IRELAND AND SCOTLAND have both changed up their centre pairings for Sunday’s Six Nations meeting in Edinburgh [KO 3pm, RTÉ 2], and that midfield battle looks set to be one of the most intriguing match-ups on the day.
Ireland interim head coach Simon Easterby sprung something of a surprise in promoting Robbie Henshaw to partner Bundee Aki at the expense of Garry Ringrose, although the two are both quality operators who bring plenty to table. Easterby explained the decision by outlining the talent at his disposal and the switch is just another reminder that the battle at centre in the Irish team remains as competitive as ever.
Scotland, on the other hand, are testing different combinations as they try to fill the void left by Sione Tuipulotu, with a pectoral injury ruling the Glasgow centre out for the entire championship.
This week sees Huw Jones and Tom Jordan link up for an all-new centre partnership.
For Scotland’s championship opener again Italy, Gregor Townsend started Jones at 13 with Stafford McDowall at 12. McDowall was winning just his ninth cap and was solid without being spectacular. It was widely expected Townsend might make a change for Ireland and bring Jordan into the starting team.
Jordan wins just his fifth cap and starts a Test game at 12 for the first time, having featured twice at 15 and twice off the bench in November. The Glasgow back, who plays most of his rugby at out-half, is a different type of player to McDowell, who offers power and a strong defensive game – as evident in his impressive display against Ireland last year.
Jordan, 26, won’t shirk the big hits but his selling point comes with ball in hand. He looked sharp in attack during his 24 minutes on the pitch against Italy, running the play smartly for Jones’ hat-trick try and pitching in with a try-saving tackle. He’s a quality operator but this will be a big step up.
Ireland go into the game with a much more experienced centre pairing and will expect to get the upper hand in that battle. Sunday’s game sees Aki win his 62nd Test cap, with Henshaw hitting 79 and Ringrose primed for cap 65 off the bench. Scotland’s starting centres share 58 caps, with Jones holding 54 of those.
Jones shone against Italy with a well-taken hat-trick and will need another big game if Scotland are to get on top of their visitors on Sunday. With Tuipulotu absent, there is a greater need on Jones to punch those holes and add some spark to the Scotland backline.
Ireland will be wary of his running threat. Jones ran good support lines for his first two tries against Italy but his third highlighted his quick thinking and sharp footwork as he evaded three Italian defenders to score. The Glasgow player has now scored 22 tries in his 54 Tests and Townsend will have been encouraged to see Jones still manage to find those pockets of space without having Tuipulotu there to break down the door with his powerful ball-carrying.
Keeping Jones quiet will go a long way to stopping Scotland, but he’s far from the only attacking threat in that backline. Blair Kinghorn is in fine form at fullback, Finn Russell will have designs on the Lions 10 jersey and Duhan van der Merwe remains a dangerous weapon out wide.
“They’ve got attacking flair all over the park, the likes of Darcy (Graham), Huw, Duhi, Finn Russell who runs the ship there, and their nines are sharp and their back row as well is dangerous,” says Bundee Aki.
“I could even go to their props, I think they’ve got the most metres out there with their ball-carriers so we’ve got a big task ahead of us with how Scotland play.
“Their threats around the park are unbelievable so if you try to take your foot off the pedal with these guys they will absolutely tear you to shreds, so it’s making sure that we’re across our plan, making sure that we’re doing the right thing as a group and making sure our cohesiveness as a group is a lot better than we did against England.”
With Henshaw coming in to partner Aki, Ireland might look to get more momentum through their own ball-carrying. It’s also possible Henshaw’s more subtle defensive approach has been deemed a better fit for facing Finn Russell and Co, with Ringrose revelling as a shooter in Jacques Nienaber’s system at Leinster.
Scotland have the players to exploit even the slightest opening, so Ireland need to stay connected throughout. Ireland paid the price for switching off against England last Saturday as the visitors pounced for two late tries. With those scores taking some of the shine off Ireland’s performance, staying alert for the full 80 has been a key focus heading into round two.
“Yeah I think the boys rectified it and spoke about it,” adds Aki. “We said that obviously if we switch off like that, in any part of the game against Scotland, they will rip you apart.
If Finn Russell sees those things he will absolutely take you into the gutters, and same as Duhan van der Merwe, Huw Jones, Darcy Graham. If anyone sort of switches off, they will absolutely cut you apart.
“We’ve just got to make sure that we’re mentally prepared, mentally sharp and make sure we’re on top of it from the first whistle to the last.”
Aki himself goes into the game on the back of a promising outing against England, the highlight of which was his superb second-half try – with the Connacht man blasting past three England defenders to score in the corner.
“I think I was quite lucky. I think Sam (Prendergast) obviously did all the hard work there, drawing in those two players, with Hugo Keenan. I think once I saw the tryline I had to make sure I tried to get there. I didn’t really think, it was just making sure I got to the tryline. It felt really good.
“There were obviously a few things in the first half which didn’t go our way or we didn’t stick the passes that we wanted to, but we sort of found our way into it in the second half.
“Against Scotland, we probably won’t have those kind of chances throughout the game and we’ve got to make sure that we’re much more clinical and that’s the good thing about the squad, we get to improve on what we didn’t do well in the game.
“We’re obviously very proud of being able to adapt in the second half but we’re trying to be more clinical and accurate.”
Our pack has to deliver, I am concerned that Jordan at 12 be will be first receiver and give Finn R more space. Tom Jordan will be an addition to Scotland, make no mistake. He’ll be their 10 before long. I’m not sure that he’ll roll over for Bundee either in defence.
@John Morris: they allways deliver and win
Ireland has an unbelievable bench.Their is no big drop off from the starters and our bench ,whereas Scotland are weakened when their bench come on.
What on Earth is Crowley doing on the bench!!!