Now Fiji expected to be in Scotland's pool for autumn Test tournament

Vern Cotter poised to make BT Murrayfield return as his South Sea Islanders look set to be in same group instead of Georgia

Vern Cotter looks like he will be facing Scotland in his new role as Fiji coach. Picture: David Rogers/Getty Images/Barbarians

Scotland are set to lock horns with former coach Vern Cotter with the news that Fiji are likely to be in the same group for the planned eight-team autumn Test tournament.

Cotter, who was Scotland boss between 2014 and 2017, is now in charge of the South Sea Islanders and have been invited to take part in the Six Nations-run event in November through to early December which is to replace an autumn Test series which has been wrecked by travel restrictions from the southern hemisphere.

When Japan withdrew due to issues around the pandemic, Georgia were identified as replacements and initially reported to be put in Scotland’s group along with France and Italy. That had cast doubt on the Scots’ plans to face the east Europeans as a warm-up for their delayed 2020 Six Nations finale against Wales.

The SRU is expecting the Six Nations to confirm the teams, pools and fixtures at some point this week and understood to be going ahead with a match against Georgia on 24 October ahead of the Wales game at a venue still to be decided due to Cardiff’s Principality Stadium now in a process of decommissioning from its standby role as a potential NHS “Nightingale Hospital”.

The Welsh are believed to want the match to be played at the London Stadium if crowds are permitted, or behind closed doors in Wales if not.

Cotter took on the Fiji job this year and could deploy the likes of Scots-based stars like Leone Nakarawa, Niko Matawalu and Bill Mata against the country he led to the 2015 World Cup quarter-finals.

A couple of months ago the Kiwi had questioned why it seemed like Georgia would be in the Scotland-France-Italy section.

“I just wonder how we got into the pool with England, Wales and Ireland. Japan, Italy and Scotland are all ranked lower in World Rugby rankings than the teams in ours,” said Cotter in late July.

Tentative reports that world champions South Africa might form part of the tournament, despite New Zealand and Australia not venturing north this autumn, have fizzled as the Covid-19 situation in that country continues to be serious, with both Cheetahs and Southern Kings to play no part in the Guinness Pro14 this year.

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