YOU CHEATS
Scots claim Schmidt’s Irish bend the rules
SCOTLAND believe they have to overcome Ireland’s ‘cheating’ tactics to beat Joe Schmidt’s men at Murrayfield today.
The hotly anticipated opener to the Six Nations campaign pitches a buoyant and confident Scotland side against an Ireland outfit who tasted superb wins over South Africa, New Zealand and Australia last year.
And Scots hooker Fraser Brown believes the Irish capacity to bend the rules at key contests in the game is something Vern Cotter’s men need to match to get their tournament off to a winning start.
‘What the Irish do probably is cheating but you could say that about every prop, hooker or front row who plays the game,’ said Brown.
‘It’s not really cheating unless you get caught doing it and then you just try changing it a little bit. We play against these guys week-in, week-out in the league, in Europe and internationally, so you know what you’re getting.’
Asked why his own side don’t follow Ireland’s lead and ‘bend the rules’, Brown added: ‘I don’t think we didn’t do it, we just weren’t as smart as other teams have
been at trying to get away with it. ‘It’s part of rugby, it’s gamesmanship and everyone does it to get the smallest advantage because at this level it’s the smallest details which can win you games — it can buy you the penalty where you’re just holding someone in because you’re the ball-carrier, or when you clear someone out and you take them slightly around the side and it creates a gap. ‘There are opportunities all over the pitch and it’s how you create those opportunities. ‘Maybe in the past we were doing it but got caught cold a couple of times where we didn’t adapt and didn’t learn how other teams are doing it against us. ‘It’s still something we do now and we’re getting better at it but again every single game you play there’s going to be a new challenge you’re faced with and you have to try and learn ways to get around that or use it to your advantage. ‘It’s the same in set-piece — you see what other teams are doing and you have to find a way to nullify that but at the same time adapt it so you can use it yourself.’ Bad blood between elements of the two teams continues to dominate the agenda ahead of kick-off this afternoon. When Glasgow and Munster met
on Champions Cup duty last month, visiting scrum-half Conor Murray accused the likes of Josh Strauss of deliberately going out to injure him. Strauss and Murray will come up against each other again this afternoon and Brown, who played for Glasgow that day, said: ‘We legally put a lot of pressure on him. ‘We identified that they don’t really put any blockers in there to try and shield him from anyone coming through, so all we tried to do is come through and tackle him before he gets the ball away. ‘There’s no malice, Wary: Scotland hooker Brown wants clarity no ill-will or intent there, we’re just playing the game of rugby. ‘Again, we’ll do everything today to make it as uncomfortable as possible for him, but on the side of the law. ‘We saw in the Press he was unhappy but if you’ve got a game-plan to go out and try to disrupt someone and it works, then it’s almost a pat on the shoulder that you know it works when they complain about it afterwards. ‘He got rattled and near the end of the game Tim Swinson got a charge down with a couple of minutes to go in their 22 and, if the ball had bounced the other way, it could have led to three points, or a try or another opportunity for us. ‘The way Ireland play the game, the 9-10 axis is so important for them. Murray has been playing really well this year, he’s one of the most in-form nines in the world, and he has such a strong kicking game. ‘Any team would look to pressurise their No 9 and No 10, and that’s what we’re going to do at Murrayfield.’ One interested spectator at Murrayfield today will be Lions coach Warren Gatland with this season’s Six Nations seen by many players as an audition for the summer tour to New Zealand.