Lessons have been learned after Nice shocker – Laidlaw
SCOTLAND captain Greig Laidlaw has insisted that the team did not disgrace the jersey in last week’s 32-3 defeat by France and is confident that they will give a more accurate account of themselves against the same opponents today.
The veteran scrum-half sat out last week’s defeat in Nice and is one of 14 players brought back into the starting line-up for the return match at BT Murrayfield (1.10pm).
The five-try loss provoked a big backlash even though it was only the first of four Rugby World Cup warmup games for Gregor Townsend’s side.
But Laidlaw is sure that lessons have been learned, and said that the players last time out had not let themselves or their country down.
“That’s certainly not the case,” Laidlaw said at a lunchtime press conference.
“The group are tight-knit. I’ve been involved in performances that have not gone to plan before and it’s for a number of reasons.
“We’d probably rather it happened last week than going into a World Cup. We’ll take it on the chin and whether that be from how we trained all week or how we travelled, we need to look at all of that for away games.
“But this week is not an away game, we’re home at Murrayfield and we simply need to concentrate on that and make sure we get the next 80 minutes right.”
Scotland were on the back foot from the opening minutes in last week’s five-try loss, and Laidlaw knows that tightening up in defence is a major job.
“We learned we can’t be soft defensively, especially against a team like France who have worldclass attackers within their ranks, as I know well from playing out in France,” he said.
“We need to be defensively really sound. We come back to the basics of the game, being really aggressive, holding each other accountable and defending properly.
“If we do that, we can get our hands on the ball and impose our game in attack on any opposition. We have proved that in the past and this is another opportunity for the playing group selected to go out and do that.”
Townsend will name his squad after the first of the two games against Georgia that have still to come, and assistant coach Mike Blair said that some places have yet to be decided.
“You know, we’ve got a decent amount, a number that we’re fairly sure about, but there are a couple of positions that are still potentially up for grabs,” Blair said. “I won’t give it much more than that.
“It might have been last week that a couple of guys didn’t take their opportunity and they’ve opened for the 23 that are involved in this game.
“We’re really looking forward to seeing how these guys seize their opportunity and put their hands up for later selection.”
■ Jim Mallinder will join the Scottish Rugby Union as its new performance director.
The 53-year-old had been working with the Rugby Football Union on youth development, but has now accepted a role north of the border.
Mallinder joined the England setup in the summer of 2018 after spells in charge of Sale and Northampton.
Scotland:
Hogg, Seymour, Harris, P Horne, Maitland, Russell, Laidlaw (capt); Reid, Turner, Nel, Cummings, Skinner, Wilson, Watson, Thomson. Replacements: Stewart, Dell, Berghan, Gilchrist, Barclay, G Horne, Hutchinson, Kinghorn.