Scotland feel slighted and “hacked off” and are gunning for a win in Paris for their missing colleagues and “the Renegades”, said captain Stuart Hogg.
The rescheduled game in Paris, previously postponed due to breaches in the Covid-19 protocols in the French camp, meant that the Scots were unable to pick a full complement because of player release restrictions.
Hogg was careful with his words, stressing “I don’t want it to be headline news when there’s other things to concentrate on”.
But he is clearly angry at the circumstances and annoyed that the French seem to be writing off Scotland completely. They need a 20-point victory margin to win them the championship aty Wales’ expense.
It seems the Scots will channel that frustration and aim for their own goal – an eight point win will secure second place in the Six Nations for the first time. They’ll play on behalf of the absent and “the Renegades”, the squad players who haven’t made the team but are crucial in weekly preparations.
Maitland ‘hurt a lot” by absence
“We could see how much it meant to Sean Maitland that he wasn’t included,” said Hogg. “That hurt him a lot, as it did to the other boys who’ve had a massive impact in training these last few weeks.
“We call them the Renegades because we wanted to put it differently than calling them tackle bags or bag holders. They do a hell of lot to help the team prepare, it goes way beyond the 23 who make the match day squad.
“Boys are disappointed, quite rightly, not to be involved in Test matches. But it shows a lot about their character, how they react and then help the team prepare. The Renegades have been a massive, massive part of the way we’ve been playing and performing.
“For me that says a lot about where we are as a team, where we are as a squad. We talk a lot about being as one, and it’s not just lip service.
“We’re going to go out and put in performance they’ll all be proud of.”
‘It’s beginning to hack me off’
Hogg has seen the pre-match coverage and is clearly unhappy that Scotland seem to have been barely considered.
“A lot’s been said – and it’s beginning to hack me off – that they need the 20 points,” he admitted. “We read a quote from one of their players saying they’d got a trophy to win. As a proud Scotsman that hurt me.
“A lot’s been said about what they need to do, but if we win by eight points we finish the highest we’ve ever done in a Six Nations. That’s the motivation for us. It’s exciting, it’s one hell of a challenge, and it’ll be an open game of rugby to be involved in.”
‘The biggest challenge of our Six Nations’
The open nature of the game, with France chasing points, is the biggest challenge of all, he added.
“It is probably the biggest challenge of our Six Nations,” he said. “They need to win by whatever it is, but for us that’s an incredible challenge.
“So we need to stand up defensively, front up, try and frustrate them as much as we possibly can. It’s not a case of us stopping them scoring 20 more points.
“We’re going out there to play our own game and win a match of Test match rugby.”
“France won’t have their usual home advantage. I believe if we could have fed off the energy of the crowd that we normally have at BT Murrayfield, we could have been going for absolutely everything tomorrow.”
Scotland have been forced into a late change with ever-present Matt Fagerson suffering a training injury to his ankle.
Edinburgh’s Nick Haining moves up from the bench. Glasgow captain Ryan Wilson is able to be called up as he has been tested twice for Covid-19 this week. He was last capped at the Rugby World Cup in Japan and could win his 50th cap.
