Is White a Lions starter & how do Scots gain grunt up front?
BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering some of your Scottish rugby questions.Jim asked: Imagine you were in charge of this Scotland team. What would you do to address the lack of grunt up front? Who should fill George Turner's shoes long term? Who should feature in the second row? And, as talented as they are as individuals, is the balance of the current back row wrong?Tom answered: If, and hopefully when, everybody is fit then Scotland's grunt factor will increase. Scott Cummings and Max Williamson will make a big difference, Gregor Brown isn't a massive man but he's got lots of dog in him and was terrific in Paris. I was hoping to see a bit of Cam Henderson in the Six Nations.The second row will be fine once the injured players return. Down the line I see Cummings and Brown/Williamson as the first-choice partnership. Very happy with that.The back row misses a beast and there's not a lot anybody can do about that in the short term. That said: Jamie Ritchie/G Brown/Luke Crosbie at six, Rory Darge/Andy Onyeama-Christie/Freddy Douglas at seven and Matt Fagerson/Jack Dempsey/Ben Muncaster at eight is very decent.If all were fit and firing I'd go Ritchie six, M Fagerson eight and Christie seven.The main problems are in the front row. Pierre Schoeman/Rory Sutherland is fine. The hookers are far from fine. Dave Cherry was, for me, the surprise packet of Scotland's Six Nations season. I thought he was excellent and the jersey is his now. Ewan Ashman has gone backwards and the rest of the hookers are unproven. Scotland miss Turner in a major way.The back-up to Zander Fagerson is not international class. That's a huge concern. Ollie Blyth-Lafferty looks a very good prospect, but he's still a kid. There's no quick fix that I can see.Lyall asked: Curious to hear your thoughts on many pundits' Lions squads having Tomos Williams instead of Ben White? White is quietly the full package in all aspects and extremely consistent, while Williams is unspectacular in a Wales team of chronic losers. Should be no contest, no?Tom answered: I've picked my own Lions squad (version 347) and I have White and Williams in it along with Jamison Gibson-Park.Alex Mitchell was the other one in consideration. Just because Williams has been struggling in a terrible Wales team doesn't mean he's a bad player. He's been excellent for Gloucester.Lions history is full of great players who were in poor national teams but whose excellence blossomed when put in a heavyweight team.Look no further than 1997 - one of the great Lions tours of them all - Tom Smith, Keith Wood and Paul Wallace - the storied front-row - were playing for poor Scotland and Ireland teams at the time.
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