh for a crunch tournament opener with the reigning champions.
Townsend has made six changes to the XV that suffered a narrow 27-30 defeat by World Cup hosts France last time out in Saint-Etienne on August 12.
Blair Kinghorn, George Turner, Richie Gray, Pierre Schoeman and the suspended Zander Fagerson are the only players not involved at Murrayfield on Saturday who are expected to start Scotland’s pool opener against the Springboks in Marseille on September 10.
“As a team, we have to take our game up to another level as we move towards the World Cup, so playing as many of those combinations that we believe will play against South Africa in two weeks’ time is really important,” said Scotland coach Townsend after naming his team to play Georgia on Wednesday.
“Not only do you get to play the game, you get to train in the build-up to the game – the starting team trains together – so another week of that to build cohesion is crucial for us so that we play close to our best rugby in that game against South Africa.”
Scotland are in arguably the toughest of all four World Cup groups, with Pool B also featuring top-ranked Ireland, Tonga and Romania.
The story continues below…
‘Best form’
But Townsend insisted he had not thought about resting star men against Georgia in a bid to avoid injury or suspension ahead of the tournament.
“No. Getting players to the World Cup is just one thing, getting players in their best form and the team playing its best rugby is what is important here,” he said.
“We’re hoping to beat the world champions – the No.3 team in the world – in our first game, so we’re not going to do that if players haven’t had match experience and, as a team, we haven’t had another opportunity to improve.”
Scrumhalf Ben White is back in the side after fearing he might miss the World Cup having limped off with a “really concerning” ankle injury in the home win over France on August 5.
White did not feature in Saint-Etienne but former Scotland playmaker Townsend said: “He’s trained fully this week and looks back to where he was going into that home game against France.
“He’s even said that his ankle feels better than it did back then so it’s a real positive sign.”
