Wales and Scotland gear up for Six Nations showdown
Scotland cannot afford to be laid low in spite of notable absence of star Laidlaw
WITH a win and a loss apiece from their first two games, Scotland and Wales meet this afternoon at a pivotal point in their Six Nations seasons. The team that emerges victorious at Murrayfield will have high hopes of at least going on to finish best of the rest in the Championship behind runaway favourites England: the one which loses may be able to do little more than stay ahead of Italy.
Wales arguably took more from their narrow loss to the English than they did from their opening win over the Italians, knowing that with a little more self-possession over the closing moments they could have inflicted a rare defeat on Eddie Jones’s side. Similarly, Scotland can look at their loss in France a fortnight ago and tell themselves they could have won if they had played to their best.
But the obvious change from the last round of games a fortnight ago is that the Scots go into today’s match without Greig Laidlaw. It was the captain and scrum-half who led them to victory over Ireland after they had fallen behind late in the second half; and the absence of the same player in the closing stages against France was perhaps the determining factor in that game’s ending in defeat.
The loss of their captain, ruled out of the rest of the tournament by an ankle injury sustained in the first half in Paris, is certainly the overarching problem facing Vern Cotter’s team today. John Barclay has taken over as skipper, and has the experience and sang froid to slip into the role with ease. But, while the back-row forward and other senior members of the squad are perfectly capable of providing real leadership, the scrum-half has become such a dominant figure that it may well take several games for the squad to learn how to prosper.
Finn Russell is accustomed to calling a lot of the plays at stand-off, but he is also used to having Laidlaw there at his side, at times to act as a moderating influence, at others to back up the playmaker’s attacking instincts, but at all times available for a second opinion. Ali Price, Russell’s Glasgow team-mate who has come in at scrum-half, offers more as an individual attacker than Laidlaw, but with only two replacement appearances to his name is untried at this level. Having less experience than Russell, he may also be less able to act as a sounding board if required.
Having said that, the fact that Price and Russell play together at club level should help, as will the fact that three Warriors make up the starting front row. Gordon Reid is in at tighthead prop to play alongside Fraser Brown and Zander Fagerson instead of Allan Dell, and we should expect a sounder understanding there. Dell will still have an important role to play when he comes off the bench alongside Edinburgh team-mates Ross Ford and Simon Berghan, as will another substitute from the capital club, Hamish Watson. Both Dell and Watson began the first two games, and both have been dropped to the bench for the same reason. Their replacements, Reid and John Hardie, will offer greater defensive solidity for the first 50 minutes or so, at which point they can come on as substitutes and put their greater mobility and attacking threat into play.
Scotland’s set-piece scrum has come under severe scrutiny in the first two games, with Dell in particular being targeted by the opposition. The loosehead has responded to being dropped in exemplary fashion, according to assistant coach Jonathan Humphreys, who is confident he will
We’ve played in two particularly brutal Tests so far. You always want your front row to start strong and make an impact