Scotland not giving up on title just yet
McFarland says Scots are not out of running
THE title is still there to be won. The coaches take full responsibility for their share of the most calamitous first step since Bambi trod on the frozen pond.
And there will be no backsliding, no ditching a style of play that puts Scotland constantly ‘on the edge’. Because challenging for a Six Nations — still the publicly-stated aim of a group in shock from their Cardiff catastrophe — never involves baby steps.
Scotland forwards coach Dan McFarland, who spoke yesterday about the ‘honesty’ of a group analysis session that had forced everyone to accept blame for an embarrassing performance, is adamant that neither the goals nor the methods have been changed by one loss. However seismic.
Asked if Scotland could still challenge for the Championship, McFarland insisted: ‘History would say yes. In 2013, Wales were beaten comfortably by Ireland in the first game at home and won the championship. As long as it is statistically available for us to win the Championship then, yes, we can.
‘We’ll look to win every game from here on in. That will be the mentality.’
If the Scotland coaching team can hardly preach anything but confidence, recurring questions about the tactics — the ambitious and expansive style that brought such joy in the autumn — receive a similarly blunt reply.
A bullish McFarland, quizzed on the possibility of changing approach, declared: ‘I don’t see why we would, it has brought us success. I don’t know whether there is a perception that this is a game of flinging the ball around like a bunch of “darlings” — but to me we have tremendous variety in our game. ‘We can be direct. We can move the ball if we think there is space. At the weekend there was space — that was demonstrated when we broke Wales on numerous occasions. ‘But we just weren’t accurate enough when we did that. We can score tries from mauls. We can kick and we can chase. ‘There are plenty of ways for us to play the game. But it doesn’t matter which way you’re playing — if you are not accurate then you are not going to get a foothold in the game.
‘When you are playing at the top end in international rugby, you are playing on the edge. It’s no good being conservative. Conservative teams don’t win great Championships. I don’t mind driving maul and kick. That’s not conservatism — if you’re full-on in doing that.
‘If your style is our style of play, which is ambitious, you do play at the edge. And there are errors.’
The notion that Warren Gatland and his brains trust had Scotland ‘sussed’ after ten minutes last Saturday clearly rankles with Gregor Townsend’s backroom staff.
Venture down that line and you’ll get a firm rebuttal about the number of line breaks, the wouldas, couldas and might-have-beens that kept the Scots from getting closer to the Welsh.
On one point, though, the Scotland coaches are willing to cede ground. They, as much as any player on the park, have to think about how to improve ahead of Sunday’s visit of France.
‘The first thing you do as a coach is look at yourself,’ explained McFarland. ‘What did we get wrong? Could we have done anything differently? The lads trained hard and going into it we thought we were going to do well there but their lineout defence was excellent — Aaron Shingler is a real athlete and he got up and disrupted us.
‘So, I’ve got to ask myself questions about how I prepared us for that game. The whole process is honest. Ideally, you take personal responsibility.’
McFarland revealed that the players conducted an impromptu inquest in the dressing room at the Principality Stadium, then met again for a more detailed blood-letting on Monday night.
He said: ‘How intense was it? Well, the changing room after it was pretty intense, yeah. It was more determined last night.’
Admitting that there had been ‘a sense of shock’ in the aftermath of such a clattering, the impact of defeat made all the worse by such heightened expectations inside and outside the camp, McFarland insisted that raising the players for the France game would not be difficult.
In fact, he insisted: ‘It is about the easiest job in the world. If you are playing Six Nations and lose to Wales away from home but your next game is in front of 60,000 of your own fans, what a motivator that is.
‘You go through the catharsis of review, look at where you went wrong, look at the opportunities, look at the things you did not do right; you understand those and address those in your training session.
‘It is the same in all professional sport. You get knocked down but have the strength of character to stand strong and get back at it the next week — and find an answer.’