Graham Bean and Mark Atkinson discuss the Scotland team to face Italy.
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00:00Good afternoon and welcome to this episode of the Scotsman Rugby Show. I'm Mark Atkinson,
00:06Sports Editor, joined by our Chief Rugby Writer, Graeme Bean, who is about to go into the Scotland
00:11Press Conference after Gregor Townsend named his first team for the 2025 Six Nations. Graeme,
00:17it's Italy at Murrayfield on Saturday. I'd say probably one or two eye-catching things
00:26in the team. Dave Cherry, the return of Dave Cherry at Hooker, probably the biggest surprise
00:31I would say in the team. Would you agree with that? Yes, I think that's fair to say. Yeah,
00:35he's not played for Scotland for a while. It was a bit of a surprise when he was named in the
00:40initial Six Nations squad, but he has been in decent form for Edinburgh, particularly that
00:46last 1872 cup match where Edinburgh beat Glasgow at Murrayfield. He played very well that day
00:53and he made it clear after the match. Actually, we spoke to him after the game and he made it
00:56clear he hadn't given up on his international ambitions and he was desperate to get back
01:00involved. He was quite open about that and it's come to pass and here he is starting against
01:06Italy this weekend. Yeah, he gets the nod over Ewan Ashman, which I think is a surprise.
01:14Probably less of a surprise as a replacement for the stricken captain, Sione Cioppolato. Of course,
01:20he's missing the whole tournament due to a pectoral injury and Stafford MacDowell,
01:24his Glasgow Warriors team-mate, will partner Hugh Jones at centre. Was that a no-brainer
01:31call for Gregor Townsend, do you think, Graeme? Was there potential for other options there?
01:35He did have options. He did have options. I think Stafford was always the favourite
01:39star at 12. He's got a good connection with Hugh Jones. They've played together a lot for Glasgow,
01:44but there's another Glasgow player, Tom Jordan, who could have slotted in at 12. He plays more
01:49often at 10 for Glasgow, but he's played at 12 as well. He's also played at 15 for Scotland too,
01:55and I think that kind of versatility perhaps worked against him a little bit, as much as
02:00he's a great guy to have on the bench because he can cover so many positions in the back line.
02:04But I think Stafford was always out front for this one. Maybe a more orthodox 12,
02:10big, powerful ball carrier. Played well in the Six Nations last season when he came in
02:17for the final match against Ireland with Tupelo who was injured and did a good job that day.
02:22I think that's probably shaped Gregor Townsend's thinking on this one.
02:27Indeed. One man who's also missing is Scott Cummings at Loch. He's been a regular for Scotland
02:32for some time now. His replacement, though, is somebody who's been playing very well, albeit
02:38over in France, in Jonny Gray.
02:41Yeah, yeah. It's a welcome return for Jonny Gray because he's not played for Scotland since the
02:46Six Nations two years ago. He's had a pretty terrible time of it with his knee problem,
02:51and he left Exeter and took a bit of time out from the game, and then he signed for Bordeaux.
02:58He's had a great start to the season there, top of the top 14, also top of their Champions Cup
03:05group. So he made a really impressive start. Gregor Townsend wanted to call off in the autumn,
03:11but Gray and his club Bordeaux decided to be better served. Staying in France,
03:18playing for the club, resting, but now he gets his chance. I mean, the only slight concern around
03:23Jonny Gray is that he's not played for Bordeaux since the 14th of December. He had an ankle
03:27issue. So I think Teysa would have had a bit more rugby under his belt, but he's going to start.
03:36I think it's a case of knees must as well, because without Scott Cummings, Scotland do lack
03:41a little bit of experience to go alongside Grant Gilchrist in there.
03:44Agreed, agreed. The other, not necessarily a controversial call by any stretch of the
03:50imagination, but eye-catching nonetheless, is that in the back row, widely deemed as one of
03:55Scotland's most competitive areas, Jamie Ritchie starts ahead of Jack Dempsey. He's in the back
04:02three alongside Rory Darge and Matt Fagerson. Graeme, what do you think the reasoning is behind
04:08Jamie Ritchie getting a nod? Well, I think he's been playing well, first and foremost. He's
04:16been a very experienced Scotland player and former captain, of course, never let Scotland down.
04:20I also think like Jack Dempsey, he's not played a lot of rugby. He got injured against South Africa
04:27in the autumn. He's only played one match for Glasgow since the Harlequins game in Europe.
04:34He's perhaps a little bit rusty. So Matt Fagerson goes to number eight
04:38and that opens the door for Jamie Ritchie to come in at six, with Darge at seven.
04:44All in all, pretty strong Scotland team.
04:46It is, yeah, it is. Definitely, definitely. 2-2 is a huge loss, obviously, but it's still a strong team.
04:54It should be too strong for Italy, let's be honest about this, but we saw what happened last year.
05:01So it's a great chance for Scotland to start, two home games, Italy first and Ireland
05:08and build a bit of momentum going into this Irish game. But yeah, I mean, it's a strong Scotland
05:12team, definitely. Fingers crossed it's strong enough to get the job done. I'm Murray Field.
05:17Graeme will let you go and speak to bigger Townsend. We'll have all the reaction
05:19and analysis on the Scotsman website and in print today and tomorrow. For now, thanks for joining us.