Elementary for hot-shot Hamish to be the top man
Hamish Watson was more than happy with his day’s work in Rome yesterday, writes ALAN SHAW.
He got through his customary Trojan workload at the breakdown, which Scotland totally dominated, and was named Man of the Match as the Scots finally broke their 2020 Six Nations duck.
“Winning today makes a difference,” Watson admitted.
“It’s a tough one because we know analysing and reviewing those games against Ireland and England, they were games we really could have won and maybe should have won.
“It’s almost tougher when you’re that close, it’s not like going to Ireland and losing by a couple of tries when you were that close and really believe as a squad we should have won.
“Our confidence is still high but we definitely needed a win and it gets the monkey off our backs. But just winning one game’s not good enough, we need to go and win one of our home games now and then we’ve got Wales away.
“There were a few other opportunities we let slip today, we left a few tries out there which is something we need to work on if we want to beat France.
“Our defence is right up there with the best in the tournament at the moment. So if we can get that finish zone sorted, and be a bit more clinical, we can be tough to beat.
“It was ugly at times today but we scored another two times and that looks a pretty decent victory. It’s 17-0 away from home and we’ll take that any day of the week.
“We’ve only conceded two tries in the last three games, so we’re pretty happy with that.
“To keep any team scoreless in any sport’s a pretty decent effort. In football as well you’d rather win 2-0 than 3-1, wouldn’t you?
“It was just a great day for us at the breakdown but there’s still a lot for us to work on.”
Watson knows Scotland’s next opponents will pose a bigger threat, adding: “France is a game we have to win.
“Obviously they’ll be all guns blazing because they might have a chance to win the championship and it’s going to be a really tough game. But if we can keep our ‘D’ right up there and be more clinical, we’ve been pretty good at home to France.”