O’HALLORAN SEES

SCOTLAND attack coach Jason O’Halloran believes the players he expects to put France to the sword in Paris today are as good as any he worked with in his native New Zealand.

That is praise indeed from the Kiwi, who worked with some of the top All Blacks stars when he was involved with the New Zealand Under-20 team before going into club coaching with Manawatu Turbos.

During his time in his homeland, he worked with the likes of 2011 All Black World Cup winners Aaron Cruden and Piri Weepu, as well as Nehe Milner-Skudder and Aaron Smith, who were both part of their 2015 World Cup-winning side.

O’Halloran sees direct similarities with those All Black greats and members of the Scotland back division that he expects to give France a torrid time at the Stade de France.

‘One of the reasons I took the job as attack coach was because I saw a lot of similarities between the current set of Scotland players in the back division and those I worked with back in New Zealand,’ said O’Halloran.

‘They are starting to fulfil the potential I always knew they had and they will have no fear going against France.

‘For instance, I see Finn Russell as a similar playmaker to Aaron Cruden, while Huw Jones has the potential to have the cutting edge of some of the top-class centres I worked with back in New Zealand.

‘Stuart Hogg is very similar in style to Milner-Skudder and is as important for us as Milner-Skudder was for the All Blacks. Hoggy wins his 50th cap against France today, which is a terrific achievement, and he is a talisman for us in attack.

‘As dominant as Stuart was though against Ireland, scoring two tries, we have other players who can attack France and take the pressure off him going forward.

‘It makes it harder for the French to pin him down when he has Sean Maitland on one wing, Tommy Seymour on the other and Huw Jones inside him with Alex Dunbar, all causing problems.

‘There is huge talent in the Scotland back division that takes the field today and these guys are up there with the best players I have ever worked with.’

The Scotland attack coach said he had adopted a tactical strategy designed to allow his backs to play with a new-found freedom.

It is certainly working as previous Scotland teams before Cotter and O’Halloran arrived could not buy a try for love nor money and seemed suffocated by the level of expectation on their shoulders.

As they showed with three early tries against Ireland last weekend, that problem is long gone and they are confident they can find their way to the try-line in every match.

‘We like to think we have instilled in this group the ability to play matches free of any inhibition,’ said O’Halloran. ‘We don’t come down on them too hard if they make mistakes or take risks, as long as they don’t repeat them.

‘I believe that has made them more liberated when it comes to playing attacking rugby and they will not be scared to play an open, attacking game against the French.

‘We want to be in control of our destiny in this match and can be if we score enough tries. We want to construct them through the quality of our attacking game and we want to beat France with them at their best.’

As to whether this could be the year Scotland win the title, O’Halloran said: ‘I am not going to make any grand predictions but I firmly believe we can leave Paris with a victory and kick on from there.’

I certainly see Finn Russell as a similar playmaker to Aaron Cruden