A NEW HOPE IS RISING...
Fans and players on board for Townsend
THE close-knit nature of international rugby, as near to a closed shop as you’ll find in world sport, provides plenty of opportunities to exorcise past terrors, relive glory days — and accumulate tangible proof of progress.
Today in Edinburgh, Gregor Townsend’s men get the chance to do all of the above. What could possibly go wrong? A winning — and convincing — display of speed and brutality against Samoa is what the near-67,000 paying punters expect in this afternoon’s first Autumn Test at Murrayfield.
They have backed the team in astonishing numbers, fully anticipating a statement performance. A demonstration of just how far Scotland have come since the last World Cup.
With senior members of the camp already talking about gathering pace towards the 2019 tournament in Japan, a good victory might also have a more lasting impact. By emboldening the mood of optimism about where Townsend and his boys are heading.
Knowing New Zealand and Australia are up next over the coming fortnight, it’s inconceivable that Scotland should stumble today.
Unthinkable, surely, that crisishit Samoa could be thrawn enough to spoil the occasion for Toonie, the old favourite making his home debut as head coach.
Yet we need only cast our minds back two years, to an autumn day in Newcastle, to be reminded of how unsettling and awkward the Samoans can be.
Back-row forward Ryan Wilson, who earned himself a yellow card in that dramatic 36-33 World Cup victory at St James’ Park, knows just how easy it is to be dragged into a madhouse of counterattacks and crazy exchanges by the South Sea Islanders.
‘That was a nerve-racking game, especially sitting in the old sin bin,’ said Wilson, wincing as he recalled the feeling of dread that engulfed him on a day of terrifying tension for Vern Cotter’s team.
‘That made it tougher, knowing what Vern was going to do to me afterwards. He was pretty p ***** off with that! It was just one of those games, to and fro, to and fro, wasn’t it? It was nerve-racking. But we’re getting better at grinding these important games out. You saw that in Australia (Scotland’s 24-19 win over the Wallabies in Sydney) in the summer, when it was down to the wire.
‘We always say it with Glasgow, as well. We believe that we can win. And that’s starting to come in with Scotland. That belief has spread massively and I hope the fans see that as well — and enjoy it.’
The rugby public have bought into the promise of better days should be obvious. In these days of Murrayfield actively pitching for football internationals, it’s worth noting that today’s rugby fixture — and the crowd now guaranteed — is the equivalent of Scotland’s soccer side drawing nearly 50,000 to Hampden for a friendly against Hungary.
OK, so exact comparisons between the two sports never stand up to the closest scrutiny. But the SRU definitely took a leap of faith by staging this game — being broadcast live on terrestrial and satellite TV — at Murrayfield.
Having taken the last visit of Samoa to Pittodrie, now the unofficial home of unglamorous friendlies of all codes, their confidence in the public’s enthusiasm has been repaid.
And why not? Scotland are currently ranked sixth in the world, after all. There is a genuine feeling that former Glasgow coach Townsend has the tools — and the plan — to smash up the top order of this strictly stratified sport. It’s infectious.
Within the quarantine of the squad, of course, outside chatter and creeping hope have to pass through several filters, all designed to prevent complacency.
Many of these players are helped by having carried around a sense of anger and disappointment for the best part of five months now.
The guys who suffered defeat to Fiji in the summer, the crushing end to a summer tour that had seen Italy and then the Aussies banished, are wary of facing rivals cut from a similar cloth.
‘These teams when you play against them, if you try to match them, you probably won’t get near them,’ explained Wilson.
‘That Fiji game, some of their offloading skills were world class. We know what we’ve got to do to counter that against Samoa.
‘We have to stick to our game plan, make sure we don’t get carried away with the type of rugby they play. If you think back, after the Fiji game, we were massively disappointed to finish with a loss after beating Italy and Australia.
‘We still feel we should have been better that day. And I know it’s a long way away. But we really want to start building that momentum for the next World Cup. That starts this autumn and then rolling into the Six Nations.’
Samoa are the great unknown element of the equation. Ranked 16th in the world but with players of genuine threat, they were tough to second guess even before their recent financial crisis.
The good news for Scotland fans is that, under Townsend as during the Cotter era, there will not be even a hint of the slapdash about this team’s application. If anything, the new man is even more obsessive than his predecessor when it comes down to tactical minutiae. Wilson, explaining the difference between the Kiwi and a