The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Scotland moving Forward with Dalziel
John Dalziel has slotted seamlessly into Scotland’s team as forwards coach but perhaps that’s not entirely surprising – he’s probably the best known newcomer they could have hired.
Dalziel has completed his climb up the coaching tree from his days playing with Gala and Melrose, through juniors, the club game, the Under-21s and the sevens circuit, then a year as Glasgow’s forwards coach before swapping locations with now Warriors head coach Danny Wilson.
During that time, “JD” has worked with just about every player who is now in the Scotland squad, and that’s eased his assimilation into the group, says Scott Cummings, who skippered Scotland Under-20s under Dalziel and worked for him for a year at Glasgow.
“We have not been together too long so he is still implementing some of the things he wants into the squad but he has fitted in well,” said Cummings, who has played in every Test since the start of the World Cup warm-ups over a year ago.
“JD is the type of coach that allows us as players to give our input. It is a good combination. We have made just one or two minor tweaks to what we had before and got good results from it against Georgia.
“He coached a whole load of us at under 20s, he was the Glasgow forwards coach for a year and has been in and around the Scotland sevens guys, so he knows how we operate.
“There are things we can still work on and I am sure there are things he wants to bring in and that will de velop over the ne xt couple of weeks.”
Cummings hasn’t played for Scotland in Wales and doesn’t think he’s ever gone head to head with Welsh legend Alun Wyn Jones, who will break the world record for Test caps – if you include Lions appearances – when he plays against Scotland at Llanelli.
“I don’ t think that I have ever gone head to head with him. Whenever I played against Ospreys he was unavailable for internationals or something,” he said.
“He’s obviously a great player. He’s played for Wales for years and years now and you don’t get to that stage unless you’re a really high-quality player.
“He’s an inspirational leader and I’m sure he’ll have a great game at the weekend, but it’s up to us to try and ruin the occasion for him.”
Cummings was one of those in the bus headed for the team run on the day before the game at the Principality Stadium in March when the news came through that it had been cancelled due to coronavirus concerns.
“We just turned the bus around, went back to the hotel, packed everything up and got a bus back north,” he recalled. “Gregor ( Townsend) got the text message and stood up and told everyone and we never got to the stadium in the end. It was frustrating, we were looking forward to that game and would have liked to have got the Six Nations finished because we felt we were building well towards that game.
“Our past two performances got us to the stage we were going down there with real confidence.
“But we’re still confident. We’re going down to Wales pushing and expecting to get a good result.
“E v e r y t h i n g ’s really
tough now with everything that’s going on so for us to still be able to play international rugby and still ge t trips away is amazing. We’re all really proud of that, and proud of the opportunity we’ve been given.”
Scotland looked at the game between Wales and France in Paris on Saturday, but Cummings doesn’ t think there was anything new to take into account.
“Lineout wise they did some things and we have looked at the way they have been playing ,” he continued. “We have analysed certain things but really, Wales don’t change.
“We know the way they play, so we know what to expect from them.”
Stephen Jones , meanwhile, says that Wales are under no illusions about the importance of Saturday’s clash.
Wa l e s might be comfortably out of title contention but last season’s Grand Slam champions are on the back of four straight losses under head coach Wayne Pivac – Wales’ worst sequence since 2016.
Asked about any pressure accompanying the occasion, Wales assistant coach Jones said: “Pressure is an interesting word, isn’t it? It depends how you see that as an individual.
“We are under no illusions. This is must-win for us, and we are really excited by that challenge.
“As a group, we want closure on the Six Nations campaign, and we have got to do it in a positive manner and we have got to get the result.”
Wales have not won a game since beating Italy 42-0 in their opening Six Nations fixture almost nine months ago.
Subsequent losses to Ireland, Fr a n c e and
England, and then France again in Paris four days ago, also saw them concede 15 tries.
Jones added: “The key is that as a team we are smart and manage the ball in certain areas of the pitch, so we don’t put ourselves under pressure, and manage our energy.”
Wales face an anxious wait over the fitness of scrum-half Rhys Webb for Saturday’s encounter at Parc y Scarlets.
Webb suffered a bang to the knee during Wales’ 38-21 defeat against France, and Cardiff Blues scrumhalf Lloyd Williams, who won the last of his 28 caps four years ago, has been called up as cover.
If Webb is ruled out, then Scarlets number nine Gareth Davies would be in pole position to start, while Wales also have uncapped Kieran Hardy among their ranks.