Vern Cotter has clearly indicated his willingnness to change a winning team with three additional call-ups to Scotland’s squad for Sunday’s RBS 6 Nations match against France at Murrayfield.
Centre Alex Dunbar, scrum-half Henry Pyrgos and hooker Fraser Brown, all of whom played in Glasgow’s 27-20 Guinness PRO12 win over Cardiff Blues at Scotstoun on Sunday, all joined up with the squad of 36 which will reconvene at Murrayfield today to begin preparations in earnest for the French, who Scotland have not beaten since 2006. The Scots ended their nine-mtach losing run in the championship beating Italy 36-20 in Rome 10 days ago.
It’s a welcome return for Cotter favourite Dunbar, who last played for Scotland almost exactly a year ago in the loss to Italy in last year’s Six Nations. He torn his ACL in an innocuous training incident ahead of the 2015 Calcutta Cup match, undergoing reconstruction surgery and despite the intense efforts of the coaching management team and physios, the powerful centre missed the entire Rugby World Cup.
Dunbar made his comeback from Glasgow in the PRO12 and European competition and was originally selected in initial Six Nations training squad this year, but dropped out before the opening match against England after suffering a posterior thigh strain in the last game before the championship started.
He has since played in two Glasgow games during the Six Nations window, scoring a try against Dragons in his comeback and playing for 40 minutes against Cardiff, with Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend admitting he had been withdrawn from the game in a pre-arrangement with the national coaching team.
Although Mark Bennett has been retained in the squad after being released to play against Cardiff, it would seem likely Dunbar will go straight into the Scotland midfield to partner Duncan Taylor as Matt Scott is doubtful requiring an MRI scan after injuring his elbow in Edinburgh’s loss to Connacht on Friday, while Peter Horne is likely to be bench cover for both stand-off and centre.
Certainly a Taylor-Dunbar partnership appears one of the most powerful midfields Scotland can field, with both equally adept defensively and going forward.
Pyrgos returned to action captaining Glasgow after a five month hiatus for wrist surgery, and performed well before understandably tiring after half-time. With Greig Laidlaw’s current back-up Sam Hidalgo-Clyne struggling a little for his best form, Cotter seems likely to put Pyrgos on the bench as cover for his captain, as the Warriors scrum-half was for the entire Rugby World Cup campaign.
Brown is another Cotter favourite and was reserve hooker to Ross Ford during the World Cup before undergoing ankle surgery when the Scots went out at the quarter-final stage. However he may find it harder to supplant Stuart McInally, who has impressed as Ford’s back-up in the Six Nations so far.
David Denton, an 11th-hour call-off for the game in Rome two weeks ago, is included in the squad.
The other notables from the squad announcement are the absences of Sean Maitland and Blair Cowan, both of whom were injured during the weekend of the Wales game in Cardiff yet were fielded by their club London Irish a week later.
Cowan, who acted as reserve loose forward was returned to Reading after suffering concussion symptoms in his replacement appearance in the Millennium Stadium. Maitland suffered a hamstring injury and was a late withdrawl from the Cardiff team, but has since played twice for the Exiles.
Forwards (20): John Barclay (Scarlets), Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors), David Denton (Bath Rugby), Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby(, Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors), Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby), Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Castres), John Hardie (Edinburgh Rugby), Rob Harley (Glasgow Warriors), Moray Low (Exeter Chiefs), Stuart McInally, Willem Nel (Edinburgh Rugby), Gordon Reid, Josh Strauss (Glasgow Warriors), Rory Sutherland (Edinburgh Rugby), Tim Swinson (Glasgow Warriors), Ben Toolis, Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby), Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors).
Backs (16): Mark Bennett, Alex Dunbar, Grayson Hart (Glasgow Warriors), Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby), Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors), Ruaridh Jackson (Wasps), Peter Horne (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester Rugby), Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors), Duncan Taylor (Saracens), Henry Pyrgos, Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors), Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby), Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors), Tim Visser (Harlequins), Duncan Weir (Edinburgh Rugby).