MIND GAINS
Horne: Sports psychologist has Scots’ heads back in game
PETER HORNE believes honesty sessions and chats with a head doctor can put Scotland’s Six Nations campaign back on track.
The Dark Blues centre was brutal in his assessment of a 34-7 defeat in last Saturday’s opener in Wales which diluted all of the pre-tournament optimism and forced serious soul searching ahead of this weekend’s Murrayfield clash against France.
Sports psychologist professor Damian Hughes is part of a backroom team that will help counsel a squad which went to pieces in Cardiff and Horne insists he’ll be the first to climb on to his couch.
He said: “We have Damian working with us. He will go around a few of the guys and have a chat. Quite a lot of the boys are open to that. He doesn’t do massive things with the squad. It’s quite individual.
“A lot of the time he’s just there, chucking in little bits of wisdom about ways of coping with things. It’s more if the boys feel they want to go and have a chat with him. I’d like to think everyone is mentally strong enough to know that that one game doesn’t make you a bad player.
“Everyone makes mistakes and has bad games, that’s part and parcel of professional sport. There will be times when you fall over. We just have to suck it up, admit we were pretty poor and ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
Horne admits his late try was scant consolation in a game featuring a catalogue of disasters and he sought sanctuary back in Glasgow with his family to try and process exactly what went wrong in Wales.
He said: “We got back to the hotel on Saturday. We didn’t have anything on Sunday. There was an option to stay at the hotel or drive home. I went back to Glasgow and saw my wife.
“She went to bed and I sat and watched the game again. Sometimes you get a better feel for it on the TV so I was prepped and didn’t have to watch it on the Sunday with her.
“Regardless of the result, afterwards you spend time with the family and don’t worry about it. You don’t ruin their weekend because you’ve ballsed up the game.
“We came back in on Monday and had a good review. We’re in a good place now and ready to crack on.”
The 28-year-old Glasgow Warrior admits the post-mortem at the squad’s Oriam base on Monday morning made for painful viewing but he’s adamant nobody will absolve themselves from their part in the immediate aftermath of the nightmare at the Principality Stadium.
He said: “It’s a lot easier just holding your own hand up. There is holding people accountable but at that point straight after a game there is no need for that.
“Everyone has a good idea of what they’ve done wrong. Someone calling you out in front of everyone is not going to help.
“Everyone was disappointed, we had a pretty frank discussion and we left it all there. We were all gutted.
“It’s not one you could just forget. Playing for your country you’re desperate to do well for yourself, family and the fans.
“There was a big expectation from everyone inside and outside the group. We felt we blew a big opportunity and it has been a tough one to take.
“It’s not easy to sit in a room after something like that. You want to make sure you’ve got a good plan for the next game so it doesn’t happen again. You need to be honest with yourself.”
As all eyes turn to this Sunday’s game with Les Blues, Horne has promised the loss to Wales will become history as Scotland stand up to the challenge.
He said: “I’m confident it was a slip as I can’t see us being that bad again. I think there will be a good reaction.
“We are pretty beaten up and embarrassed by the result. We’re desperate to put things right.
“I believe we can beat anyone in the competition. I won’t be chucking it out there with a ‘Horne says Scotland can win the Six Nations or anything like that’.
“We will be looking to beat France, regroup then try to beat England, Ireland and Italy.” away until we face Ireland so this is not something that can be addressed in depth at the moment.
“In terms of winning away this is a group with strong belief so at the end of the game there is a sense of shock.
“That shock comes from the fact they are going in with belief so I don’t think that’s an issue at all.”
Despite the ongoing enquiry over what went wrong in Cardiff, McFarland is adamant he won’t have his work cut out trying to lift his side for the French.
He said: “It is about the easiest job in the world. The next game is in front of 60,000 of your own fans, what a motivator that is.
“You stay positive in understanding you created opportunities that if we had taken and had not made so many errors meant we could have been competitive in Wales.
“You get knocked down but have the strength of character to stand strong and find an answer.”