Relentless Ireland have set the standard for us
The roller-coaster that has been Scotland’s Six Nations campaign comes to a stop this afternoon in Rome. It has been some ride, though. The lows of Cardiff to the highs of the Calcutta Cup, with so many twists and turns thrown in. Normally, I feel sick at the end of a ride on a roller-coaster, but not this time. The emotion I have is one of excitement. Excited about where this Scotland team is and where it can get to; excited about this coaching group to see how they can improve this playing group and excited about what is happening with Scottish rugby in general. I am also excited to see if Scotland can get to the levels that Ireland have over the coming years. I think we have the players, albeit with a few needing to up their game. At the same time, the pool is also getting deeper. I think Gregor Townsend can be as good a coach as Joe Schmidt has become, but that will only be achieved with success. Trophies are ultimately what defines teams. Trophies are the only things that remain over the years when the memory of that team fades. How many good New Zealand teams have there been over the years? Tons, but the most memorable are the 2011 and 2015 teams that won the World Cup. This Irish team under Schmidt have now won three Six Nations titles in five years — and this one is with a game to spare. That is impressive. I admired Ireland greatly last week and watched them with a bit of awe and jealousy. They are so efficient in what they do, everyone is absolutely on the same page at the same time, which gives this cohesion and relentlessness that makes them so formidable at present. They keep the ball so well, which demands the opposition have to make so many more tackles than they do and this, eventually, grinds them down. John Barclay said last week’s game was one of the toughest he has ever played in because of the physicality required just to contain Ireland.
They have also had the luxury of blooding new talent into the team whilst still winning. This is mainly due to the core of experienced players such as Rory Best, CJ Stander, Conor Murray, Johnny Sexton and Rob Kearney, which has meant this team has transitioned well and are in great shape for the World Cup next year. This is why I am focusing on Ireland so much and making them our benchmark. We play them in Yokohama on September 22 next year, which will go a long way to determining how well we do at that World Cup. It will take some doing to close the gap fully, but we must strive to get closer to them in all aspects of the game. In many ways, that means it starts today in Rome. This used to be the fixture I dreaded the most for many years, which is bizarre because it gave us the best chance of an away victory. The games were purgatory; Scotland went into their shell and played to avoid losing rather than going out to win. Most of the games in Rome were tough to watch, especially the five losses we have had there. This Scotland team is different. I am expecting them to go out there today and play their style of rugby; high tempo and high pace, but be clinical this week and put Italy away. The players left three golden opportunities out there in Dublin last week and I want them to be ruthless today. Huw Jones has been a revelation since breaking into the team, scoring ten tries in 15 starts. Incredible stats, but what he needs to show now is that he can also create tries. He did all the hard work last week with a beautiful chipand-chase and all he needed to do to put Stuart Hogg under the posts was time his pass correctly. He didn’t and it was a missed opportunity on many levels; for Scotland to get back into the game and for Jones to prove he is a creator as well as a finisher. A good performance and win today will mean Scotland will have won three games in consecutive Six Nations, which is proof of progress. We could finish from second to fifth in the table, depending on results elsewhere, which just highlights how bonus points have changed the outcome of the Six Nations. Scotland are going in the right direction. Ireland have been the best team and deserving champions and are showing Scotland, and the others, what they must do to close the gap.