After Scotland’s record win against Fiji, and with South Africa on the horizon, we put some of your questions to chief sportswriter Tom English.
Steve asked: Not much seems to have been made of Adam Hastings’ stellar performance against Fiji. Personally, I thought he had an incredible game. Do you see a realistic chance of him being selected in front of Russell, and if not, why not?
Tom answered: He was very good and we praised him on our radio coverage. He was really inventive, kicked well and led Scotland out of that tricky period that they had. It was great to see him back.
Will he be picked ahead of Finn Russell? I would say no chance. Russell is just that bit better at most things. He’s playing brilliantly as well. It’s a nice problem to have, as they say. You have to play your heaviest hitters against the Boks and Russell comes back in for me.
It’ll be interesting to see if Hastings makes the bench. Tom Jordan, also excellent in his time on the pitch, covers 10, the midfield, and 15. He could play wing as well, I’d say. That, to me, should guarantee his place in the 23. As good as he was against Fiji, Adam might miss out in that scenario.
Patrick answered: How essential is a victory over the Boks for Toony, or is this a game where an improvement on previous results against the Boks is enough?
Tom answered: Well, I don’t think it would ever be fair to describe Scotland beating South Africa as essential because it happens so rarely and, frankly, South Africa are way better.
It’s fair to expect that Scotland fire lots of shots and make a brilliant game of it, which is what they categorically didn’t do at the World Cup. The Boks did an absolute number on them. Scotland never got their attacking game out of neutral. The scoreline didn’t reflect their superiority on the day.
So, a big, physical performance, some tries, a game that goes close to the wire. I don’t think Scotland will win, but they need to give the Boks a scare.
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