Toony Tombola - Or A Rush Of Shite To The Brain?

AFTER my last post, praising Gregor Townsend and his record as Scotland Head Coach – today I find myself in “What the fuck,” mode, as I consider his selection to face Ireland, in the Aviva on Saturday.

OK, selection is probably the hardest part of the job, and he has to make the tough calls, but, even at his worst, and while he hasn't been at his best, he's been nowhere near that bad this campaign, Finn Russell is ten time the stand-off Blair Kinghorn is, or for my money ever will be.

Dropped - Why?

How typically Scottish – or is it a case of Toony Tombola? We've got a genuine world-class, game-changing playmaker, and, we drop him for a trainee journeyman. He then compounds his folly, by dropping Sam Skinner, who for me has been outstanding this campaign, for Jonny Gray – who hasn't been at his best for club or country for abut a season and a half.

While I have nothing against Ben White, who has done well for us this far, has his five minute cameo against Italy convinced Toony that, maybe Ben Vellacott isn't ready?

Any way, here as always in 1-23 order, is the team Toony has chosen for Saturday:

Pierre Schoeman, George Turner, Zander Fagerson, Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist, Rory Darge, Hamish Watson, Matt Fagerson; Ali Price, Blair Kinghorn; Kyle Steyn, Sam Johnson, Chris Harris, Darcy Graham; Stuart Hogg (captain). Replacements: Fraser Brown, Allan Dell, Wilem Nel, Sam Skinner, Josh Bayliss; Ben White, Finn Russell, Mark Bennett.

This is a game we need to win, I'd definitely have had those last two names in my starting XV.

TOMORROW NIGHT, however, we have a little local dispute, as Glasgow Warriors entertain Edinburgh in the latest leg of the 1872 Cup, at Scotstoun. In this fixture, my hat is firmly in the Weegie camp, let's get into them C*nts frae Edinburgh, as ewe scruff from the shires like to call out capital cousins.

Events in Dublin on Saturday have conspired to give a lot of the two sides' fring players a chance to show what they can do, so, it will be interesting to see if any player can put his hand up for more-regular selection.

The teams are:

Glasgow Warriors: Murphy Walker, Johnny Matthews, Simon Berghan, Scott Cummings, Richie Gray, Ryan Wilson, Thomas Gordon, Jack Dempsey; Jamie Dobie, Duncan Weir, Cole Forbes, Stafford McDowall, Robbie Fergusson, Sebastian Cancelliere, Josh McKay. Replacements: Grant Stewart, Nathan McBeth, Ewan McQuillen, Kiran McDonald-Siran, Ally Miller; Jordan Lenac, Ross Thompson, Sione Tuipulotu.

Edinburgh: Harrison Courtney, Dave Cherry, Angus Williams, Pierce Phillips, Glen Young, Ben Muncaster, Connor Boyle, Mesu Kunavula; Henry Pyrgos, Jaco van der Walt, Emiliano Boffelli, Chris Dean, Matt Currie, Ramiro Moyano, Henry Immelman. Replacements: Adam McBurney, Boan Venter, Luan De Bruin, Jamie Hodgson, Magnus Bradbury; Ben Vellacott, Charlie Savala, Cameron Hutchison.

Hollie Davidson will be the match referee.

Looking at the Glasgow selection, I am surprised to see young Murphy Walker at loose-head, I have only ever seen him on the right-hand side of the front row before. It is also good to see Ewan McQuillen getting a rare run-out at three.

I'd rather have seen Jamie Dobie and Ross Thompson paired together. After that day in the not-too-distant future when Finnsanity strikes and our resident genius tells Tonny and the SRU where to shove their selection policy, these two could well be a Scotland half-back pairing.

Having seen them both playing for Ayr, I'd have maybe preferred to see Stafford McDowall and Robbie Fergusson switch jersey numbers, or, maybe they are going to go back to the old days and play left and right centre.

Grant Stewart, on the bench for Glasgow is another player who comes into the “how do you play this game again” category, it's been so long since he featured. Still, the selections give the fans a chance to evaluate squad depths and, I am sure the match will be played as a real cup tie.