Odd weekend, really. I saw a top-class Scottish side sweep their English counterparts from the pitch, score four glorious tries and deny their opponents a single point.
Then I went to Murrayfield on Saturday.
The first game was at Galashiels on Friday night when Scotland A defeated England A by 35–0. So good was the performance that it is possible that the Scotland A team could have beaten the full England side at Murrayfield the following day.
Scotland A played with such pace, panache and ferocity that England couldn’t live with it.
But, most of all, Scotland A had a backline which moved the ball well, mixed up different attacking ploys to keep their opponents guessing and played rugby, real rugby.
And at their heart, in Duncan Weir, Scotland A had a fly-half who controlled the game, kept his backs going forward, threatened with the ball in hand, scored one brilliant try and created another with the deftest flick to his inside centre.
Scotland, meanwhile, had Dan Parks at ten – and, if that wasn’t bad enough, Sean Lamont (a good winger but in no way an inside centre) at 12.
It is depressing and somewhat monotonous to sound like a stuck record, but Scotland will never, never threaten international defences with a game plan that is based around Parks at ten and Lamont at 12.
I knew how Scotland were going to play on Saturday. Everybody at Murrayfield knew how Scotland were going to play on Saturday, so it was no great surprise that England knew and snuffed out everything Scotland tried to do.
What was surprising, though, was how bad Scotland were at their limited game plan.
An odd and perplexing myth seems to have grown up around Parks – that he is a master tactician, that he can drill the ball into his opponents' 22 or stick up steepling garryowens which then lead to Scotland attacks.
But, given the aimless way Parks hoofed away possession on Saturday time and again – possession that had been hard won by his forwards – and the way he then passed in the danger zone when he should have kicked, that tactical acumen has completely deserted him, if indeed he ever possessed it.
Parks was directly responsible for England’s match-winning try. Scotland did a ropey job of tidying up the English kick-off but it came back to Parks and he could have cleared to touch. He didn’t, choosing instead to run it.
That led to another ruck, this time just yards from the Scottish line. So, when the ball came back then – and untidy ball it was – Parks had no option but to try to clear it and he was charged down, Charlie Hodgson scored and it was game over.
What was also a surprise was the way in which England beat Scotland up front, an area of the game where Scotland were supposed to enjoy a clear advantage.
For much of the second half, Scotland enjoyed masses of possession – but, even when Parks had mercifully departed, they still couldn’t turn that into points. England defended well enough to keep out this limited Scotland side.
The solution? It was on show in Gala on Friday night, not just in the players there but the way Scotland played.
They played like Edinburgh – which, with Michael Bradley in charge of both sides, is hardly a surprise.
But what Bradley managed to do was to achieve more with the players Andy Robinson had deemed surplus to requirements than Robinson did with the so-called first XV.
Scotland A mixed the game up in a way that Scotland, particularly with Parks at ten and Lamont at 12, were never going to do.
As for personnel, Weir was the man of the match on Friday night and rightly so. He is the best out-and-out fly-half in Scotland and he has to start for Scotland next weekend in Cardiff.
Parks should be dropped, this time for good. Stuart Hogg at full-back for Scotland A scored one of the best tries the old Netherdale ground has seen for many years, weaving his way through the English forwards and then beating two backs for pace round the outside before cutting in to score under the posts.
Hogg, like Weir, is young and inexperienced – but he certainly has that something special that creates openings in tight games, openings that Scotland have failed to create for the last decade.
It was depressingly familiar to be at yet another loss at Murrayfield, but also frustrating and infuriating because it didn’t have to be this way, not if Robinson had actually picked the best players in the crucial positions.
The Six Nations is all but gone for another year. Scotland have nothing to lose and Robinson has nothing to lose but his job – which is looking pretty shakey now if, as seems possible, Scotland end up with the wooden spoon.
The simple truth is that the current XV are not doing enough collectively. Something needs to change and it has to be personnel.
Given the performances of the two teams over the weekend, some of the stars from Friday night should be promoted and some of the so-called first teamers from Saturday should be demoted.
As a result, the team that Robinson should select to take on Wales next week should be: 1 Allan Jacobsen, 2 Ross Ford, 3 Geoff Cross, 4 Richie Gray, 5 Al Kellock, 6 David Denton, 7 Ross Rennie, 8 Richie Vernon, 9 Chris Cusiter, 10 Duncan Weir, 11 Sean Lamont, 12 Matt Scott, 13 Nick De Luca, 14 Max Evans, 15 Stuart Hogg. Subs: Ed Kalman, Dougie Hall, John Welsh, Rob Hurley, Mike Blair, Greig Laidlaw, Rory Lamont.
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