'Superstar' Freddy Douglas primed for Scotland debut this autumn

Whether the 19-year-old openside earns his first cap this weekend against Portugal or features for Scotland ‘A’ against Chile the following week remains to be seen, but forwards coach John Dalziel believes he’s got a big future.  

“The guy is going to be a superstar,” Dalziel affirmed. 

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 “He just really impressed us hugely - he's been flying into everything, he's been excellent. He's a good kid, and we'll see him definitely over the next two weeks. 

“He's world class already and I think this experience is going to do him no end of good, and when he gets back to his club, he'll kick on even further as well.” 

Douglas may have to wait for his opportunity, with his Edinburgh team-mates Ben Muncaster, who is also uncapped, and Luke Crosbie still to feature this autumn, while more experienced players such as former captain Jamie Ritchie and Josh Bayliss have played only bit-part roles.  

Scotland forwards coach John Dalziel (Image: SNS) Whoever takes the field on Saturday, forwards coach Dalziel wants to see Scotland build on their first two performances.  

“I think we were better from week one into last week and no doubt with the benefit of that game we'll be better into week three.  

“We want to finish with a high three, three wins are a minimum for us.”  

While he echoed head coach Gregor Townsend’s comments that Scotland would field a much-changed side at Scottish Gas Murrayfield on Saturday, Dalziel said the side selected would need to still be strong.  

He added: “We've got to pay ultimate respect to Portugal. They're coming to play against the Six Nations side away from home for the first time. 

“They defeated Fiji, they were very competitive, they should have done better against Wales where they had opportunities to win that game.  

“We will make changes, but we'll make sure we've got a strong enough team to rival the challenge ahead.” 

Dalziel said wing Darcy Graham, who needs just one try to equal Duhan van der Merwe’s Scotland record, is fit and available, but suggested more caution may be taken with Kyle Rowe’s hamstring injury.  

Darcy Graham scored four tries in the win over Fiji (Image: SNS) “Darcy is probably a little bit more straightforward in terms of his protocols turnaround, so he's fit and available,” he said.  

“With Kyle we're every day with that, it was a hamstring scare that he's been able to turn around, so we'll manage him and we'll introduce him back into it.” 

Scotland will be without Glasgow trio Gregor Brown, Max Williamson and Jack Dempsey for the visit of Portugal, while Nathan McBeth has also returned to Scotstoun and been replaced by Alec Hepburn.  

But Dalziel did not rule any of them out of facing Australia: “We'll continue to assess them and by the end of the week, over the weekend, we'll see if they'll return or any of them return for Australia.” 

He expects Os Lobos, who are ranked 15th in the world, to provide a tough test at the weekend but is not worried about complacency creeping in to the Scotland side. 

Dalziel, speaking from the team’s training base near Edinburgh, said: “Portugal are going to come with a free swing.  

Portugal punched above their weight at the World Cup, beating Fiji (Image: PA) “There's no pressure on them, they're going to love the occasion, it's going to be a great week for them and they're going to raise their game even further. 

“We can't look any further back than the World Cup, they were so competitive in that game, they'll score tries from anywhere, so I don't think there'll be any complacency from us at all.” 

Asked what he expects from Saturday’s opponents, who beat Fiji at the World Cup, the forwards coach said they are in a transitional stage after changing coaches following the global showpiece in Frnace last year.  

“They've got big characteristics of French teams and competitive teams, like in all areas, there's no areas that we see any weakness, they will come and they will throw the ball about.” 

Portugal warmed up for their second trip to Murrayfield with a 21-17 defeat at home to USA on Saturday.

They will also hope to be more competitive than their previous outing in Edinburgh in 1998, when Scotland ran in13 tries in an 86-11 drubbing in a qualifier for the following year’s World Cup.   

Dalziel, though, said Scotland are taking nothing for granted.  

“They're a handful and we know that, so we'll respect them fully.”