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Scotland make no less than 14 changes for Portugal

By PA
Scotland players line up for the national anthems last Sunday in Edinburgh (Photo by Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)

Glasgow centre Stafford McDowall will captain a heavily rotated Scotland side, featuring 14 changes to the starting XV, for Saturday’s Autumn Test against Portugal at Murrayfield.

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Tom Jordan is the sole player to retain his position from the team that faced a 32-15 defeat against South Africa. Meanwhile, key winger Darcy Graham returns to the lineup after missing the match against the Springboks due to a head injury.

Glasgow lock Alex Samuel and Edinburgh back-rower Ben Muncaster are set to earn their first caps as part of the starting forward pack.

Video Spacer

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend on that red card and other missed opportunities

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend believes his team had some “bad luck” in their 15-32 defeat to the Springboks at Murrayfield on Sunday.

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Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend on that red card and other missed opportunities

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend believes his team had some “bad luck” in their 15-32 defeat to the Springboks at Murrayfield on Sunday.

Johnny Matthews, capped once during Scotland’s 2023 Rugby World Cup win over Romania, has been named among the replacements. Elliot Millar Mills and Rory Sutherland retain their spots on the bench, while Ewan Johnson, the Oyonnax lock who debuted in the summer, joins as a second-row replacement.

Nineteen-year-old Freddy Douglas – who is part of Edinburgh’s academy set-up – could make his Scotland debut from the bench, potentially becoming the youngest Scotland men’s debutant since 1963. Douglas, a standout for Scotland U20 in 2024, led in tackles and breakdown steals in the U20 Six Nations.

Fixture
Internationals
Scotland
59 - 21
Full-time
Portugal
All Stats and Data

Jamie Dobie is also included among the replacements after appearing in the first two autumn matches. Kyle Rowe returns after an injury kept him out of the South Africa game, and Matt Currie is set to make his first Scotland appearance at Murrayfield.

Scotland team:

15. Tom Jordan
14. Darcy Graham
13. Rory Hutchinson
12. Stafford McDowall
11. Arron Reed
10. Adam Hastings
9. George Horne
1. Jamie Bhatti
2. Patrick Harrison
3. Will Hurd
4. Alex Craig
5. Alex Samuel
6. Luke Crosbie
7. Ben Muncaster
8. Josh Bayliss

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Replacements:
16. Johnny Matthews
17. Rory Sutherland
18. Elliot Millar Mills
19. Ewan Johnson
20. Freddy Douglas
21. Jamie Dobie
22. Matt Currie
23. Kyle Rowe

Team Form

Last 5 Games

4
Wins
1
1
Streak
3
30
Tries Scored
13
114
Points Difference
-96
4/5
First Try
2/5
3/5
First Points
2/5
4/5
Race To 10 Points
1/5

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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