Scottish Rugby

We want your questions for our rugby expert Andy Burke after a packed weekend of action.

Glasgow secured an impressive bonus-point victory away to Sale in the Champions Cup, while Edinburgh suffered their first defeat of the season, going down to Toulon in the Challenge Cup.

Scotland's women also suffered defeat, going down to Australia in a chastening eight-try loss in their WXV Global Series match in Sydney.

Send us your questions via this link, and a selection will be answered and published on this page later in the week.

George O'Neill
BBC Sport Scotland

Image source, PA Media

Glasgow back their fitness

Sale flew out of the blocks in this Champions Cup opener and deservedly led 12-0 after just eight minutes.

However, Glasgow rolled with the punches and slowly but surely turned the tide, fighting back to lead 21-15 at half-time.

Then in the second-half, Glasgow proved too strong for their Prem opponents, running in four tries as their bench added energy and heft.

Captain Sione Tuipulotu spoke post-match about how Glasgow know they can deliver 80-minute performances and therefore weren't fazed by Sale's fast start.

The Warriors' conditioning and confidence bodes well as they try to go deep in the URC and in Europe.

Maul does damage again & Van der Merwe impresses

Since head coach Franco Smith took charge, Glasgow's maul has been a potent weapon and it delivered the goods again.

Three of Glasgow's tries came directly from that source.

Regardless of who starts in the Warriors pack, their maul causes opposition teams problems.

Summer signing Ruwald van der Merwe made his Glasgow debut in Salford and showed his qualities with several powerful carries.

Given Jack Dempsey's departure, Van der Merwe has big shoes to fill, but this was a solid start.

Tearaway Tavi is a talent

One beneficiary of Glasgow's maul was debutant Tavi Tuipulotu, who scored Glasgow's seventh try of the game.

It was an impressive cameo for the youngest Tuipulotu brother, who has had to bide his time for a first Warriors appearance after a long-term injury.

"I'm so grateful for the opportunity," he said.

"To get the dub with a good group of boys and my brother on the field, it doesn't get better than that."

With Seb Stephen, Gregor Hiddleston and Tuipulotu in the mix, Glasgow's young cohort of hookers is incredibly exciting.

We asked for your thoughts on Edinburgh's defeat by Toulon in the Challenge Cup on Friday and Glasgow Warriors' Champions Cup win over Sale Sharks, which started with an emotional minute's silence on Saturday following the sudden death of the hosts' former lock, Hyron Andrews.

Here's a selection of your replies:

Edinburgh

Doug: First up, congrats to Toulon, the better team winning the night. That said, it's difficult when playing against 16 men. No ref will be perfect, but it felt at times he was looking for reasons to penalise Edinburgh yet strived to give Toulon the benefit of the doubt on countless occasions. At the end of the day, we just want consistent and equal officiating. Same problem exists in the URC.

Steve: This wasn't a terrible performance and it's testament to Edinburgh that Toulon brought a strong team. However, aerially we were poor and we really missed McConnell at the line-out particularly. We still struggle to score from close range, which is a bit perplexing, even with a defence as good as Toulon's. Perhaps a new approach is required there. I don't know why so many Edinburgh players were venting at referee Ben Breakspear. It wasn't helpful, but mercifully he didn't take it to heart and I thought he had a pretty good game.

Moira: Toulon are a tough team and their new coach has them playing a basic strong, physical game and they fully deserved the win. Edinburgh struggled a bit receiving Toulon restarts and got very little in the aerial battle. Ewan Ashman has continued this season where he ended last season with exceptional performances. His sprinting speed is incredible for a forward, let alone a front row. Good to see Darcy Graham getting a good run out.

Simon: Ultimately, Toulon had quality players where Edinburgh didn't, predominantly in the backs. Schoeman, Bradbury and Ashman all put in huge shifts and that try by Ashman was world class - unbelievable pace.

Stair: Edinburgh resorted to the kick chase game, which they are less than competent at. Aimless box kicking gave possession away time after time. This cost us the game. Other aspects of this game were really good. Defence was heroic. Freddy Douglas is a superstar. Shame that Darcy was given so little ball. He is electric. Pierre was a wrecking ball. Good performances but totally wrong tactics. Same old, same old.

Stuart: Not the win Edinburgh wanted, but some players showed their class. Graham looks like he hasn't been out injured and Douglas is making a big claim to start for Scotland.

Glasgow Warriors

Scotty: While it was great to get the five points (and away from home at that), up front we regularly came off second best. Having said this, Euan Ferrie was an unsung hero. Our lack of physicality is a worry if we want to go deep in the tournament. Our backs turned up as always, but we do need a more aggressive and abrasive approach from the start when facing more experienced and bigger sides.

