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No place for Hastings as Jordan starts for Scotland

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - NOVEMBER 02: Tom Jordan of Scotland arrives during the Autumn Nations Series 2025 match between Scotland and Fijiat Scottish Gas Murrayfield on November 02, 2024 in Edinburgh, Scotland. (Photo by Euan Cherry/Getty Images)

Tom Jordan has been rewarded for his impressive debut off the bench in last week’s record 57-17 win over Fiji with a place in Scotland’s starting line-up against South Africa on Sunday afternoon.

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Jordan’s inclusion at full-back is one of four changes to the backline, while the starting pack mirrors that of the Fiji game.

The Kiwi-born 26-year-old replaces Kyle Rowe, who picked up a hamstring injury, and is joined in the back three by Blair Kinghorn on the right wing, with Duhan van der Merwe on the left. It will be Kinghorn’s first Test outing in the number 14 jersey since Scotland played France in the 2020 Autumn Nations Cup.

Captain Sione Tuipulotu and Huw Jones continue in midfield, while it’s all change in the half-backs with first-choice pairing, Ben White and vice-captain Finn Russell restored to the team. Adam Hastings, who bagged 17 points against Fiji, does not even make the matchday 23.

Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman and Zander Fagerson continue in the front row and will again be backed by the lock pairing of Grant Gilchrist and Scott Cummings.

Head-to-Head

Last 4 Meetings

Wins
0
Draws
0
Wins
4
Average Points scored
13
27
First try wins
100%
Home team wins
25%

Matt Fagerson and vice-captain Rory Darge retain their spots at flanker and Jack Dempsey will attempt to take the fight to South Africa from No 8.

On the bench, Elliott Millar-Mills replaces Darcy Rae as reserve tight-head, while Josh Bayliss and Jamie Ritchie also come into the squad.

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Scotland team (vs South Africa, Sunday):

15. Tom Jordan – Glasgow Warriors (1)
14. Blair Kinghorn – Toulouse (53)
13. Huw Jones – Glasgow Warriors (51)
12. Sione Tuipulotu – Glasgow Warriors (28) captain
11. Duhan van der Merwe – Edinburgh Rugby (42)
10. Finn Russell – Bath Rugby (80) vice-captain
9. Ben White – Toulon (22)
1. Pierre Schoeman – Edinburgh Rugby (35)
2. Ewan Ashman – Edinburgh Rugby (20)
3. Zander Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (68)
4. Grant Gilchrist – Edinburgh Rugby (73)
5. Scott Cummings – Glasgow Warriors (40)
6. Matt Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (48)
7. Rory Darge – Glasgow Warriors (23) vice-captain
8. Jack Dempsey – Glasgow Warriors (21)

Replacements:

16. Dylan Richardson – The Sharks (4)
17. Rory Sutherland – Glasgow Warriors (33)
18. Elliot Millar Mills – Northampton Saints (5)
19. Max Williamson – Glasgow Warriors (5)
20. Josh Bayliss – Bath Rugby (7)
21. Jamie Ritchie – Edinburgh Rugby (52)
22. Jamie Dobie – Glasgow Warriors (7)
23. Stafford McDowall – Glasgow Warriors (6)

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Comments

1 Comment
F
FC 12 days ago

3 South Africans to help steady the ship. Scotland actually have a fighting chance now.

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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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