Scotland Autumn Fixtures

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Scotland Autumn 2024 Fixtures

Moving on from the Summer development tour, here are this years AI fixtures which will include a Scotland A vs Chile fixture on the final weekend. Plenty to be excited about as the new club season begins this weekend and depth is steadily improving.

Week 1
Scotland v Fiji
Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Saturday 2nd November 2024
Kick-off: 5:40pm

Week 2
Scotland v South Africa
Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Sunday 10th November 2024
Kick-off: 4:10pm

Week 3
Scotland v Portugal
Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Saturday 16th November 2024
Kick-off: 3:10pm

Week 4
Scotland A vs Chile
Hive Stadium Edinburgh
Saturday 23rd November 2024
Kick-off: 6:00pm

Scotland v Australia
Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
Sunday 24th November 2024
Kick-off: 1:40pm

Strong squad with a fair few rested.

I would have thought we could have avoided taking Schoeman (one of Kebble, Hislop, Hepburn) and Tuipulotu (one of Hutchison (Newcastle), Bennett, Redpath). Both are in physical positions and played over 1,500 minutes.

Be a good test to see how various players get on. TH will be a fascinating one as the four listed are basically playing for the back-up spot in November. Hastings vs Healy for back-up FH. Hooker is completely up for grabs.

I’d say hooker is probably nailed on in terms of first choice, as Ashman had been the no.2 to Turner, and I would be amazed if he’s not now considered first choice.

However back up hooker is absolutely up for grabs.

I'd say Richardson was a little ahead based on his pro game time experience, of which Harrison nor Robbie Smith have very much. He does seem like a very explosive player who we would probably have seen a bit more of was he not so injury prone.

Anyway, for those that expressed an interest, I am currently in Durness

I did not make it to Cape Wrath today as the ferry still not running properly due to the bad weather, so I have been exploring the sights and trying to keep out of the wind, it being a frigid 8 degrees up here!

I visited the John Lennon Memorial Garden today, which sounds grander than it is. JL used to spend his childhood summer holidays in Durness.

Who would have imagined?

So my ride officially kicks off from Durness tomorrow morning when I head down to Ulapool. I am really hoping it gets warmer as I head south!

BigGee wrote:Anyway, for those that expressed an interest, I am currently in Durness

I did not make it to Cape Wrath today as the ferry still not running properly due to the bad weather, so I have been exploring the sights and trying to keep out of the wind, it being a frigid 8 degrees up here!

I visited the John Lennon Memorial Garden today, which sounds grander than it is. JL used to spend his childhood summer holidays in Durness.

Who would have imagined?

So my ride officially kicks off from Durness tomorrow morning when I head down to Ulapool. I am really hoping it gets warmer as I head south!

Good luck Biggee! Hope you packed the thermals

RDW wrote:

BigGee wrote:Anyway, for those that expressed an interest, I am currently in Durness

I did not make it to Cape Wrath today as the ferry still not running properly due to the bad weather, so I have been exploring the sights and trying to keep out of the wind, it being a frigid 8 degrees up here!

I visited the John Lennon Memorial Garden today, which sounds grander than it is. JL used to spend his childhood summer holidays in Durness.

Who would have imagined?

So my ride officially kicks off from Durness tomorrow morning when I head down to Ulapool. I am really hoping it gets warmer as I head south!

Good luck Biggee! Hope you packed the thermals

John Winston O'Boogie Lennon had relatives (aunt and uncle I think) who lived in Embra. They were the posh side of the family; he was a dentist. The young Lennon spent many a holiday with them; his mum being too poor to afford any other type of holiday. Lennon always had a soft spot for Scotland. In fact the Beatles first proper professional tour was a mini tour of Scotland as the backing band to a young crooner called Jonny Gentle. Their first gig was a dance hall in Falkirk, IIRC, and the support act was Alex Harvey And His Big Beat Band. The Beatles supported by Alex Harvey what wouldn't you give to have been there?
Of course that was a year or two before The Beatles almost killed me...but that's another story.

On rugby matters...Nathan McBeth committing himself to Scotland

The one thing I don't get in this squad announcement is Toonie's rationale not picking Matthews. He said him and Cherry were left out as they've been around the squad already, and he wants to give some random youngsters a look in. I can understand that for Cherry who is relatively experienced at international level, but Matthews in an international novice with 1 cap! He's only just broken through as a pro player too in the last few years, so it's not like he's been in around the Scotland environment for a long time. He almost certainly will be involved in the AIs so should have travelled this summer.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement from Toonie eh.

