Sitting stony-faced in the lecture theatre at the Royal Grammar School in the northern suburbs of Newcastle, staunchly defending his far from full strength selection for Scotland’s penultimate Pool B match against South Africa at St James’ Park on Saturday, Vern Cotter did not crack the barest hint of a smile until the gentleman from Canal Plus asked him a question about Josh Strauss and WP Nel.
“Vous parlez de McNel et McStrauss?” Scotland’s head coach – formerly part of the fabric of French rugby as head coach of Clermont Auvergne – replied, proceeding to describe his two South Africa-born forwards as being “Ecossais maintenant.” Behind that facade, “Stern Vern” is a bit of a joker, then – and a fluent linguist.
Strauss and Nel are multi-lingual too. According to the Springbok coach, Heyneke Meyer, South Africa have been obliged to change their lineout calls because of the presence in the opposition ranks of the two Afrikaans speakers. “We had Josh and WP in our training camp three years back,” Meyer said. “They did lineouts with the team. They got manuals and everything.”
Failure to make the Springbok grade back in 2012 prompted Strauss, the back-rower and sometime electric guitarist with the ZZ Top beard, and Nel, the solid tighthead prop from Loeriesfontein, to move to Scotland as “project players”. Having served three years’ residency, both have qualified to lend their weight to the Caledonian World Cup cause and will add to their combined seven-cap haul against their native land on Saturday.
Strauss switches from No8 to blindside flanker in a starting XV shorn of the injured Finn Russell, who is replaced at fly-half by Duncan Weir, and the openside flanker John Hardie, whose continued head problem has allowed Blair Cowan to slot straight into the starting lineup after being drafted into the squad as an injury replacement for Grant Gilchrist. Scotland sit top of their group, needing one win from two games to qualify for the quarter-finals and the centre Mark Bennett, and the front-rows Alasdair Dickinson and Ross Ford are all rested before their final pool match against Samoa week.
“This is our third game in 10 days and we’ve taken that into account,” Cotter said. “We’ve looked at the workload and obviously potential injuries because of it.”
As for Strauss, his workload will not include poring over a three-year-old Springbok team manual. “There was a manual for that planning camp in 2012 but I’m pretty sure we were made to give it back,” he said. “If I did keep it, I can’t remember where I’ve put it.
“It was good experience to be involved in that training camp. Anyone who plays rugby dreams of playing at the highest level and at the time playing for the Springboks was the option and it didn’t happen. But it’s all worked out well.
“Everything in life happens for a reason. I’ve loved my time in Scotland. I’ve been really proud of the things I’ve achieved. I wouldn’t wish it any other way.”
Scotland: Stuart Hogg; Tommy Seymour, Richie Vernon, Matt Scott, Tim Visser; Duncan Weir, Greig Laidlaw (capt); Gordon Reid, Fraser Brown, Willem Nel, Richie Gray, Jonny Gray, Josh Strauss, Blair Cowan, David Denton, Replacements: Ross Ford, Alasdair Dickinson, Jon Welsh, Tim Swinson, Ryan Wilson, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, Peter Horne, Sean Lamont.
