Scotland aim to grapple free from Warren Gatland’s grip on the team
Scotland Head Coach Gregor Townsend has made one change to his side that defeated England in the opening round of the Six Nations ahead of this weekend’s mouth-watering showdown against Wales
This will be the 5th time the two sides have met for the Doddie Weir Cup, and Scotland’s first game at home since Doddie passed away after his fight with MND.
“For me personally the Doddie Cup is something that is special, and specially in this game, the first one back at Murrayfield since he passed. It would be a nice one to get our hands on,” said Scottish captain Jamie Ritchie.
“We found Doddie and we find his family truly inspirational in the work that they’ve done and we want to make them proud of us,” Richie added whilst wearing the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation hat after the team run.
The Wales squad are not the only important element of the game traveling north to Edinburgh.
The match ball departed the Principality stadium strapped to the back of Rob Wainwright’s bike. The former British and Irish Lion is part of a peloton cycling with the ball 555 miles arriving in Edinburgh just before kick-off, all in aid of Doddie Aid.
Wales also travel with a new(ish) head coach. Warren Gatland returned to the helm of Welsh Rugby’s men’s side after the departure of Wayne Pivac.
Ritchie was keen to stress that despite Gatland’s impressive record v Scotland, all bets are off following his return. Gatland has won all 10 matches against Scotland while in charge of Wales.
Ritchie said: “It’s a new tenure so for us it’s just about what we do now. There’s no point in looking back, so we’re looking forward to Saturday.
“He’s obviously a great coach and has been a great coach for a number of years and has had some great success. To say anyone has lost it would be silly.
“He’s obviously got a huge amount of experience, especially at this level. We need to be well prepared for any team that he coaches,” added the Scotland captain.
As well as overcoming a wounded dragon, Scotland have their own demons to vanquish.
The Scots have failed to win their opening two matches of the Championship since 1996. Back then, they beat Ireland away before returning home to win over France. While Townsend’s men have won their opening match of the Six Nations three years on the bounce, they went on to lose to Wales in 2021 and 2022 in the following round.
Ritchie is desperate to break this cycle: “We know that winning one game is not enough for us. We want to do well, and like I said in press before last weekend, what does a strong tournament look like for us? It’s five good performances.
“For us, it’s just a case of making sure we stick to our fundamentals. Every week is a new week and you treat it as such, making sure you get all your preparation right, everyone gets their individual bits right and just making sure that’s how you prepare all the time.
“If you’re doing something that works well then looking to change it is a bad idea, so for us it’s making sure we use every opportunity we can to get better, so in and around training, how we recover and things like that.”
Xander Fagerson, who has been capped 54 times for his country, returns to the front row and WP Nel will wear 18 in Saturday’s Doddie Weir Cup clash at BT Murrayfield.
Scotland will travel north to the capital after delaying Steve Borthwick’s England homecoming, defeating his side 29-23, the third year in a row the Scots have retained the Calcutta Cup.
The Welsh team will travel north with a new look pack after the team were bullied around the park by Ireland.
There is no place for former captain Alun Wyn Jones and Taulupe Faletau while Justin Tipuric has been dropped to the bench.
The last time Scotland beat a Gatland side was 1999 when he was part of the set up in Ireland. On that occasion, Scotland’s head coach scored the winning try- something that likely hasn’t drifted too far from his thoughts.