I'm assuming it's because he's 30 years old (turns 31 during the tour) and Toonie doesn't see him as the future at hooker, which makes sense given his age, so he wants to give time to youngsters who are going to be playing that role for a prolonged periods.

He also said in an interview that his picks did factor in players ages and how much rugby they've played. So he's left some of the older lads home who have played a lot of rugby this season as they might be more in need of a rest than some of the younger lads.

Is there any word on where these matches will be broadcast because its only over a week until our first match ? I presume Premier Sports?

So it's fair to say this tour hasn't garnered much attention or enthusiasm! After Glasgow's heroics it does seem a bit of an after thought - I wonder what the Glasgow players will be thinking about flying to Canada to play a team ranked 18th or whatever?

Maybe a low pressure tour to to blood new players and fly under the radar is a good thing. If we can win all games (it would be a disaster if we lost one!) and unearth some new talent it'll be a a success.

Highland - the games are to be shown on TNT Sport with a couple ok BBC.

I’m a bit more excited about the tour now that Uruguay and Chile matches are free to air. Having so many young players is a great step forward. Having them link up with the likes of Matt Fagerson who was immense against the Bulls is just the sort of confidence boosting platform these young players need.

Highland Shaun wrote:Is there any word on where these matches will be broadcast because its only over a week until our first match ? I presume Premier Sports?

Yeah there was a post recently about it on twitter/X (whatever you prefer). Games are being shown on TNT Sports and BBC Scotland

https://scottishrugby.org/skyscanner-americas-tour-to-be-shown-live-on-tnt-sports-and-bbc-scotland/

Saturday 6 July: Canada v Scotland, TD Place, Ottawa (kick off 10pm BST / 5pm local) – live on TNT Sports

Friday 12 July: USA v Scotland, Audi Field, Washington DC (kick off 11.30pm BST / 6.30pm local) – live on TNT Sports

Saturday 20 July: Chile v Scotland, Estadio Nacional, Santiago (kick off 8pm BST / 3pm local) – live on TNT Sports and BBC Scotland channel

Saturday 27 July: Uruguay v Scotland, Estadio Charrúa, Montevideo (kick off 8pm BST / 4pm local) – live on TNT Sports and BBC Scotland channel

We'll our U20s open up their tournament we'll with a 123-15 win over Samoa

And no that was not a typo!

Clearly Samia were not all that great, but it does certainly seem we have some decent up and coming players in this cohort. It is a most Un Scottish thing to keep the foot on the throat when we are clearly the better team and have the match well won.

The match v Japan in this group, they also won their game very well, looks like it may decide it and indeed the whole championship

cotland team to play Canada on Saturday 6 July at TD Place, Ottawa, (kick off 10pm BST / 5pm local) – live on TNT Sports (caps in brackets)

15. Harry Paterson – Edinburgh Rugby (1)
14. Jamie Dobie – Glasgow Warriors (2)
13. Matt Currie – Edinburgh Rugby (uncapped)
12. Stafford McDowall – Co-Captain – Glasgow Warriors (2)
11. Arron Reed – Sale Sharks (uncapped)
10. Ross Thompson – Edinburgh Rugby (3)
9. Gus Warr – Sale Sharks (uncapped)
1. Rory Sutherland – Glasgow Warriors (30)
2. Dylan Richardson – The Sharks (1)
3. Elliot Millar Mills – Northampton Saints (3)
4. Max Williamson – Glasgow Warriors (uncapped)
5. Glen Young – Edinburgh Rugby (3)
6. Gregor Brown – Glasgow Warriors (uncapped)
7. Luke Crosbie – Co-Captain – Edinburgh Rugby (8)
8. Josh Bayliss – Bath Rugby (5)

Missed the replacements



Replacements

16. Robbie Smith – Northampton Saints (uncapped)
17. Nathan McBeth – Glasgow Warriors (uncapped)
18. Will Hurd – Leicester Tigers (uncapped)
19. Ewan Johnson – Oyonnax (uncapped)
20. Matt Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (44)
21. Ben Healy – Edinburgh Rugby (5)
22. Kyle Steyn – Glasgow Warriors (19)
23. Ross McCann – Edinburgh Rugby (uncapped)

Spread t

Probably not a bad mixture of experience and debuts in that side. I suspect we will see a stronger team out for the match against the USA next friday.

Debuts to Currie, Reed, Brown and Warr, then Johnson, Smith, McBeth (who seems to have made it after his visa issues). Hurd and McCann off the bench.

RDW wrote:So it's fair to say this tour hasn't garnered much attention or enthusiasm! After Glasgow's heroics it does seem a bit of an after thought - I wonder what the Glasgow players will be thinking about flying to Canada to play a team ranked 18th or whatever?

