The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Watson revels in the pressure on Scots to win
Flanker itching to return for Dark Blues after injury forced him to watch first three games from sofa
Hamish Watson spent four weeks of frustration on his sofa at home watching Scotland toil in the Guinness Six Nations but that pent-up emotion is getting a full release on the training pitch as he returns for the game against Wales.
Watson’s return is one of eight called up this week as Scotland’s lengthy injury list shortens, but two more were added yesterday with Sean Maitland and Chris Harris sent back to their clubs and ruled out of Saturday’s game.
Maitland scored two tries for Saracens against Northampton but injured his foot, while Harris picked up a calf injury playing for Newcastle Falcons, which certainly clarifies Gregor Townsend’s choices for the back three.
In the back row, it seems almost certain that Watson will return after only 50 minutes on Saturday for Edinburgh at Treviso, but he feels ready, even if that was a week ahead of the schedule.
“That 50 minutes definitely helped,” he said. “It was probably a week earlier than we expected to be back playing, but going into an international game when you haven’t played in six weeks can be pretty challenging, so I was happy to get a run out.
“The injury was pretty gutting. The squad (for the Six Nations) was announced on the Tuesday and it happened on the Friday, and immediately you’re thinking ‘I hope it’s not too serious and it won’t be too long’.
“There are a lot worse things than a broken hand. It was six weeks (out) with the operation and eight weeks without so we took that decision to try to be back for the last two Six Nations games.”
Watson isn’t the kind to throw things at the TV when forcibly restrained to the sofa, but he did admit to frustration watching the last two losses.
“It’s tough whenever you watch Scotland games and you’re not playing whether that’s through non selection or through injury,” he continued.
“I mainly just feel bad for the boys, I know how much it hurt for them, we came into the Six Nations with such high expectations.
“The Ireland game was too many errors, really – I think we conceded 22 turnovers. I thought that game was there for the taking, if we’d scored just before the break there we would have probably gone on to win that game because Ireland were a bit on the racks there.
“France was a weird game and I think the late scores flattered the scoreline a little. We didn’t deserve to win, certainly, the setpiece got a bit away from us at the end but we’ll bounce back from that this week.”
He does feel that there is pressure on Scotland now to bounce back, but it’s a ‘good pressure’.
“We put it on ourselves,” he said. “There’s some from the fans, maybe a bit from the media, but we’re the ones who put pressure on ourselves to win.
“We’ve done so well in the last couple of years, so it’s a good pressure to have. We’ve got a great opportunity to win a home game and we’ve not lost many here over the last couple of years, so we have a proud record to maintain.”
The injury situation hasn’t helped, but Watson feels players have stepped up given the chance.
“It’s been a good opportunity for other people to get shots,” he said. “We’ve seen that with some of the boys stepping up for first caps or still pretty inexperienced and they’ve done really well, so it’s good.
“It’s not ideal because we’ve got something like 20 injuries, but looking ahead to the World Cup it’s good that some of these players get some extra caps under their belts and they’ve done well as well
“For example I’m not surprised Jamie (Ritchie) has done well. He’s been playing really well for Edinburgh and went really well in the autumn as well, so he’s got his opportunity at seven and played really well.
“We’ve got a bit of depth in the backrow, there’s been a lot of injuries and that’s one of the positions we’re still going well at. So, I’m really happy for him we’ll have to see whether he moves over to six on Saturday!”
A great opportunity to win a home game and we’ve not lost many here the last couple of years