Kath: Sale started with a lot of energy, but that level dropped of after 15-20mins - understandable given the emotion surrounding the match. Terribly sad situation for Sale team and coaches. Thought Glasgow took advantage well. With that all-in maul you could put my nan in as hooker and she would've scored a couple of tries. But both young hookers did look okay for Glasgow - bit rough round the edges but decent lumps.

Iain: A good bonus-point win, especially with the new criteria. However, we need to stop giving the opposition an early foothold. A stronger team would make it more difficult for us to get back into the game.

Tom: Our backs are excellent and our forwards won plenty of ball even though our scrum and maul were under pressure. But the link, i.e. Lancaster, is a worry and we don't seem to have an understudy. Kyle Steyn is excellent at chasing restarts, but Lancaster kicks too long. We are a very good side with an obvious weakness.

Stuart: A gritty win against a strong side. A lot of silly mistakes that cost points. Great to see the new faces performing well on their debuts too.

Andy Burke
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter at Hive Stadium

Image source, SNS

Toulon class wins the day

Edinburgh showed plenty of heart to keep coming back at Toulon, but the French side's class proved too much in the end.

Melvyn Jaminet was the game's outstanding player, with two tries – including one world-class individual score – and 22 points to lead his side to victory.

Edinburgh twice responded brilliantly to falling 10 points down with good tries, but Toulon never allowed them to get back into a position to get their noses in front.

The home side's botched attempts to deal with the restarts after their tries certainly did not help.

Much like they showed when knocking Glasgow Warriors out of the Champions Cup last season, the former European champions demonstrated excellent game management to navigate through difficult moments and pull away for victory.

Scotland star White on point

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend will have been pleased with the performance of Ben White.

The Scotland scrum-half was quietly excellent, with his kicking game helping Toulon to dominate the aerial battle.

White's lovely double-pump pass put a try on a plate for Seta Tuicuvu and, despite a heavy strapping on his leg, he looked sharp throughout.

With the Scotland squad named next week for the November internationals, White looks to be arriving in good form.

Douglas the disruptor

It feels a little unimaginative to highlight Freddie Douglas's work at the breakdown, but it really is quite freakish how regularly the 21-year-old burgles the opposition of the ball.

It started with a timely stripping of the ball when Toulon were mauling their way into the danger zone in the first half.

Then there was a crucial steal on the floor in the shadow of the Edinburgh posts.

Douglas forced four turnovers, more than any other player on the pitch, and it will be fascinating to see if Townsend looks to deploy his poaching skills against New Zealand, Australia and Japan next month.

Glasgow Warriors pulled away to record an impressive bonus-point victory over Sale Sharks in the Investec Champions Cup at an emotional CorpAcq Stadium.

Read the match report

Have your say on the game

Image source, PA Media

With Sione named as player of the match and Tavi making his debut, it was a memorable afternoon for the Tuipulotu family as Glasgow started their Champions Cup campaign with a seven-try win at Sale.

Tavi was a late addition to the Glasgow bench after Gregor Hiddleston withdrew from the matchday squad and after coming on in the second half, he got on the scoresheet with his first try for the club.

"Stick in the back [of a maul] and get some points on the board - how good," the younger Tuipulotu brother said.

"I'm so grateful for the opportunity. To get the dub with a good group of boys and my brother on the field, it doesn't get better than that."

Scotland star Sione said it was a dream come true to share the field with Tavi.

"It was an emotional week - my brother got his debut and I was more excited for him to play than myself," he said.

"We put out a massive team performance and we knew that was what it was going to take. Massively proud of the group.

"It genuinely can't get better - you dream of that when you're a kid. To play European rugby with my brother, I thank God for it. It's a massive blessing for me and my family. Stoked that he got his debut today."

Image source, SNS

Malelili Satala says a failure to do the basics let Edinburgh down in their Challenge Cup defeat by Toulon on Friday.

After a tightly-contested first half, Toulon scored three second-half tries to earn a 27-17 victory.

"First half, I don't really know how to explain, it was like an arm wrestle," Satala said.

"We knew we had to pick up the speed in the second half, but simple skills we need to sharpen up.

"We're going to keep trying to fight and come back, even when it seems like it's impossible. We weren't afraid to move the pill, but you can't win a game with that amount of conceded penalties.

"We're not going to roll over. We will take learnings and come back."

Edinburgh suffered their first defeat of the season as they went down to Toulon in their European Challenge Cup opener.