Maybe a low pressure tour to to blood new players and fly under the radar is a good thing. If we can win all games (it would be a disaster if we lost one!) and unearth some new talent it'll be a a success.

Highland - the games are to be shown on TNT Sport with a couple ok BBC.

Our hole friend Glove has changed that!

https://x.com/glove931/status/1808563585456410716?t=lAR7NOiKoEwBlgIcCGa1Eg&s=08

I see Toonie is going for the Reverse Franco;
5/3 rather than 6/2 (which is fair enough and in no way radical),
no scrum half on the bench but starting The House Elf on the wing,
starting Ross Thompson who Franco deemed surplus to requirements.

It's a 23 who should be far too strong for Canada. Even if A Reed on the wing was Andy Reed, the KC Chiefs walrus like coach I would still expect him to run in a couple of tries. I#m not convinced that we'll learn a lot from this tour.

So this is where you all are.

I must need a summer break in general as I'm really struggling to give too much of a poop about this tour. I have a concern that Scotland will win each game 90-21 (conceding 3 tries in the last 4 minutes of every match) and won't really learn anything.

jimbopip wrote:I see Toonie is going for the Reverse Franco;
5/3 rather than 6/2 (which is fair enough and in no way radical),
no scrum half on the bench but starting The House Elf on the wing,
starting Ross Thompson who Franco deemed surplus to requirements.

It's a 23 who should be far too strong for Canada. Even if A Reed on the wing was Andy Reed, the KC Chiefs walrus like coach I would still expect him to run in a couple of tries. I#m not convinced that we'll learn a lot from this tour.

Non-PC alert:
If Scotland spend too much time in Canada sooner or later they will end each sentence with 'eh'.
As in 'nice weather with only 20 inches of snow, eh?'
'Lumberjack work is good, eh?'
'your sister is a bit of a goer, eh?'
Even in Quebec.  'Votre mère aime-t-elle les hommes plus jeunes, eh?'

This is probably the most inexperienced Scotland team we've seen for a long time. Rory Sutherland (30 caps) has more caps than the rest of the team!

Also, Romania just beat USA in USA which probably gives a good indicator of the level of opposition we're up against.

All pretty comfortable for Scotland at HT

Canada look pretty game but limited and on a hot afternoon you would expect them to run out of gas in the second half.

I don’t want to be disrespectful to Canada but that was a green green Scotland team and Canada really didn’t put up much fight. What will either team learn from that?

Someone really needs to have a word with whoever selects our summer tours. England played NZ, wales “played” against Oz and Ireland have SA. We get a really poor Canadian team and then we’re off to the U.S. of Trumpland the South America where we don’t even face Argentina.

A tour to Tonga Fiji and Samoa would have been far morn beneficial

Comfortable win at 73-12

Paterson (MoM), Dobie and Richardson our standouts, but plenty of decent performances.

As Tattie says, Canada are a bit of a shadow of the decent side they used to be

I know it was really poor opposition but I thought Healy played well when he came on - attacked the line and did well to put players in space. A few nice chip kicks too.

We've debated long and hard about whether he's not a great 10 or if he's being stifled by Edinburgh's tactics - hopefully this tour will give him some confidence to open up his game.

Very professional job by us and good to get no fewer than 10 players get their debuts .

I was very impressed with Dylan Richardson, Arron Reed, Gus Warr and Harry Patterson, it was so good to see Gus Warr get quick ball at every opportunity .

Great result for the debutants.


Paterson is only going to keep getting better and he’s showing a lot of promise already. 


Quite shocking how poor Canada are now though. Whipped by a third string Scotland side at home. 


USA should be a tougher test but I think Uruguay may be the hardest game on this tour. 


Off topic but WP Nel has done an interview with Scottish Rugby News


https://www.scotlandrugbynews.com/edinburgh-rugby/24433345.wp-nel-says-scotland-lack-edge-gregor-townsend/


“ When Nel and his wife Alana board their flight back to South Africa next week, they will do so with four children all born and raised in Scotland, and with a dozen years worth of memories of their time in the capital. 


But he wishes it was different. 
Nel said once he had decided to retire, he approached Scottish Rugby about helping coach young players, but was told there were no opportunities. 


Instead he will pursue that same ambition in his native South Africa. Nothing is finalised, but he has offers on the table.”

WTF SRU!!!


He also says he wishes VC had coached Scotland to the 2019 RWC.

The SRU can't be expected to find jobs for every ex-player, but the point is that it's quite revealing that this stuff comes out at all.

