A high five for Scots heroes
SCOTLAND have risen to their highest-ever position of fifth in the world rugby rankings after Saturday’s Six Nations victory over Wales. A climb of three places leaves them behind only New Zealand, England, Australia and Ireland. Scotland go in search of the Triple Crown at Twickenham on March 11 and the feelgood factor is reflected with the announcement that — for the first time in the Six Nations era — the match with Italy at Murrayfield on March 18 is a 67,144 sell-out.
IF England coach Eddie Jones sounded a little bit chippy after Italy’s shenanigans on Sunday, just imagine how he will react if Vern Cotter sends his Scotland team out armed with some clever tactical ploy at Twickenham on Saturday week?
Maybe the visitors will make a show of practising Italy’s ‘no ruck’ defence for 20 minutes during the warm-up… then absolutely smash the first breakdown with six of their biggest, meanest, heaviest boys.
Anything that breaks the ‘acceptable’ tactical monotony of rugby union, remarkably po-faced for a game invented by a boy cheating at football, is going to send Jones into apoplexy.
And Scotland, a team playing with an assurance and calmness, in stark contrast to some of the confused chaos forced upon England over the weekend, are just the boys to wind him up.
Not because the implacable Cotter is unlikely to get drawn into a war of words with his opposite number. But because Stern Vern’s team suddenly look so capable, so at ease with the ball in hand, that they are capable of unsettling any opposition.
When these players get a chance, they take it. In Saturday’s thrilling victory over Wales, their ability to return with points from virtually every venture into the opposition 22 confirmed that a clinical edge has been added to the usual effort and heart.
If few would make the Scots favourites for a Calcutta Cup showdown already sending pulses racing, tongues wagging and social media into overload, there is a steeliness about Cotter’s men that inspires genuine confidence.
‘The performances you’ve seen in the past year have been building for a while,’ explained Fraser Brown, the Glasgow hooker, adding: ‘I think you can see the skill we have on show.
‘The difference now is maybe having the confidence and self-belief to execute the skills. Even if we go behind, as we did against Ireland and again in the Wales game, it’s about having the confidence in the guys around you.
‘You know that you are always going to get an opportunity. It’s about that level-headedness to execute those opportunities. In years gone by, we got a bit frantic and a bit rushed.
‘We have the quality in our backs, forwards and set-piece play to create at least two or three scoring opportunities in each half.
‘It’s just about how well you execute them. The chances we had against Wales, for instance, we executed very well. Look at Tim Visser’s try. Brilliant hands down the touchline.
‘It’s having that patience and confidence in yourself, confidence in the guys around you — knowing that you can perform under pressure.’
That applies in both attack and defence. With the exception of the second half in Paris, when the loss of leader after leader from a war of attrition saw them unable to stay focused, the Scots have acquired a toughness in body and mind.
If they would like to concede fewer penalties, the usual gripe of even winning coaches the world over, they will head to London feeling quietly confident of coping under duress.
Explaining the growing sense of trust between forward and back divisions enabling a better all-round performance, Brown said: ‘You can see that from the tries we are scoring just now.
‘We are going through a lot of phases. It’s a lot of hard work (for the forwards). Sometimes, it looks like you are not making a lot of gains or getting much change out of it.
‘But that hard work creates the opportunities. When you see the backs interlinking and putting away the chances when it might only be a one-man overlap, it gives you a boost.
‘When you’re working hard in the 22 and you’re having centres and backs working off nine and coming off ten to try to relieve the load, it gives you a boost. It gives you a breather.
‘It’s a team game. The backs need the forwards to work hard to create opportunities for them and, likewise, we need them to execute them.’
Admitting that Scotland will have to raise their game against an England side going for a record 18th consecutive win in front of a hostile home crowd, Brown (left) added: ‘We go into every game without fear. ‘It’s a hard place to go and win. Lots of teams have gone there before with very good sides and not won. ‘You can’t guess how the other team are going to play. You can only try to affect their game by the pressure you put on them. The longer you can do that throughout the 80 minutes, the more chances you’ll have.
‘England are unbeaten in a lot of games, so you know you’re going to have to play well. They’re the form team in the world just now.’
Talk of 1983, the last time Scotland won at HQ, will inevitably infiltrate every question-andanswer session endured by the Scotland players over the next ten or 11 days.
‘I think it’s more important to the media and the fans,’ said Brown. ‘We don’t look at that. If you think about the weight of history and things like that, it affects your focus.
‘There will be a lot of talk about history and ramifications coming towards the end of the Championship. We know that.
‘But we have our own aims. We want to do it for Vern and the coaches — to achieve something in a Scotland jersey.’