Read the match report

Have your say on the game

Image source, SNS

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt spoke to BBC Scotland after his side's Challenge Cup defeat by Toulon:

"You have to take the positives - our defence was really good. We gave them a lot of possession with the turnovers we conceded, so to keep them out, I'm pleased with that and the fight they showed to stay in the game.

"From a negative side, it wasn't the performance we wanted. We've conceded 26 turnovers and they won the aerial battle, so we couldn't impose ourselves.

"Just fundamental errors. We know if you don't exit properly, you're going to put yourself under pressure.

"[Magnus Bradbury] picked up a niggle in the week and managed to get through the game. We'll see how he is for next week.

"There's a lot of growth with the youngsters, to be able to play against top-level opposition like this. They will learn every week and they have got better every week.

"We're happy with the start [to the season]. Maybe it's one step backwards in a way, but we'll look forwards to next week and learn from this."

Image source, SNS

Glasgow Warriors have made eight changes for Saturday's Champions Cup opener at Sale Sharks, including a first appearance of the season for three Scotland internationals.

Warriors captain Kyle Steyn, prop Zander Fagerson and lock Alex Craig all start, while Ruwald van der Merwe is set to make his club debut at number eight having signed from Pumas in the summer.

Only Nathan McBeth, Scott Cummings and Rory Darge retain their places in the forward pack that started the URC win over Connacht last time out as Seb Stephen starts at hooker and the fit-again Euan Ferrie starts in the back row.

Head coach Franco Smith sticks with the half-back pairing of George Horne and Dan Lancaster, with Stafford McDowall partnering Sione Tuipulotu in the centres.

Steyn joins Jamie Dobie and Kyle Rowe in a potent-looking back three.

"We look forward to getting our Champions Cup campaign under way tomorrow against a Sale Sharks squad we know will provide a strong, physical test in front of their home supporters," Smith said.

"Ruwald has worked hard since arriving in Glasgow to put himself in the best position possible, and has earned his opportunity to start tomorrow.

"We are also pleased to welcome Kyle, Alex, Zander and Euan back into the line-up – each player has been diligent in their work with our medical and S&C teams, ensuring that they are in the best shape for their return."

Glasgow Warriors XV to face Sale Sharks: Rowe, Steyn, McDowall, Tuipulotu, Dobie, Lancaster, Horne; McBeth, Stephen, Fagerson, Craig, Cummings, Ferrie, Darge, Van der Merwe.

Replacements: Hiddleston, Schickerling, Talakai, Oguntibeju, Brown, Miller, Reidy, Smith.

Image source, SNS

Darcy Graham will make a surprise early return to action for Edinburgh in Friday night's European Challenge Cup home match against Toulon at Hive Stadium.

The British and Irish Lions winger has made a quicker-than-expected recovery after tearing a bicep in September, and having been initially ruled out until Christmas.

It is a timely return for the 29-year-old, who will be hoping to force his way into Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend's plans for next month's Nations Championship fixtures against New Zealand, Australia and Japan.

Edinburgh head coach Sean Everitt has made one other change to the starting XV following last week's 29-12 United Rugby Championship win against Zebre, with flanker Tom Currie set to make his first start of the season.

Additionally, Scotland second-row Grant Gilchrist has recovered from injury and hopes to make his first appearance of the season off the bench.

Edinburgh: Piers O'Conor, Malelili Satala, Matt Currie, Mosese Tuipulotu, Darcy Graham, James Grayson, Hector Patterson; Pierre Schoeman, Ewan Ashman, Ollie Blyth-Lafferty, Callum Hunter-Hill, Glen Young, Tom Currie, Freddy Douglas, Magnus Bradbury.

Replacements: Jerry Blyth-Lafferty, Jamie Stewart, Paul Hill, Grant Gilchrist, Euan McVie, Conor McAlpine, Geordie Gwynn, Rory McHaffie.

BBC Sport Scotland's Andy Burke has been answering some of your Scottish rugby questions.

Matt asked: I would love to hear your opinion on wee Dalziel.

Should he be brought into the Scotland environment and given exposure to the international game despite being so young? He looked incredible when he came on at the weekend, and maybe as much exposure to the international environment will be good.

Not necessarily saying he should get a cap but just being around senior players will help his development.

Andy answered: First things first, he might be Dalziel Jnr (son of Scotland forwards coach, John) but he certainly cannot be classed as wee!

Unusually for a stand-off, he is six-foot-four, and we saw the benefit of his long levers with that brilliant offload that led to Christian Wade's try on Dalziel's Newcastle debut.