If Nel - who I've never heard a bad word against, and who has been a magnificent servant to the game - feels the need to make a reasonably punchy set of points against Townsend and the wider Union, just as he gets on the plane, then he feels that he has been treated badly.

Nel's comments pass the smell test - we all know that Townsend is a cerebral coach with a lack of consistency, and we all know that Cottar instilled toughness and should have been given more time.

The SRU have form for being high-handed and cliquey. Shame to see it being still the case.

Anyway, sorry to see Nel go. Wonderful guy who had a great career. Hope he knows how well thought of he was.

Yes and as Scotland’s finest tighthead you would think he’d be high on the list of ex players to become coaches after they retire.

Yeah pretty sure the u20s, under 18s under 16s or some form of club consultation role would have been available to Nel.

Not only has no one got a bad word to say about Nel but he’s never said a bad word about anyone else and with some of the prima Donna’s we’ve had in the squad over the last 10 years that’s saying something.

Nel very much of the opinion as the rest of us, the pish that some players tried on wouldn’t have even been considered at cotter still been in the post.

We move on though, just as Nel is sadly moving to SA to now do and best wishes to him

It is a shame that Nel did not stick around as a scrum coach for the younger levels and, whilst part of it might be rot in the SRU, there is also not a great deal of money in the game and folk are expected to lose their jobs in the coming year to balance the books. It is hard to know how much was one or the other.

As for our Summer tours, a Georgia/Japan tour would have been good, otherwise I am pretty happy. We have a small playing pool and going to SA or NZ this summer would have been a step too far. We are doing our part spreading rugby to the T2 nations in a summer we want to rest players.

Next year I want Scotland to be going to NZ or SA, there is no excuse at that point.

Seems like the plan next year is a Pacific islands tour, part of with the Lions being close by. Sneaking in a test against NZ would be nice but can't see it happening.

A game against the Māori All blacks would be a good one if the ABs were not possible. Or even a super Rugby side. 

Totally agree on doing our bit for world rugby. I love that we have done serval tours to South America and the Pacific islands. It’s a disgrace that most tier one nations have not played Samoa or Fiji on their own turf. 

I’m planning to go to Dvotlsnd vs Portugal this autumn and that’s another great fixture to have on our calendar.

Sapling I agree with you about the deficit and looming job cuts, just a shame a class scrummager is slipping through the net when he is available and willing to help out. I think if he finds work in SA and develops into a superb coach it’ll be fantastic. He was one player I think I’d always imagined would be kept within the SRU system like P Horne etc

Anyone fancy a stab at predicting the team for USA match ?

Poor Gregor has tough decisions to make because Patterson, Reed, Warr and Richardson really don't deserve dropped bit on the other hand, other players deserve games during the tour too?

Ach it's pretty difficult to tell - I'm sure the Tombola will be put to full use.

Depends what his overall plan is for the tour - is he building up to a 'big' game where he'll go fully loaded? Is he planning on sending certain players home after game 2?

Wouldn't be surprised if it's an entirely different starting 15!

I am sure we will see a lot more of the Glasgow players come back into the side for this game, so it will be a very different looking team.

He did say that everyone on tour would get gametime and he will also trim the squad after this next match before heading down to South America.

Some other front line ayers like Huw Jones and Sione Tuipolotu may well be heading home for a rest after this game.

I will give it a go. I will be way off on the Tombola so my logic is this and Uruguay are the two "big games". USA and Urguay swapped spots as they are neck and neck for 17th. We want to have some settled combinations with some newbies mixed in before a complete change for Chile.

Schoeman - Ashman - Sebastian (McBeth - Richardson - Hurd)
Williamson - Cummings (Johnson)
Brown - M Fagerson - Darge (Bayliss)

Warr - Hastings (Dobie - Healy)
Currie - McDowall (H Jones)
DVDM - Paterson - Rowe

Of the 23, I think 15 have less than 10 caps including two debutants. Jones is the experienced guy on the bench with six guys over 20 caps to give a blend of experience.

Didn't realise that the Eagles played a test at the weekend - they lost narrowly 20-22 to Romania.

They haven't played a Tier 1 nation since the RWC and before that, 2021. It does give validity to the point that it is good for the sport for Scotland to do tours like this. Our youngsters will hugely benefit from the touring experience.

Harry Paterson made it into the Planet Rugby team of the test weekend too, so nice to see that being acknowledged.

That’s the issue GC. Scotland are always the ones “doing our bit” spreading the rugby gospel to lesser nations.

Let’s be clear though. We’re not doing it to build relationships and expand the rugby empire, we’re doing it because we’re not the big money draw and SA, NZ and Oz aren’t interested in inviting us over so we’ve nowhere else to go.

