Hardie’s display proves Vern has made correct call
VERN COTTER would have been entitled to say: ‘ I told you so’ after this performance f r om Scotland on Saturday night. His final World Cup selection was all about power and adopting a game plan to suit that type of player — and we saw it in abundance in Paris.
The forwards went toe-to-toe with a huge French pack and got parity in the scrums, in the contact area and breakdown.
This was the area that caused most concern when Ireland blew Scotland away in the final game of the Six Nations.
We were powder puff that day but what a difference on Saturday. It was probably one of the best pack performances I’ve seen f rom a Scottish team.
Apart from the lineout, of course, which misfired — but at least that can be easily fixed.
What i s much harder to fix is attitude and power in the contact area and this has been addressed with Cotter’s selection.
John Hardie looks a top quality player, being very physical at the br ea k down an d, it se e med, everywhere in defence.
It was ironic that the game in Paris started not long after John Barclay had been made man of the match in Scarlets’ victory over Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun.
Barclay is playing out of his skin and was very unlucky not to make the World Cup squad but you can now see Cotter’s strategy playing out, as Hardie did things in Paris that neither Barclay, nor Blair Cowan, are capable of.
Ryan Wilson and Dave Denton put in big performances as well in the back row and outplayed a formidable French back row.
At present this is the first- choice back row — but when Josh Strauss is available, I think he will be at No 8 and Denton could well move over to the blindside in place of Wilson due to having more power.
This will be a close call because Wilson’s work rate is outstanding and better than Denton’s, so it will come down to what Cotter wants from the starting team.
The scrums were rock solid on a horrible pitch. The Scottish scrum barely took a step back even when first- choice l oose- head prop Al Dickinson went off with a head knock early on.
WP Nel had another strong game and his work rate in defence should not go unnoticed. He threw himself about and made a high number of tackles.
This was a great French pack, one that completely outplayed England two weeks ago, so this performance by Scotl a nd s hould not be underestimated.
If the pack laid the foundations for this display, the backs contributed hugely as well. The midfield of Finn Russell, Matt Scott and Mark Bennett looked very solid in defence and creative in attack.
However, Scott will be kicking himself after the line and the game were at his mercy after a brilliant break by Bennett.
He threw a wild mispass to no one when simple hands would have resulted in an easy try for either Tim Visser or Hardie. It was his only mistake of the match but it was a crucial one and he must learn from it.
There could well be games in the World Cup as close as this — and good decisions will need to be followed by good execution if we are to win.
That could be the difference between elimination in the group stages or making the knockouts, when anything can happen.
Discipline will be key as well and we need to ensure we keep 15 players on the pitch at all times. France scored their only try when Denton was in the sin bin for repeated penalties. This was the only time they really threatened the Scottish line.
To kick or not to kick? That was the question captain Greig Laidlaw had to make at the death when we received a penalty which would have drawn the game at 19-19.
He made the right call to try to win the game because there was nothing to lose with it being a warm-up match.
Scotland are in good shape ahead of the World Cup opener against Japan on September 23. Cotter now knows the vast majority, if not all, of his best starting team and that’s a great place to be.
We’ve also got through these matches with no major injuries, so luck appears to be with us.
Hardie did things Barclay is not capable of doing