Only a victory will restore our battered credibility
The thrashing in Cardiff means that beating France is now essential for Townsend’s men
Put simply, Scotland need to win tomorrow to restore their credibility. A lot of people inside and outside Scotland have invested a lot of emotional energy in this side and their swashbuckling style, but the totally unexpected manner of their loss to Wales has dented confidence even more thoroughly than last year’s Twickenham defeat. We desperately need to see a win against France to get the show back on the road.
If Scotland had lost narrowly against Wales, then we would be in a completely different situation, but they were so well beaten that we now need a performance to help Scotland fans keep the faith. The Six Nations is all about momentum, and we need to wrest that back or we will be in trouble.
If we do not perform well against France, it will give England huge confidence ahead of their visit for the Calcutta Cup, and given our dire away form, we will struggle to win in Dublin.
If we are winless when we go to Rome to face a fledgling Italian renaissance under Conor O’shea, we would be looking at a pretty grim picture.
But I, for one, am keeping the faith. I am sure that we will get a performance of real heart, commitment and skill against the French. One bad performance – even as poor as the one against Wales – does not make you into a terrible team.
Nor do I think it will be all about blood, guts and hand-to-hand combat in the trenches; it is not Gregor Townsend’s way to abandon his principles. Everybody is looking at the side that he has picked and concluding that he is going to play it a lot tighter after being burned in Cardiff, but they are wrong. It would be a backward step to go back into our shell.
While people may look at selections like those of Greig Laidlaw and Peter Horne as suggesting that Scotland are not going to move the ball as much, they are mistaken. This is a massive French side and, as Gregor rightly said on Thursday, the best way to make them heavy-legged is to drag them around the park. If our forwards try to muscle up around the fringes their big men will bury us.
Last’s match year in Paris, which was probably one of the most brutally physical games I have ever witnessed, was a salutary lesson on that front.
The list of walking wounded after that match was huge and included Josh Strauss, whose liver was split in half. The moral of the story is do not mess with the big scary boys in blue until they are out on their feet.
By bringing in Greig, Peter and Sean Maitland, who I really rate, we are not necessarily changing the way we want to play, we are just making sure that we have wise old heads in there to help vary the point of attack and ensure that we open up holes to break through instead of running into brick walls as we did in Cardiff. It is tough on players such as Ali Price, but international rugby is a cruel business where winning is what it is all about.
Hamish Watson was saying in midweek that the players ran an incredible five miles against Wales, so there was no lack of effort, but headless chickens do not achieve much. This team is more experienced and more able to adapt, both in attack and in defence. That is useful because they will be under the cosh for long periods. Gregor is not a man to rant and shout, but make no mistake, he will be absolutely furious at what unfolded in Cardiff.
The Scotland camp will be an uncomfortable place to be right now, and Gregor’s players will be under no illusions that he expects them to make amends at Murrayfield.
It will not be easy for them against Jacques Brunel’s side, but I also expect them to do so when they cross the whitewash tomorrow.