Scotland look like second best team but have yet to hit top gear
◆ Quality of rugby hasn’t been as high in this year’s Six Nations but at least all the sides are trying to play adventurously
The fallow week between the third and fourth rounds of the Six Nations tournament is a time for taking stock. An impartial observer would probably conclude that Ireland are supremely confident, look very hard to beat, and are probably heading for a Grand Slam, even though they go to Twickenham next week and then host Scotland in Dublin.
The same observer might judge Scotland the second best team, granting they were robbed by refereeing confusion of a win against France, though he might add it was a match which Scotland should have secured long before that disputed final play.
England, he might say, show signs of improvement and better organisation, but still make too many handling errors while their pack is a pale shadow of the formidable English packs of the past.
He might admire Italy’s spirit and enterprise while shaking his head sadly at the memory of their heavy defeat in Dublin. France meanwhile must have him puzzled, wondering perhaps if we are back in the days of asking which French team will turn up. Certainly there has been no champagne rugby from them, only a rather sour vin ordinaire. They have clearly missed Antoine Dupont and it hasn’t helped that they have played a 100 minutes of the tournament with only 14 men on the field. Meanwhile, Wales have lost all three games, though defeats to Scotland and England were both close.
So it has been a bit lacklustre to date and consequently much grumbling. Matches last too long, partly because of long confabulations between the referee and the TMO who between them, it often seems, lack the courage to make decisions that club referees make quickly and usually satisfactorily in matches where there is no television, as used of course to be the case before immediate TV evidence was available. Is the game better? I don’t think so. There are the long delays before the lineout is formed . Then there is the tedious box-kicking after scrum-halves gingerly ease the ball out of a ruck.
It sometimes seems a miracle that the tournament remains so enthralling. This year, though the quality hasn’t been high, all teams, even the out-of-sorts French, have been playing, or trying to play, adventurously. It doesn’t always work of course – Italy have been the team most eager to attack with ball in hand. Our match in Rome should be entertaining and if we are to win – and win handsomely – we will have to be at least as effective at the breakdown as we were against England when we achieved 21 turnovers.
Meanwhile, preparation for this match has been somewhat disrupted by the refusal of English and French clubs to release players this weekend – even though there are no Premiership league matches today or tomorrow.
It’s more acceptable, though doubtless still annoying, that Blair Kinghorn and Ben White are required for Top 14 games, though one should add that Italians who play club rugby in France are in the same condition. Happily this won’t be the case next season when the time-table is altered. All one can say is that losing players in these circumstances is the price we pay for not being able to retain star players in Scotland.
Looking on the bright side one can say that Scotland have been the better team in their first three matches without, however, having played as well as one thinks they are capable of playing. Moreover it hasn’t seemed to have been the case that the teams appeared weaker when replacements came on as was almost always the case in the past. Sione Tuipulotu was scarcely missed when Cam Redpath came on as a replacement last week. Indeed he made the break which enabled Finn Russell to be in a position to deliver that lovely kick which put Duhan van der Merwe in for his third try and make victory certain. Redpath, of course, though son of the former Scotland captain Bryan, was in a position to opt for England who wanted him, just as Fin Smith has, to my disgruntlement, done. Well, there will be others faced with the same choice in future, and Scotland have to play well enough to persuade them to wear the blue jersey.
It sometimes seems a miracle that the tournament remains so enthralling