Date: Saturday 28th June
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Ashe, a product of the Hillfoots and Stirling County clubs, was preparing for club training at Lincoln University in Christchurch one week ago, having been domiciled for a couple of months in New Zealand’s South Island as recipient of the John Macphail Scholarship.
Others have graduated to full international honours and have cited the “invaluable” experience the scholarship has bequeathed them, for example, John Barclay, Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray and Kevin Bryce.
But none has won promotion so rapidly as Ashe, one of four changes from the starting line-up following the victory against Argentina in Cordoba last Friday, which preserved the tour’s 100% record (after wins against the USA and Canada) and the ongoing successful beginning to Vern Cotter’s tenure as Scotland head coach.
The other changes see Henry Pyrgos start instead of Grayson Hart at scrum-half; Tim Swinson preferred to his fellow Glasgow Warrior, Gray, at lock and Chris Fusaro promoted from the bench in place of Blair Cowan who has returned home.
Pyrgos, among the try scorers in Cordoba last week, scored his first international try against South Africa two years ago.
Cotter has done his due diligence on Ashe and has seen enough in training here this week to mean that he will be Scotland’s 1060th cap this weekend.
“He is a talented player and the reports of his form in New Zealand have been very positive,” said Cotter
“He’s trained well with us and looked sharp. He is a specialist No 8 and this is a golden opportunity for him.”
Ashe, who has played for Scotland at every age-grade level and was part of the Scotland 7s squad at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth in 2011, is excited by his debut. “South Africa will be a massive physical challenge but you have to relish a chance like this,” he said.
Local Eastern Province officials say a crowd in excess of 35,000 – more than watched South Africa’s two recent Tests against Wales – will be present on Saturday.
As far as the other changes are concerned, Cotter stressed that both Gray and Hart had done well in Cordoba, but for this particular game he wished to start with Swinson and Pyrgos.
On the bench, only Dougie Fife remains from last week with the prospect of Tyrone Holmes, the 28-year-old Glasgow Warriors back-row forward, becoming Scotland’s eighth debutant of the tour, while at the other end of the experience scale, British Lions prop Euan Murray would be winning his 60th cap, should he be introduced.
Cotter added: “I’ve always regarded playing South Africa in South Africa as the benchmark. It’s a massive challenge and it gives our boys an opportunity to lift their level.
“If we can make accurate choices in the way we play and impose our form of rugby then I think that will be a shift in the right direction.
“I’ve been pleased with the initiative that’s developing within the team. We’re starting to get good variety in our game. Now it’s a matter of seeing if we can do it against very good opposition.”
| Last 10 Games played between the South Africa and Scotland | ||||
| 17-Nov-13 | Scotland | 00 – 28 | South Africa | |
| 15-Jun-13 | South Africa | 30 – 17 | Scotland | |
| 17-Nov-12 | Scotland | 10 – 21 | South Africa | |
| 20-Nov-10 | Scotland | 21 – 17 | South Africa | |
| 15-Nov-08 | Scotland | 10 – 14 | South Africa | |
| 25-Aug-07 | Scotland | 03 – 27 | South Africa | |
| 17-Jun-06 | South Africa | 29 – 15 | Scotland | |
| 10-Jun-06 | South Africa | 36 – 16 | Scotland | |
| 27-Nov-04 | Scotland | 10 – 45 | South Africa | |
| 14-Jun-03 | South Africa | 28 – 19 | Scotland | |
 Overall Stats Sth Africa |
 Overall Stats Scotland |
|||
| Games Played | 24 | Games Played | 24 | |
| *Games Won | 19 | *Games Won | 5 | |
| *Games Lost | 5 | *Games Lost | 19 | |
| Games Drawn | 0 | Games Drawn | 0 | |
| *Longest Winning Streak | 7 | *Longest Winning Streak | 2 | |
| *Longest Losing Streak | 2 | *Longest Losing Streak | 7 | |
| *Largest Points For | 68 | *Largest Points For | 29 | |
| *Largest Points Against | 29 | *Largest Points Against | 68 | |
| *Largest Winning Margin | 58 | *Largest Winning Margin | 15 | |
| *Largest Losing Margin | -15 | *Largest Losing Margin | -58 | |
| *Total Points For | 597 | *Total Points For | 264 | |
| *Avg Points For | 24.88 | *Avg Points For | 11 | |
| *Total Points Against | 264 | *Total Points Against | 597 | |
| *Avg Points Against | 11 | *Avg Points Against | 24.88 | |
| *Total Points Difference | 333 | *Total Points Difference | -333 | |
| *Avg Points Difference | 13.88 | *Avg Points Difference | -13.88 | |
| * = By South Africa | * = By Scotland | |||
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POSSIBLE RR World Rankings outcome on Result
RSA (on 89.33 points) at home -vs- SCO (on 77.86 points)
| Possible Outcome | Rating Point Exchange |
New RSA Rating |
New SCO Rating |
Will SCO overtake RSA? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| If RSA win by 1-15 points | 0.000 | 89.33 | 77.86 | No |
| If RSA win by more than 15 | 0.000 | 89.33 | 77.86 | No |
| If result is a draw | 1.000 | 88.33 | 78.86 | No |
| If SCO win by 1-15 points | 2.000 | 87.33 | 79.86 | No |
| If SCO win by more than 15 | 3.000 | 86.33 | 80.86 | No |
South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 JP Pietersen, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Coenie Oosthuizen.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Marcel van der Merwe, 19 Stephan Lewies, 20 Teboho Mohoje, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Marnitz Boshoff, 23 Zane Kirchner.
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Nick De Luca, 12 Peter Horne, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Henry Pyrgos, 8 Adam Ashe, 7 Chris Fusaro, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Grant Gilchrist (c), 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Geoff Cross, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Al Dickinson
Replacements: 16 Kevin Bryce, 17 Moray Low, 18 Euan Murray, 19 Jonny Gray, 20 Tyrone Holmes, 21 Grayson Hart, 22 Dougie Fife, 23 Peter Murchie
Date: Saturday 28th June
Venue: Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Kick-off: 1700 local, 1600 BST
Referee: Glen Jackson (NZ)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (Fra), Marius Mitrea (Ita)
TMO: Glenn Newman (NZ)
STATS & Story Source : http://rugbyredefined.com : http://rugbydata.com
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