'Scary things' have Scotland on edge for the opener with Australia

Steve Tandy has backed Jamie Ritchie to embrace the Scotland captaincy as the Edinburgh flanker prepares to lead the national team into their autumn series, starting this Saturday against Australia. The 26-year-old was appointed skipper of his club this term and now he will perform the same role for his country after Gregor Townsend handed him the honour last week in place of the previous incumbent Stuart Hogg.

Ritchie, who spent six months on the sidelines earlier this year with a serious hamstring injury, will captain the Scots in their Tests against Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Argentina at BT Murrayfield over the next month.

“He will do a fantastic job, he’s super competitive,” said defence coach Tandy. “He leads and people follow him, and he iss an outstanding rugby player as well. He plays really well in a Scotland shirt. It’s a great opportunity for him to lead his country and to start at home as well.

“He has embraced it so far, he doesn’t change a lot. He wants to drive standards anyway. He is maturing and he is around lots of experienced guys and he doesn’t need to change too much. He leads anyway – and he will naturally grow and embrace the moment.”

After a promising 2021, Scotland have had an underwhelming 2022 so far but Tandy is unbelievably excited about getting the chance to develop the squad further over the next month as they step up preparations for the Six Nations and next year’s World Cup.

“Getting the boys back yesterday [Monday] was brilliant, just getting connected again and catching up,” he said on Tuesday. “Then get into our processes, our first day’s training today had great energy. I’m excited for the next four Tests coming up. It’s about building on summer stuff as well. We didn’t win that series, but there were a lot of good things that went on. It’s just building, rather than a fresh start, just building momentum against outstanding teams. It’s great to get back to Murrayfield in front of full houses and we’re excited to grow our game over the autumn period.”

Scotland kick off their autumn series against Australia this Saturday and Tandy is braced for a formidable challenge. “When you look through the autumn games there are a few scary things from everyone, whether it be Fiji or New Zealand – but Australia, there is lots of variety in their set-piece attack and some powerful ball carriers that can really cause damage, especially close to your goal line,” he said.

Tandy reported that the squad is in good health, with the Glasgow contingent having joined the fray after a sickness bug ripped through their travelling party while they were in South Africa over the past two weeks. “They [the Glasgow players] were a little bit tired on Monday when they came back in, but they are all good and ready to go,” he said. “We didn’t pick up any serious bangs on the weekend so we had good numbers today.”