He has long been identified as a huge talent, standing out in U20 internationals at just 17, and now becoming Newcastle's youngest Premiership player at 18 will only heighten expectations.

It's important to be careful with Dalziel, though. He still has a lot of developing to do, both physically and in terms of game understanding. He looks to have all the tools to be a very special player, but it's important not to demand too much of him too soon.

Dalziel will have had experiences in and around the senior Scotland set-up from his time with the U20s - the two sides regularly have training runs against each other - and I'm sure Gregor Townsend will be keen to keep him close and broaden his experiences to prepare him for what, we hope, is his inevitable Scotland debut in the not too distant future.

Graeme asked: Two players, two different directions - will Duhan van der Merwe get back into the Edinburgh side and is he still good enough to get back into the national team? And is Bradbury now favourite to start at number eight for Scotland?

Andy answered: I have no doubt when Duhan van der Merwe gets himself fit and up to full speed, Edinburgh will look to try and get the best out of him.

For too long Van der Merwe has seemed content to save his best stuff for Scotland while delivering underwhelming performances for his club. The reality now is the ground has shifted beneath him in terms of the Scotland pecking order, and he is pretty far back in the queue for wing spots.

Kyle Steyn, Jamie Dobie, Kyle Rowe and Darcy Graham would all seem to be ahead of Van der Merwe right now, and the only way he can force himself towards the front is to catch fire in an Edinburgh jersey. If he can do that, he still has a role to play as he offers something none of the other wingers can. If not, he might be in trouble when it comes to World Cup selection.

He could take a cue from Magnus Bradbury, who has been tearing it up for Edinburgh at the start of the season.

I think Jack Dempsey will still be in that role for the Nations Championship fixtures in November, but we know he will not be available for the Six Nations owing to his club commitments in Japan.

That opens the door for Bradbury, while Matt Fagerson, Josh Bayliss, Gregor Brown and others are all capable of playing at eight, but if Bradbury can continue his early-season form and show up well in whatever opportunities he gets in a Scotland jersey in November, he could be in pole position come the Six Nations.

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

Glasgow Warriors let themselves down ultimately in last season's European Champions Cup, according to utility back Ollie Smith, who says they can make up for it this time round.

Franco Smith's side tore through the pool stage, winning every match to top their section and earn home ties in the last 16 and then the quarter-finals.

They took care of the South African side Bulls but were beaten at home 22-19 by Toulon in the last eight.

This season's campaign begins, like last term, away to English Premiership side Sale Sharks, where Warriors won 26-21 despite trailing 14-0 in a thrilling match in Manchester.

Smith says getting off to a flier this season could do wonders for their European aspirations.

"I think you saw what happened last year," he said. "It just gave us that real confidence to back ourselves against European competition.

"It's a really tough place to go down there and it's quite hostile. If we can come away with a win like we did last year, it really catapulted us on to bigger and better things in the competition.

"We did so well getting to that top spot. Home play-offs and stuff like that and then maybe let ourselves down in the quarter-finals. I think we missed an opportunity last season. We'll be looking to flip that this time."

Although Warriors are unbeaten so far this season, with two wins and a draw in the United Rugby Championship, Smith feels they'll have to improve to get their European adventure off to a winning start.

"It'll be massive to get us going because we've been a bit rocky these first three games," he said.

"It's not been pretty the whole time. We're looking for an 80-minute performance and this is a pretty good platform to do it."

Smith thinks that Warriors will have to tighten up defensively to profit from the new differential bonus-point system, with teams having to score three more tries than their opponent to benefit instead of just four or more tries.

"We're a team that, on average, I think scores more than four tries a game," he added.

"So it's definitely a focus for us to just keep scoring. But it's maybe more a case of not letting other teams score."

Image source, SNS

Winger Katie Buchanan makes her first Scotland start against Australia in Sydney on Saturday as the WXV Global Series continues.

Scrum-half Leia Brebner-Holden also comes into the starting XV following last month's defeat to the same opponents in Edinburgh.

Canada and New Zealand were also victorious against the Scots in September.

Captain Rachel Malcolm once again leads the team against the Wallaroos for the first time on Australian soil.

Shona Campbell and Ceitidh Ainsworth are the players dropping to the bench for the match at the Accor Stadium.

Scotland will play a second Test in Canberra on the following Friday.

Scotland: Hannah Ramsay, Rhona Lloyd, Evie Wills, Meryl Smith, Katie Buchanan, Helen Nelson, Leia Brebner-Holden; Anne Young, Lana Skeldon, Elliann Clarke, Holland Bogan, Sarah Bonar, Rachel Malcolm (capt), Rachel McLachlan, Evie Gallagher.

