WE ARE FAR FROM FINISHED ARTICLE
IHAVE to admit that I did not see that coming and fully expected to be reflecting today on an unbeaten threematch tour, but in some ways losing in Fiji will underline that this squad are far from the finished article. It has been a good tour overall and a good start to Gregor Townsend’s tenure as head coach, but finishing with 30 missed tackles is going to make for a horrible holiday for Matt Taylor, the defence coach.
Matt is a world-class operator and he takes it very seriously — he will possibly not sleep for a few nights after that.
The team set a terrific new standard against Australia last week, the kind of defensive performance that is vital to win Test matches away from home, so Matt will be livid that they went from that to 30 missed tackles.
Adding to the frustration will be the fact that it was the final game.
He would want to review it with the players immediately and try to make them understand how they got it so badly wrong, and ensure the lessons are in the head for good and not made again.
But Matt may not get the chance until next season as everyone wants to get away as soon as possible and let the bodies lie still for a few days with no 20-stone forwards smashing you backwards.
Gregor Townsend will try to learn as much as he can from that game in Suva, too. But it will be tough.
The trouble started and finished with basic errors. From the first days I remember being involved at international level, Under-18s and Under-20s, every single coach rammed into me and those around me the importance of restarts, winning the ball back after you’d scored and building again.
Yet, twice we messed up there and let them in, and when you don’t secure ball there you’re instantly on the back foot and trying to find a foothold. I take nothing away from the Fijians because they were clearly up for this game, but we knew they would be so it’s vital that you take away the opportunities for them to impose themselves.
Instead, their big men stepped up and we didn’t chop them down, so they grew in confidence and ate up the yards across the pitch.
We knew about Leone Nakarawa and he came on to his game and was his usual undefendable self at times, and while many of our supporters probably didn’t know much about Josua Toisava, the ‘bus’ showed why people in France rave about him.
He’s been tearing it up for Toulon and was devastating for Fiji in the Olympic Sevens last summer.
Our guys found out why he’s called the ‘bus’ when they tried to tackle him — he is a 5ft 11in, 17-stone human wrecking ball.
There is a reason why the top club teams in the world want Fijians. They have something special and are so hard to defend.
On the positive side, Scotland’s lineout drives were very good and produced a couple of tries, but elsewhere we didn’t build the pressure, squeeze them and build a score, and too many times let them off the hook in their own 22.
I knew this was going to be difficult. End-of-season games, after a tough league season, big European games and two sets of internationals, are as hard mentally as they are physically.
The trap you get into is thinking about your holidays before the last piece of work is complete.
It’s not a conscious thing, it’s your brain saying it’s had enough and concentration is more difficult.
I never got to Fiji but the guys I’ve talked with loved it, spending time with kids in schools, and as a group they’ve had a fantastic time on this tour and enjoyed working under Gregor, Dan McFarland and the coaching team.
But everyone knows international rugby is about winning.
It is a new era, but we are just two years from the next World Cup in Japan. The challenge for Test coaches is how much you work on the current, focusing purely on the games coming up, and how much do you plan for the future and World Cups, and rotate combinations to give players the chance to push their cases.
Gregor has to reflect on a good start, a good transition from a strong Six Nations under Cotter, and not lose sight of the incredible highlight of turning over Australia on their own patch, with a number of our best players unavailable, and with some fantastic tries — including one of the best I’ve ever seen from Scotland in the score finished by Hamish Watson.
That shows what this squad is capable of.
They also overcame the heat and humidity in Singapore which will be a good lesson ahead of Japan in 2019, and there will be good lessons in the different performances in the past two weeks.
With confidence and outstanding defence, they are a match for anyone, but without the basics being bang on they are vulnerable.
In what was a problem position, Finn Russell is developing into a world-class performer. We have depth at tighthead now with WP Nel and Zander Fagerson, in second row and back row, and in the midfield — and the players are enjoying playing for Scotland and have developed real belief.
They will be hurting right now after that finish to the season, but there is much more to build on than has been the case for some time.
The game has moved on from the 12-9, 9-6 victories, it’s about the spectacle again, thankfully.
And our guys have the skill-set, the athleticism and the culture within the squad to go forward and be successful.