Pundits praise 'awesome' Scotland star as initial doubts over Fiji squad selection revealed

Gregor Townsend’s side beat Argentina in Cordoba, lost to South Africa in Pretoria and defeated Fiji at Murrayfield with try scoring bonus points from every game. The competitions will resume in November as they host Australia, New Zealand and Japan in Edinburgh before one more Test during ‘Finals Weekend’ at Twickenham.

Their campaign has been dissected by the usual line-up of pundits and former players including ex Scotland lock Jim Hamilton and 112 times caped Welsh fly-half Dan Biggar. They were sharing their thoughts on the opening three rounds of the tournament, along with former England player Andy Goode, on the latest edition of The Rugby Pod.

Former Scotland lock admits to concerns over Fiji squad selection as Wales legend praises Northampton Saints teammate

Hamilton admitted to having concerns over Gregor Townsend’s decision to make significant changes to the starting team for the game against Fiji. The ex Saracens and Edinburgh man had doubts over whether Scotland were strong enough to do that against an opponent like the Flying Fijians.

Dan Biggar: "Your boys, Jim, got over the line, made it very, very difficult for themselves on Saturday afternoon. They rocked up, didn't they?"

Jim Hamilton: "They did. When I did see the team, and Gregor made 14 changes, I thought, we're not at that level, but actually, in hindsight..."

Andy Goode: "You needed it."

Jim Hamilton: “One hundred percent. In hindsight, now, because we won the game, and watching how well the bench came on and did, I was like, we probably needed that. Because we now know the majority of the Scotland players, we know the back line, really, who the best players are, the standout performers. We're so reliant on Finn, we're so reliant on Sione Tuipulotu and the likes of Jack Dempsey, Rory Darge, Scott Cummings, Zander Fagerson. Now the names are kind of rolling off the tongue. And I saw that, and because I'm only going based on what we've seen with Fiji, I was like, we could win this comfortably. But then I thought, actually, if Fiji turn up, weather's decent, the fact that we don't really have that scrum, line-out-more mentality that Wales had when they beat them, and England obviously smashed them..."

Dan Biggar: "That was interesting for me, I wanted to get your thoughts on it. I actually think, people were saying it was a really scrappy, and it was really scrappy from Scotland, but that'll do them a lot of good. They've come through and they've won it by 16 points in the end, (they've got a bonus point, they're in good position in the nation's championship table. They clearly haven't got the depth of a France or a South Africa, goes without saying. Would you have wanted Scotland to almost find a different way to play, rather than just saying, Scotland, this is our DNA, and we are playing, playing, playing? Because that has almost brought Fiji into the game, didn't it? Instead of scrumming, mauling, kicking really accurately like Wales and England did?"

Jim Hamilton: "Yeah, well that's the thing, we've got a way in which we play, it's exciting to watch, score loads of tries, (but you're not winning Six Nations, you're not winning World Cups, you're not getting to later stages of competitions unless you can do them things.”

‘Awesome’ Rory Hutchinson catches the eye during Nations Championship Summer Tests

Meanwhile, both Hamilton and Biggar agreed that one player in particular had been “awesome” during his two matches this Summer. That was centre Rory Hutchinson, who Biggar was very familiar with having played alongside him at Northampton Saints.

Dan Biggar: "And speaking of centres, you know, Huw Jones is going to Toulon, but I just thought, I was really pleased, I know we've said it so many times, how good is Rory Hutchinson? I was really pleased he's had two opportunities in tough environments with the full team against South Africa and Argentina."

Jim Hamilton: "And looked awesome as well."

Dan Biggar: "I've played with him, I know his strengths, I know his weaknesses, but I think he's been brilliant.”

Jim Hamilton: "One hundred precent.”

Dan Biggar: "I think that, again, you just mentioned Stafford McDowall, so it's not now if Huw Jones is out, if Tuipulotu is out, there isn't. Clearly those players are great players, but you've got options there as well."

Jim Hamilton: "A big shout out to Ollie Smith as well, wearing the 13 jersey at the great late, Scott Hastings jersey, it was a lovely touch. I thought Ollie Smith spoke really well after the game around the emotion around it, because that's not easy, it's not easy to contextualise the week and the moment and the history of the jersey. So as a young man, as Ollie Smith is, to come in and wear the jersey, the gold number 13, in honour of Scott Hastings, Scotland's first home game since he passed, I thought was just a touch of class. And the fact that they got over the line, they won the game, yeah, it was just a really nice touch.”

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