Replacements: Aicha Sutcliffe, Leah Bartlett, Molly Poolman, Hollie Cunningham, Eva Donaldson, Ceitidh Ainsworth, Shona Campbell, Chloe Rollie.

David Currie
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

Club captain Kyle Steyn and Zander Fagerson are "in the mix" to feature for Glasgow Warriors for the first time this season in their opening Champions Cup match against Sale Sharks on Saturday.

Assistant coach Scott Forrest confirmed the Scotland internationals are back in full training and are in contention for places.

Forrest described their potential return as a massive boost for Warriors.

Steyn, the club captain, hasn't played since Scotland's summer tour, during which he picked up a foot injury that required surgery.

Tighthead prop Fagerson injured a knee on international duty but has fully recovered.

Zander's younger brother Matt should be fit too, according to Forrest, despite the back-row forward leaving the field in the URC win over Connacht last weekend with a groin issue.

Forrest said: "It's probably not as bad as first thought. He has had something similar in the past, so again it was precautionary. He's not trained much at the start of the week, but he's moving about absolutely fine.

"Whether he plays this week or not, we'll wait and see. As important as this game is, there are other important games coming up for us and for Scotland, so we'll wait and see."

Kyle Rowe, who missed out on the match against Connacht through illness, also returns, with Forrest saying: "We are in a good place going into the weekend."

Warriors won all of their Champions Cup pool matches last season, including their opener away to Sale, a memorable 26-21 win.

They beat the Bulls in the last 16 but were knocked out of the competition at the quarter-final stage by French side Toulon, who beat Franco Smith's side 22-19 on their home patch.

No Scottish club has ever reached the last four of the competition, let alone won it, and Forrest isn't ready to list Warriors among the contenders to be named European champions.

He said: "We feel like every game we go into, if we get our stuff right, then we can go and beat anyone, as we've shown in the past. So that's not changed.

"Do we view ourselves as contenders? Like I said there, I think we have a belief that, on our day, we can beat anyone because I think you saw that last year.

"So we'll keep believing we can go and beat anyone on our day, but in terms of talking about winning competitions, we're not there yet."

Andy Burke is joined by Scotland's record points scorer, Chris Paterson, and former Scotland Sevens captain Colin Gregor to discuss Edinburgh's sensational start to the season and how far they and unbeaten Glasgow can go in Europe.

Plus, Scotland's women return to WXV action next weekend with an away fixture against Australia.

Listen and subscribe to the BBC's Scotland Rugby Podcast

Sandy Smith
Fan writer

Gritty, dogged and gutsy.

All good words to describe Edinburgh's performance against Zebre. Win is another.

A third victory in a row and top of the URC table going into a break from league action while we take on Toulon in the Challenge Cup.

It wasn't pretty but it was five points away from home at a place where we have struggled in the past, and despite being reduced to 14 players for a quarter of the match we were only behind on the scoresheet for 14 minutes.

There's a well-known phrase, it's not the size of the Bradbury in the fight but the size of the fight in the Bradbury, and our co-captain is certainly living up to that.

He was a hugely deserved winner of the player of the match and it was no surprise to learn he carried more and further than anyone else in this game. Only three players in the entire league carried for more metres than him in this round of games.

How do you know when your team is doing well? Well the table is a given, then the rumour mill starting to suggest teams are interested in our players is another way. A third yardstick is pundits saying how lucky we are with the order of the fixtures.

Sorry folks, there's no perfect schedule that Edinburgh could be given. We've lost to them all in the past and in any order you can think of.

What is new and hopefully glued in place is this combative attitude that is getting us over the line, even in games like this one.

There were mistakes. Poor passes, knock-ons, getting held up in possession, the yellow cards. We also lacked a little variety in our attack.

I could go on but the story so far is that the team fought through those issues, which hasn't always been the case in seasons past.

We are all aware of how many stats we are re-writing but here's another: we have never had 14 points after three opening league fixtures in our history.

Need something bigger to brag about? There are now only two unbeaten teams across the three main competitions in Europe.

Edinburgh are one of them. The other team? Some random outfit.

Enjoy it while it lasts and hope it's less like a commute and more like a road trip.

Sandy Smith can be found at the Burgh Watch, external

We want your questions for our rugby expert Andy Burke after a positive weekend for both Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh in the URC.

Edinburgh moved top of the URC after their bonus-point win against Zebre while Glasgow stay close behind in second following their home victory over Connacht.

Send in your questions via this link and a selection will be answered and published on this page later in the week.