Scotland’s bench now a weaponpublished at 10:30 GMT
Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland
For a long time Scotland had a starting 15 to mix it with anyone, but found it hard to compete with the top sides when it came time to turn to the bench options.
This championship has seen the Scots make great strides in that area, not only in the quality Gregor Townsend can now call upon, but the head coach’s instincts on who to call upon and when.
At various points, Townsend has elected to use key players for their impact off the bench, players that previously would have been nailed on starters.
Zander Fagerson, Pierre Schoeman, Grant Gilchrist and Darcy Graham have all started games in this Six Nations from the bench, and all have been used effectively in that role.
Townsend is going to his bench earlier than he has done before in his tenure, and those replacements are deployed as weapons rather than merely substitutes for tiring or injured bodies. Scotland have been better for it.
