A packed house at Murrayfield, Scotland scoring tries through swift hands and pace in the backs, a cracking game of rugby – fast, fluid and unpredictable; and yet, and yet…
Yesterday’s match against France was better, so much better, than either of Scotland’s two previous Six Nations games this year – but, almost inevitably, it resulted in another loss.
That’s three losses from three games in this year’s championship, five losses on the bounce and Scotland have two daunting away matches to come.
Can this side win those remaining fixtures in Dublin and Rome? Yes, but only if Andy Robinson takes the radical and controversial step of actually picking players in their natural positions.
In many ways, the team that finished yesterday’s 17–23 loss to France was more balanced and creative than the one that started it. The reason was that Robinson had been forced by injury to shuffle the team around – and, horror of horrors, had actually put layers in their proper positions.
Scotland finished with a winger on the wing, not in the centre, a stand-off at stand-off, not a scrum-half filling in at ten, and also with a recognised number eight in the number eight slot.
Everyone is aware of how well Stuart Hogg did in Scotland A’s remarkable 35–0 thumping of England Saxons at Netherdale earlier this month. His wonder try has been seen by millions now. But there were three other performances of real note that cold night in Galashiels too: Richie Vernon at number eight, Duncan Weir at ten and Matt Scott at 12.
It is no surprise to anyone who was there that night that the full Scotland team looked so much better yesterday when Weir and Vernon came on. The only shame is that it took two defeats and injuries in the third game for Robinson’s hand to be forced to make these changes.
Regular readers of The Caledonian Mercury will remember a piece from last year’s under-20 world cup when Scotland played England. Weir was at ten for Scotland and Owen Farrell was at ten for England.
Farrell is now the toast of Twickenham, having made the progression into the full England team, while Weir is being held back in his bid to do the same at Murrayfield – apparently because he is too young and too inexperienced to handle the pressures of full test rugby. But I believe he showed enough yesterday to prove he has what it takes to lead Scotland’s attack for the foreseeable future.
Weir is a natural stand-off half. He takes the ball much closer to the gain-line than does Greig Laidlaw and his passing is better, allowing his centres to run on to the ball. His kicking from hand is good and his kicking from the tee superb.
One of Scotland’s main problems in both the last two games has been that Laidlaw often stands deep and then passes deep to centres lying well back behind the gain-line. With aggressive rush defences (which Wales and France possess), this has pushed Scotland back and back again.
Time and again Scotland attacked through Laidlaw sitting deep – and, although they held on to the ball, they found themselves further and further from the opposition try line with every phase. When Laidlaw did attack up close to the gain-line, he produced quick ball to Lee Jones and then to Hogg which resulted in the first try.
Laidlaw is good. He is a very talented footballer and it serves Scotland well to have both him and Mike Blair in the team, interchanging as they do. But Scotland looked better with a natural fly-half at ten and Weir is that man. Laidlaw may hate it, but Scotland may be better served with him on the bench, covering both nine and ten.
Weir is young, he will make mistakes – but, like Farrell, he needs the time to grow into the role.
Robinson has made it clear that Ruaridh Jackson is his number one choice of fly-half. That was a mistake and one that Robinson should distance himself from. Jackson is not in form, and, even when he is, he is not the best fly-half in Scotland – Weir is.
Robinson has also made it clear that Chris Cusiter is his favoured choice at scrum-half. This is another mistake. Blair offers a threat round the fringes that Cusiter does not – and although Cusiter is tenacious round the fringes, Scotland need a nine who can offer more and that is what Blair does.
Robinson has tied his own hands by backing players who are not the best options for their positions. He now needs to be big enough to admit he may have been wrong.
There are four other big areas of concern for Scotland, though: the set scrum, the ruck, support play and the midfield. For the third match in a row, the Scotland pack coped to start with and then fell away, conceding penalties almost at will towards the end of the game which effectively handed the match to the French.
As for the ruck, Blair struggled time and again to secure the quick ball his backs were crying out for. The French were adept at slowing the ball down, the referee was doing nothing to stop them so Scotland have to find a way of sorting this out for themselves.
Playing two open-sides was a revelation in ball stripping and creating turnovers, but maybe Scotland need a proper blindside flanker there to do the enforcement at the rucks to ensure quick ball.
Also, Scotland are still not good enough at anticipating breaks. Twice in the first half yesterday, when Ross Ford broke clear and then when Blair ran a quick tap penalty, Scotland carved France open but were unable to take advantage because the players making the break did not have support on their shoulders.
Finally there is the midfield. Graeme Morrison and Sean Lamont were powerful going forward and solid in defence, as everyone knew they would be, but neither possesses the pass to open up defences like a centre should. Nick de Luca showed how it should be done when he came on, helping set up Lee Jones for Scotland’s second try
Going back to that under-20 world cup again, the best player in that young Scottish team was a centre, Mark Bennett, now honing his rugby in France with Clermont Auvergne.
If Robinson thinks Matt Scott isn’t ready to step up yet, then he could do worse than bring Bennett in, at least to the Scotland squad.
This Scotland side has the makings of becoming a very good one because there are some exceptional young talents there. But they will only succeed if they are picked together, picked now and, crucially, picked in their natural positions. They could really gel – not this year, certainly, but maybe next year or the year afterwards.
So the team for the Ireland game should be: 1 Alan Jacobsen, 2 Ross Ford, 3 Euan Murray, 4 Richie Gray, 5 Jim Hamilton, 6 David Denton, 7 Ross Rennie, 8 Richie Vernon, 9 Mike Blair, 10 Duncan Weir, 11 Sean Lamont, 12 Matt Scott, 13 Nick de Luca, 14 Max Evans, 15 Stuart Hogg. Subs: Geoff Cross, Scott Lawson, Al Kellock, John Barclay, Greig Laidlaw, Graeme Morrison, Lee Jones.
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