Grant: Forget the Wales showing – now you are seeing the real Scotland
Not as good as you’re cracked up to be.
For Edinburgh coach Richard Cockerill’s critique of Grant Gilchrist, read the rugby world’s verdict on Scotland.
After high praise for thumping Australia and running New Zealand close in the autumn, the Scots were roundly criticised for a catastrophic display in Cardiff in their Natwest Six Nations opener.
But Gilchrist reckons he and his team-mates gave a more accurate account of themselves by beating France, and then playing England off the park to lift the Calcutta Cup for the first time in a decade last Saturday.
“The confidence we’ve taken is the biggest positive of the last two games,” says the towering lock- forward, who should win cap No. 22 against Ireland in Dublin on Saturday.
“The game plan hasn’t really changed. We just didn’t execute it anywhere near the level that’s required in Cardiff. That makes you look like you don’t know what you’re doing.
“We did know what we were doing, but we just didn’t execute any of it. The last two weeks have given us the belief in what we’re trying to do.
“But we also understand that playing at home is a different beast. Playing that style of rugby, we do it well at Murrayfield.
“Now the biggest challenge is that in the Six Nations, against the team top of the table, we need to go away and replicate the same game plan and make sure we play in the same way.
“There’s no reason why we can’t, but history tells us that the home games are where we’ve played to our best. Now we need to do it in Dublin.
“It’s going to take a massive effort. As good as we were against England, we’re going to have to be even better in all areas over there, which is obviously an exciting challenge.”
Scotland’s composure against the Auld Enemy was in stark contrast to the early chaos in Cardiff.
As Gilchrist explains: “That’s why we always put such emphasis on that first 20 minutes. You can’t necessarily win the game in that period, but you can certainly lose it if you get things wrong.
“If you start well and show dominance, especially against a team like England or Ireland, who are looking to physically dominate you in the collisions, you give yourself a chance.
“If you don’t match it, you’ve got an uphill battle all day. When we have got that right, the full performance has been there for the whole game.”
Named Scotland captain by Vern Cotter, a broken arm wrecked most of two seasons for Gilchrist. A loss of form meant he drifted out of international reckoning until a change of coach at Edinburgh saw him regain and even surpass his previous standards.
“When Richard Cockerill came in, he threw down the gauntlet to me, and I respond well to that. I’m not a guy that needs an arm round me,” says the 27-year-old.
“He said he wanted to see what I was about. He said: ‘I’m not really sure that you are what you’re cracked up to be – I want to see it. I don’t want to hear about it from someone who has seen you play well before – I want to see it now’.
“It made me focus. I went to work and worked hard. It’s the best I’ve felt. I’m playing as well as I ever have.
“It can be hard when you’ve been out injured because people maybe think you were better than you were. But hopefully now I’ve got beyond that comparison with what I used to be.
“I wanted to prove to ‘Cockers’ that I was good enough to play for Edinburgh. Then when I got playing for Edinburgh, I wanted to prove to Gregor Townsend that I was good enough to play for Scotland.
“It was refreshing to start at ground zero. ‘Cockers’ was quite honest, he said he wasn’t going to give me any credit for what I’d done in the past. He wanted to see what I was all about now.”