TURNING ROUND THEIR CHARIOT
Cotter plans to put brakes on English machine and build a Scotland victory
IT’S all about the momentum. Stopping a runaway English chariot before terminal velocity is reached, then forcing it into reverse. Even saying it quickly, it sounds like a near-impossible task.
As Vern Cotter’s Scotland travel to Twickenham in search of a historic triumph, however, the reticent Kiwi tempers his natural caution with a clear message about the mission aims of this excursion into Auld Enemy territory.
Confident that his wobbling scrum has been rebuilt in a new and more solid image, hinting — but no more than that — at the vulnerability of certain England players in defence, Cotter makes no bones about the need to hit Eddie Jones’ world record-chasing team before they can get the go-forward going fast forward.
And then, assuming the Triple Crown is still very much in play for the visitors at the hour mark? They will brace for the inevitable energy surge from the England bench — and look to meet it head on.
‘We need to apply pressure on them,’ declared Cotter. ‘We can’t sit back and watch them play for long periods.
‘We don’t like the idea of going down there just hoping to win. We like to construct and build a victory. That’s what this week is about. The players are very keen to do that.
‘England have momentum surges, which is obviously something they’ve developed in their scenarios at training. We need to stop them as quickly as possible, before they get front-foot ball, where they’re very dangerous.
‘They kick start their momentum plays quite often by driven lineouts or a half-back play when people are sitting back on a ruck. We need to be careful and make sure we come forward at them the whole time.
‘The key is to defend as early as possible, so they don’t get that surge that comes after several phases going forward.
‘Then, I think Eddie’s philosophy is: “Scotland will come down here and throw everything in it. We have a stronger bench. We’ll finish the game”.
‘That’s a scenario that seems fairly clear. It’s up to us to stop that. So we don’t want to use energy unnecessarily. We want to stop things quickly. We have to be smart with the ball.
‘Hopefully then we can hold them when they make that surge at the end. We will have enough power in our legs. Our bench players are very aware of England’s strategy. And our boys are keen to impress.’
Scotland have deployed one or two cute tactics in the Six Nations, though nothing to rival the unexpected wackiness of Italy’s no ruck, no offside play last time out at Twickenham.
Although you would not expect him to reveal any great secret plan for Twickenham, Cotter laughed as he insisted: ‘We haven’t got any tricks we’re dragging out of the box. We’re just trying to find points of access against a team who are strong all over.
‘I’m sorry, I’m struggling for ways to keep saying it differently, because England are just a strong, strong team.
‘Attitude will be enormous. Discipline will be enormous. It’s about fundamentals. Accuracy is important. We need to take parts of England’s game away, parts they like to go to, if we are to give ourselves a chance.
‘Our scrum has trained very well this week and we think we can challenge England in that area. We also look to compete on the ground as hard and fast as we can.
‘We thought we put in a pretty good performance against Ireland, although there were moments we weren’t happy with. We weren’t happy with the France game — the most physical game — because we didn’t feel we played particularly well.
‘Against Wales, we managed to get a good win — and now we don’t want to make the same mistakes we made against France.
‘Now, England are different from France, just as they’re different from Wales or Ireland.
‘They are very dangerous, very powerful and they transition quickly. That is part of Eddie’s philosophy in attack and defence. They are tough to contain.
‘They will offload only when they are very comfortable. They’re more of a percentage-based team, a power-based team. And they prepare well for games.
‘The best way is to have them adapting to us, rather than us adapting to them.’
One obvious way to drive the home side backwards is to run right up the alley nominally guarded by stand-off George Ford. He missed a third of his attempted tackles against the Welsh, just in case anyone was keeping score.
Cotter tried to sidestep the issue of Ford’s stopping power as, questioned on the idea of targeting the English 10, he pointed out: ‘As we saw against Wales, Owen Farrell sticks fairly close to him.
‘If he feels that teams are attacking him, he just puts his inside shoulder in there and helps. Yes, it may be an option. But we can’t be fully focused on that.
‘There may be opportunities to run at him. We’re fully aware of their strengths and weaknesses. But things don’t often happen as you like them in a game.’
That uncertainty is part of Cotter’s pre-game preparations. He wants the opposition to be lulled into thinking that Scotland have nothing special planned.
As for the mounting excitement about the game, the prospect of a Triple Crown and the possibility of a first win at Twickenham since 1983, well, Stern Vern is not your man for whipping up a crowd.
‘The Triple Crown or even the Calcutta Cup, none of that has been discussed in the group,’ he promised. ‘There is obviously excitement to play a big game at Twickenham, with two wins under the belt.
‘So I would rather talk about the game than what a win might do for us. But I think it would validate a lot of hard work for a team that is still learning and climbing, still developing.’
Scotland are a team still moving forward. If they aren’t yet approaching unstoppable, immovable might just get the job done.