I knew things were bad at Murrayfield, but I didn’t realise how bad until I got the email. “You have been called into the Scotland squad,” the missive declared.
My pulse quickened as I opened it. Could it be that, at last, Andy Robinson had seen sense and decided to turn to the one person who could put things right on the pitch? No – it turned out to be nothing more than a marketing ploy.
But maybe Robinson should try something extraordinary. I don’t actually mean calling in punters off the stands to pull on a Scotland shirt, but maybe he should do something radical to shake up this Scotland team, because the current lot are hardly doing the business.
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It is an uncomfortable record, but it bears repeating. Last month I pointed out that it had been 15 months since Scotland scored a try at Murrayfield. Scotland’s failure to cross the whitewash against Ireland last Sunday means that, by the time the Italy game comes round on 19 March, it will have been 16 months since the last Scotland try in a meaningful match at Murrayfield. That is sobering enough in itself, but the really worrying aspect of Sunday’s match was that it carried too many depressing echoes of the Frank Hadden and Matt Williams eras. As was the case all too frequently through the years after 2000, on Sunday Scotland were outscored decisively on the try-count and kept in touch thanks only to the reliable boot of Chris Paterson. They then rallied in the last quarter in a series of fruitless attacks on the opposition line. Sound familiar? It should do, as that has been the narrative of many of Scotland’s matches over the last decade. After Sunday’s match, Robinson grumbled about the refereeing. He was right to do so. The sinbinning of Allan Jacobsen was both important and mystifying given the number of penalties Ireland were giving away without anybody leaving the field. But the match was not lost at that point. The match was lost by Scotland’s clueless defending for Jamie Heaslip’s first try and then by the catalogue of errors including another defensive lapse which resulted in Eoin Reddan’s try shortly before half-time. Scotland hooker Ross Ford should also have done much better when flailing at Ronan O’Gara as the Irish fly-half waltzed over for Ireland’s third try. Three tries to nil. That was where it was lost. Scotland used to have one of the meanest defences in world rugby. They might not score many tries, but they would do their damnedest to stop the opposition scoring any. Now that seems to have gone, too. If the game was lost in those moments of madness in defence, it was not helped by the appalling and frankly unfathomable tactics after half-time when Scotland were down to 14 men. Time and again Scotland fly-half Ruaridh Jackson kicked the ball high and long, apparently either to test the Irish back three or to give his wingers something to run on to – but actually the tactic ended up doing neither of these things. All it did was to hand possession back to the Irish, who then kept it, ran it back at Scotland and eventually scored through O’Gara. Game over. It seems obvious, but when reduced to 14 men, surely the thing to do is to keep hold of the ball, slow the game down, run through the phases and prevent the opposition from running back at you. If you are going to kick, kick for touch to use up more time and play the game in your opponents’ half. The average number of points given away by a team reduced to 14 men is seven. Scotland gave away seven when Jacobsen was off the field on Sunday and this was largely down to Jackson’s tactics. But the way in which he did it, so often and with so much obvious preparation, seemed to suggest that he had been told to do this. Why? With Richie Gray magnificent in the line-out, why on earth didn’t Scotland play in the Irish half, kick for touch in the Irish half and challenge their line-outs? Instead, Scotland opted to keep the ball in play but hand it over to the Irish, letting them run it back. O’Gara showed how it should be done. He kept the ball in hand unless he could put in a raking touchfinder behind Scotland, which he did to such telling effect that it helped him to pick up the man-of-the-match award. Although it pains me to admit it (having called for Jackson to be given a start), Scotland looked livelier and played quicker gain-line rugby when Dan Parks came on at ten. What is it about these players? Sean Lamont played wonderfully only after he had been dropped – which is what Parks has done, too. Do they all need to be dropped to play well in the next game? So what to do now? In preparing for the ominous event which is the England match, Robinson has to decide first on the strategy and then on the players to carry it out. With the good line-out that Scotland have (but with a decidedly shaky scrum), Scotland must play the percentages. They are going to have to play for the corners, keeping the ball in the English half – but they must not, on any account, boot the ball to the English back three, allowing them to counterattack. That way disaster lies. Parks (if it is to be Parks, and it probably should be) has to be told to keep the ball out of play at Twickenham. There must be no more of the hopeful, slightly misdirected high ball that we saw so much of at Murrayfield on Sunday. Better to have the ball in touch and give England a line-out Scotland can challenge, than to allow Ben Foden and Chris Ashton a free run back up the pitch. There really aren’t many possible changes that can be made in the Scotland pack, even though it struggled against Irish gamesmanship at the rucks. Johnnie Beattie was not at his rampaging best, so he might have to give way to Richie Vernon – possibly the only change that might be made. Mike Blair made enough breaks in the first half to be given the chance to do more against England, although the Scottish back row will have to keep a very close eye on Ben Youngs, the English nine. Parks should be back at ten, with the clear instruction to either play close to the gain-line and feed the ball to Sean Lamont at 12 (which worked quite well against the Irish), or to kick long, deep and into touch. Lamont should stay at 12 and, hopefully, Jo Ansbro will be back at 13 because Nick De Luca, so culpable for the first Irish try, has thus far refused to step up to the mark of international rugby. Max Evans has to stay on one wing but Nikki Walker looks sluggish on the other. Maybe it is time to give Simon Danielli another go while Rory Lamont has to return, if fit, at full-back so he can do what his brother does so well – run hard at the opposition. Scotland need a really good, counterattacking full-back. If Rory Lamont can do it at Toulon, surely he can do it for Scotland. Paterson did well – but, with Parks starting, Scotland don’t need his goal-kicking skills as much as they did on Sunday, so he should probably be kept back on the bench, allowing him to cover 10 and 15 if necessary. Twickenham will not be a pleasant place for Scots a week on Sunday. Unless Scotland defend well from the start, they could lose by a barrel-full of points. Yet again on Sunday, Scotland gave away – really gave away – a try in the opening ten minutes. This immediately changed the feel of the game. From that moment, the Irish were confident of winning, the Scots were playing desperate catch-up. That has happened seven times in nine games. They can’t afford to allow it to happen again. I will be hoping (with no realistic expectation) of something good from Twickenham. Anything would do: a try or two, a good performance, but – first and foremost – I really want Scotland to survive the first ten minutes without conceding a try. That would be new and different. Is that really too much to ask? I hope not, otherwise all Scotland fans, as well as the players, will be in for a very, very long afternoon.Find out about donating to The Caledonian Mercury
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