Dempsey calls on Scotland to show they have learned lessons

JACK DEMPSEY believes it is unfair to criticise the Scotland squad for weak mentality after their frustrating Six Nations, but admits it is time they showed they have learned lessons.

The Glasgow Warriors star was pivotal in his side’s comeback win over Cardiff on Friday night, leading from the front with an inspired second-half performance.

By his, and Glasgow coach Franco Smith’s own admission, the team were bullied in the first half by their Welsh opponents with difficult weather conditions not helping.

Smith gave his players a talking to at half time when they were 13-0 down and they came out in the second half in much better shape, taking the game to Cardiff with two tries in the opening 10 minutes.

Those scores from Max Williamson and Lucio Sordoni were converted by Duncan Weir, who then added a penalty for or a 17-13 win.

Dempsey admitted he could not have dealt with losing three on the bounce after defeats to o Italy and Ireland for Scotland.

He had to show some me leadership too with a young team out on the e pitch, while Matt Fagerson could not last st longer than 50 minutes s because of illness.

Speaking about Scotland’s campaign and the questioning of the team’s mentality, he said: “A lot of the stuff that has co come out in the last few weeks has been painted with a broad brush, bru which I don’t normally agre agree with. “Every week w it’s a different story, a different narrative. narrativ Every game is very different. diff You’ve got to play p what’s in front of you. When you’re a player, it’s easy to know when you come out o of a game which is disappointing. “The Th Rome game was a very v different story t to what happened happe in Ireland, to what happened against France at Murrayfield. What we’ve got to grow on is making sure we’re taking the lessons we learn on the Monday and the Tuesday in the review, and making sure it doesn’t happen again.

“In terms of the mentality, I see what the boys do week-in, week-out at training. Whether it’s coming down from a guy like Finn [Russell] all the way down to a guy like Rory [Darge], in terms of the experience spectrum, the boys want to win.

“They work really hard. I think we work harder than anyone else. It’s just about making it happen. That’s what we talked about at the end of the Six Nations.

“We’ve got a summer tour, then autumn and then another Six Nations. It’s time to deliver. That’s what it is. There’s no point talking about lessons if you’re just sitting there learning the whole time. Eventually your career’s over, you’ve learned all these lessons but what do you have to show for it? That’s the trajectory we are going at.”

The second-half performance against Cardiff from Dempsey showed why he is such a pivotal player and he was named man of the match.

The swirling wind and rain did not help, but it did not stop Smith from making his feelings clear at half time, but the Australian-born back rower reckons it was key to them winning.

“This is my third season here and that first half was the toughest [conditions] I’ve ever seen in Glasgow,” he said. “It was a bit unfair, because when we came out for the second half, they didn’t have to put up with it!

“Was it a 13-point wind? That was probably a bit more than we would have liked, based on Franco’s halftime speech. But we knew it would open up for us in the second half.

“Angry Franco is just the same as Monday to Friday Franco, with just a few more swear words. We need that every now and again, especially with the team we had out there on

Friday night with a lot of young boys.

“With the conditions and the way Cardiff play – they’re a very physical team, always have been – young boys need that every now and again.

“We’ve a very strong leadership group. The only difference this week was that we had a very young forward pack. Matt Fagerson got subbed early after being sick during the week, then you’re looking around going, ‘who else is here?’

“I’m hesitant to say much. It was more a case of, ‘we’ve lost to Italy, lost to Ireland, I’m not losing again’. Especially going into a week off. I was just trying to rev the boys up and keep them positive, doing my role.”