McFarland has faith in Dan & Scott
Forwards coach is confident stand-ins will shine for Scots
IT WAS hardly the image a couple of gnarled veterans of international rugby’s most confrontational specialism would want, but Scotland’s forwards coach got rather whimsical yesterday when pondering his good fortune in having them to turn to.
“If Scott [Lawson] and Jon Welsh play together absolutely no problems, they’ll cuddle up next to each other and there won’t be an issue, they know exactly what each other feels like,” said Dan McFarland.
That was one of the many ways in which, as is his wont, McFarland sought to play down any sense of concern having been generated by the front-row injury epidemic that would historically have been seen as blighting preparations for the Six Nations Championship, but which he insists should only be seen as providing opportunities for others.
To that end it has clearly been a real boon to be able to turn to a couple in the former Glasgow Warriors and now Newcastle Falcons clubmates whose combined age might qualify them for a state pension, but who evidently still have a spring in their respective steps.
Lawson’s venerability is such that if he takes the field in Cardiff, as now looks a very strong possibility, only three Scots– Ian McLauchlan, Jim Aitken and Norrie Rowan – each of them fellow front-row men, will have represented their country at a more advanced age and, in spite of four years having elapsed since he was last called upon, he apparently settled back in instantly.
“Straight away. Like a duck to water,” was McFarland’s verdict.
“He was really good at training today. It was 2014 he last played but we’ve been watching him since we came in as a coaching team. Scott’s been playing really well.
“The lads were down in Newcastle watching him against Exeter. He had a great game off the bench there. Lots of energy, set-pieces excellent. He brings a lot of experience to the squad.”
One of the sport’s great enthusiasts Lawson has been developing a coaching role in recent years, including working with Scotland’s under-20 squad and the Edinburgh and Glasgow Warriors academy, while he has even held some sessions with Stuart McInally, the man he looks set to understudy in Cardiff.
“There will be guys who will relish getting to work with Scott, but there is no doubt he is here because he wants to play. We wouldn’t have him if he wasn’t desperate to get on the pitch,” McFarland observed.
Having acknowledged that changes of personnel can make different demands of coaches in terms of getting players up to pace, he meanwhile cited Welsh as an example of how easy it is to make adjustments if players come in with the right attitude.
“Watching Jon Welsh train today, he would be the guy who is coming in from outside of Scotland, so theoretically he should take longest to fit in with the others, even though he was with us in November for a while, but Jeez he trained well today, he trained really well,” McFarland enthused.