Scotland hosts Australia this weekend and it has the potential to be an absolute cracker.
Australia’s defence has awarded teams space during the spring tour, England exploited it in the opening game and while they were unable to capitalise, Wales showed it had yet to be fully fixed.
Townsend will look to attack this space through Ben White and Finn Russell. White has paired well with Russell, their styles complement each other and it’s their connection that puts the ball on a platter for Scotland’s real strength, their centre partnership.
Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones are a terrific pairing, both of whom are tipped to tour with the Lions.
Much has been made of Tuipulotu’s move to Scotland from Australia. Talent identification has been a talking point here in Australia for some time and now that Tuipulotu is captaining the Scots, it hurts twice as much.
Hopefully, Len Ikitau’s latest form has softened that blow and with Samu Kerevi’s suspension, Australia have a real opportunity to strengthen their own centre combination over the next two weeks.
Joe Schmidt won seven out of eight games against Scotland while he’s been head coach and I think his experience in the northern hemisphere is going to come to the fore in this weekend’s matchup.
Here is a key part of the matchup that I think fans focus on that will play an important part in the winning or losing of the game.
In the 20 games Fraser McReight has played this season, going back to the beginning of Super Rugby, he’s never played less than 64 minutes.
Starting 20 out of 20, he’s played the full 80 minutes in 17 games.
While he missed the opening rounds of the Rugby Championship, McReight’s durability is quite frankly astounding and while I expect him to be disappointed to be missing out this weekend, the onus will be on him to come out firing in Dublin next week. A challenge no doubt he’ll rise to.
With McReight making way it opens the door for Western Australia’s new favourite son Carlo Tizzano.
The Western Force’s openside flanker is the first homegrown player from WA to make his international debut for Australia.
Carlo Tizzano of the Wallabies. (Photo by Matt Roberts/Getty Images)
His selection is telling for Australia’s game plan for this game.
Tizzano will be tasked with snuffing out any spark in Scotland’s attack before it ignites. For anyone who wants to get an insight into the work Schmidt and his coaches do behind the scenes, keep your eye on Tizzano.
His positioning around the field will indicate where Schmidt and Fisher predict Scotland to attack from. Tizzano made 74 tackles in his first four starts for Australia, averaging 18.5 a game and didn’t miss a single one.
Not a bad stat for a man listed as 98kgs. Tizzano’s impact is definitely felt more in defence although his work rate in retaining the ball in attack for Australia is vital too.
This is why I highlight quality over quantity. Ideally, Australia will want to retain possession in this game and keep the ball out of the hands of Duhan van der Merwe, Darcy Graham and Russell.
There are attacking threats across the board for Scotland and the best way to neutralise them is to limit their involvement with ball in hand.
The same applies to Scotland and their openside of choice, Rory Darge.
Darge, who is also 24, boasts more caps at the international level and had an equally difficult path to the starting jersey, having had to displace Hamis Watson.
Darge at this point in time has the more rounded game, making an impact in attack and has even scored five tries in his 23 caps to date.
However, it is in the traditional openside duties where Darge flourishes.
He has 13 tackles against South Africa, and 23 versus Fiji, so Darge is also capable of a turnover with two so far in this international window.
Darge compliments Jamie Ritchie and Matt Fagerson well in the back row with all three capable of staying on their feet long enough in contact to suck in defenders as well as slowing down opposition ball.
Once again this brings us to quality over quantity. Both coaches in a way will be hoping their opensides have “quiet” games.
Neither will want their opensides hitting high tackle counts as that will indicate the overall gameplan has gone awry.
Instead, Tizzano and Darge will need to make their impact count in key moments throughout the game.
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