Paddy McCann
Star Players
A very youthful squad, Scotland have been attempting to develop local talent in a push for success at this world cup. The effect have been poor results recently, but the more they play the better they will get. Youthful backs such as Stuart Hogg, and Sean Maitland now have bigger leadership roles after a couple years of experience. New starter Duncan Weir consistently gets called up for a shot at the sticks, and is developing into a more rounded player. The back row contains physical players such as: captain Kelly Brown, and Dave Denton complement the more mobile pilferers of Rob Harley, and Alastair Strokosch. All are exceptional, and all have large work rates in order to lead this Scottish team around.
How They've Fared
Scotland's performances have been rather indifferent since the last world cup. They had a great tour of the southern hemisphere, where they beat Australia for only the 9th time in history, and then went on to successfully tour the pacific islands. When they came back for the Six Nations they also performed well coming 3rd, beating Italy impressively, as well as Ireland. They were looking to build some real talent among the squad when they commenced a quadrangular tournament in South Africa. They played poorly against Samoa, and scraped past Italy, but put up a brave display against South Africa leading for most of the match. Unfortunately since then the wheels have fallen off. There performance in the 2014 Six Nations was below par, beating only Italy by a drop goal. Since then their coach Scott Johnson has been transferred to the role of director of rugby, and a new coach Vern Cotter. Cotter is originally a New Zealander, however the highest point of his coaching career comes in the form of leading the French club Clermont to second place in the past year. Cotter has never coached internationally before, but is excited at the prospect
23/09 Vs. Japan
Kingsholm
27/09 Vs.USA
Elland Road
03/10 Vs South Africa
St. James Park
10/10 Vs. Samoa
St. James Park