It should be mandated by world rugby that the big guys need to do more and can’t just keep rotating tours between themselves

Lads, lads
I'm finding it difficult to get too worked up about this tour but that may change when the last two matches are on BBC Scotland. Mind you Toonie had a real flash of inspiration when he selected the Kansas City Chiefs Walrus in human clothes, Andy Reid, to play on the wing.
That's not the reason I'm posting Caz, the quiet Bok is going off his head screaming about getting up to HQ for the autumn internationals. I've tried the SRU website but it's a no go. If, by any chance, any of you lot find you have tickets you aren't able to use please let me know. Thanks.

Team's oot,

Scotland (v USA at Audi Field, Washington, DC, Friday 11.30pm BST): K Rowe; K Steyn (co-captain), H Jones, S Tuipulotu, D van der Merwe; A Hastings, G Horne; P Schoeman, E Ashman, M Walker, A Craig, S Cummings, J Ritchie, R Darge (co-captain), M Fagerson. Replacements: R Smith, R Sutherland, E Millar Mills, M Williamson, L Crosbie, J Dobie, R Thompson, M Currie.

So, Duhan is the odd man out behind the scrum; the rest all playing for the Champions.

Although it is in the main a very experienced starting XV there are a couple of newbies who'll be looking to catch the eye.
Alex Craig with two caps will hope to make an impression.
Murphy Walker has three caps to his name but everyone expects him to be pushing Ragnar for the TH spot for some time to come. This could be his break out season.
Kyle Rowe will win his fifth cap, but starts at full back. I wonder if Franco has decided that his chances for the Champions will be mainly at 15 so Toonie is going along with this.

The starting back row has a lot of niggle about it Mbawza-Matt F-Sarge, Then Luke Crosbie will come on with a point to prove. i almost feel sorry for the Born Again Gun Toting Maga voting fundamentalists.

I can only see a comfortable victory for Scotland.

Good luck with the ticket hunt Jimbo! Although I think we need to have a ban on referring to Glasgow as “the champions” it’s too confusing as I immediately associate it with “the champions in waiting, Edinburgh”.

Strong side for the USA at Glory DC HQ. Glad the American’s will get to see Van Der Merwe and tuipulotu going up against their side. Having an American connection to a developing league is one of the SRU’s better ideas.

It is a pretty strong team, that you would imagine could do some damage to the Yanks.

I think a few of these players will head off on their summer holidays straight after this match as well and won't be heading down south.

They will be keen to go out with a bang.

If that team doesn't put 70 points past USA then it will be underwhelming!

Question is though how easily will the Glasgow players get up for this game after what happened a few weeks ago?

I see toonie has given a third of the team captaincy. Could be interesting when there's any actual decisions to be made on the pitch!

A stronger side than I expected. We will either make a meal of it (“showing them respect”) and we will earnestly grind out a modest 2 try victory. Or the Weegies will still be in their Hot Girl Summer and absolutely destroy them after they defend bravely for the first 25 minutes.

Holy crap: just realised that the last time we played the Eagles in 2018, we lost that game in Houston. Maybe we need a first team out after all.

Or perhaps I just don’t remember how completely gash we were back then.

George Carlin wrote:A stronger side than I expected. We will either make a meal of it (“showing them respect”) and we will earnestly grind out a modest 2 try victory. Or the Weegies will still be in their Hot Girl Summer and absolutely destroy them after they defend bravely for the first 25 minutes.

If you can look at Wombat-Glasgow's Ian Rush-Ragnar The Pretty and think "Hmm Hot Girls them are" then you've spent too much time in a hot country without a sensible hat on.

George Carlin wrote:Holy crap: just realised that the last time we played the Eagles in 2018, we lost that game in Houston. Maybe we need a first team out after all.

Or perhaps I just don’t remember how completely gash we were back then.

Yeah that was a bad one. We played like crap and deserved to lose.

Reasonable team too (noting that a lot of these guys were real youngsters at the time)

Scotland: Hogg, Kinghorn, Grigg, P Horne, McGuigan, Hastings, G Horne, Bhatti, Turner, Z Fagerson, Carmichael, Toolis, Swinson, Hamilton, M Fagerson.

Replacements: Brown (for Hamilton, 51), Dell (for Bhatti, 58), McCallum (for Z Fagerson, 58), Gilchrist (for Carmichael, 53), Denton (for M Fagerson, 64), Hidalgo-Clyne (for G Horne, 64), Bennett (for Grigg, 58), Fife (for McGuigan, 72).