Sam Skinner watched as Stuart Hogg and Jonny Gray took the long road from Exeter to Scotland for the first part of this Six Nations, kept his nose to the grindstone and the reward is a recall to international duty this weekend.
The 26-year-old lock/back rower featured off the bench in all three Autumn Nations Cup games last November. But he was jettisoned for the Six Nations, a decision he admitted “gutted and disappointed” him.
However playing mostly lock for the European champions while Gray and Jonny Hill are away has paid dividends. Two tries in the victory at Bath at the weekend cemented his recall to camp at Oriam for the Guinness Six Nations game against Ireland on Sunday.
‘Gregor is the man with the opinion that matters’
“I’m extremely grateful,” he said. “You never take these for granted.
“I was gutted and disappointed not to be involved from the start. I just tried to control what I could control and play as well as I could.
“Gregor (Townsend) is the man with the opinion that matters and I wasn’t involved. That’s just the way it is but I’m back here now and have got to try to keep it that way by training and playing as well as I can.”
He was never disappointed to see his fellow Scots head north, knowing the focus to be involved again had to come from within.
“It wasn’t a surprise, you never expect to be involved,” he said. “I have a great relationship with Hoggy and Jonny and I was really pleased to see them continue to perform and lead Scotland in the way they have, which has been exceptional.
“I had to look inwardly a little bit and think of areas of my game I could knuckle down on. The positive was that it give me an opportunity to really focus on my game at Exeter and get a run of games together and improve my performances.
“I’m trying to get the opportunity to get a string of games together for Scotland and play consistent rugby. I’m extremely passionate to see that.
“I’ve had injuries at key times, but that’s the way it goes. If I get a few opportunities I’ll do my best to take them.”
Scotland ‘don’t need to change much’
He didn’t think Scotland were too far away against Wales – almost a month ago now after two bye weeks and the cancellation of the game against France.
“I don’t think we need to change too much,” he said. “We’ve looked pretty strong in the last couple of games, really competitive. The stats speak for themselves in terms of where we are as a side, although obviously the most important stat is getting a win.
“Discipline is a huge part of the game now, red and yellow cards and the way in which teams deal with that has huge ramifications as well, so that’s something we need to get right. That’s not just Scotland but teams as a whole.”
French game should be played
As for that still-unscheduled game against France, Skinner thinks it should be played, whatever the circumstances.
“You’d like to think the solution (about player release) can be resolved and there’s a way around it,” he said. “I don’t know the politics behind it, but I imagine money is involved.
“You want the top players available to play for Scotland because that could be a hell of a game. You don’t want what happened in the autumn when France played their second or third team.
“I think the game should go ahead. It happened to us at Exeter in Europe and everyone’s in the same boat.
“If there’s a way of making the game go ahead, let’s make it happen. It’s a great fixture and we as players want to play it. We don’t want freebie points at all.
“I imagine fans want to see it played as well, so I’m all for making it happen, definitely.”
Three call-ups, four omitted
Glasgow wing Rufus McLean has been called up for the first time after a handful of starts for the Warriors. McLean was still playing Under-20 rugby at the start of last year.
Edinburgh’s Nick Haining, who started the last Six Nations game against Ireland, is also recalled. Richie Gray (concussion), Josh Bayliss, Grant Stewart and D’Arcy Rae step down.
The five players omitted from the squad at the start of the week of the cancelled France game – Gary Graham, Blade Thomson, Allan Dell, Blair Kinghorn and Byron McGuigan – remain absent.
Scotland squad
Forwards: Ewan Ashman (Sale Sharks), Simon Berghan (Edinburgh), Jamie Bhatti (Bath), Dave Cherry (Edinburgh), Alex Craig (Gloucester), Scott Cummings (Glasgow), Matt Fagerson (Glasgow), Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh), Jonny Gray (Exeter Chiefs), Nick Haining (Edinburgh), Rob Harley (Glasgow), Oli Kebble (Glasgow), WP Nel (Edinburgh), Conrell du Preez (Worcester Warriors), Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh), Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs), Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh), George Turner (Glasgow), Hamish Watson (Edinburgh).
Backs: Jamie Dobie (Glasgow), Darcy Graham (Edinburgh), Chris Harris (Gloucester), Stuartg Hogg (Exeter Chiefs, capt), Sam Johnson (Glasgow), Huw Jones (Glasgow), James Lang (Harlequins), Sean Maitland (Saracens), Rufus McLean (Glasgow), Duhan van der Merwe (Edinburgh), Ali Price (Glasgow), Finn Russell (Racing 92), Duncan Taylor (Saracens), Jaco van der Walt (Edinburgh).
