LET’S NOT DEPEND ON GREIG’S MAGIC BOOT, WARNS TOMMY
IN those dramatic final ten minutes against Ireland last Saturday, Scotland had to rely on the ‘magic boot’ of Greig Laidlaw to make the game safe. Winger Tommy Seymour was one of the first to congratulate his captain after his final penalty sailed between the posts to ensure a 27-22 victory. It was a magical moment but Seymour would rather a win was signed, sealed and delivered in Paris much earlier this weekend. ‘We’re not always going to have the type of first-half lead that we had against Ireland to fall back on,’ said
the Glasgow Warriors star as he reflected on how Joe Schmidt’s men scored 17 unanswered points to nudge themselves in front in the second period at Murrayfield. ‘We can’t have 20 minutes when we struggle in the second half like we did last week. ‘If we can start well, get enough points on the board early and do the rest, then hopefully we’re not going to have to rely on Greig and his magic boot to get us the win again.’ Seymour, who has 14 tries in just 32 international matches, will be Scotland’s main point of attack alongside full-back Stuart Hogg. ‘We back ourselves to win on Sunday because we like to play an unstructured game and have a back line that thrives on broken field play,’ he said. ‘We want to spread the ball wide and won’t shy away from trying to play like that. ‘What we don’t want is to get into an arm wrestle with France because of the size of their pack. They’ll want us to play it tight, which will be an advantage to them. ‘We’ll certainly be trying to exploit their weaknesses.’ Scotland have not won in Paris since 1999 but last year’s 29-18 victory over Les Bleus at Murrayfield is still fresh in their minds. ‘We gain confidence from wins, like everybody else,’ said 28-year-old Seymour. ‘We beat France last year and we highlighted the fact we hadn’t won our opening Six Nations game in a while, so obviously beating Ireland last weekend was very important. ‘That creates a little bit of momentum. Without a doubt, Ireland are one of the strongest sides. Many would argue they are stronger than England right now given the teams they’ve beaten, like the All Blacks. ‘So to get a win against them is hugely important because we know we can compete with the very best. ‘That’s something we believed anyway but up until that point, we needed to actually prove it.’ Seymour and fellow wide-man Sean Maitland will go up against Fijian-born wingers Virimi Vakatawa and Noa Nakaitaci, tough men to stop with ball in hand. ‘I’ve got to be very wary,’ said Seymour. ‘Having played with Leone Nakarawa and Niko Matawalu at Glasgow, I know these guys have similar abilities in terms of being able to get the ball out the back of the hand or suck guys in and still manage to get the offload away. ‘I have to be mindful of how much space I give them. Even when I close down the space, it’s about what they could be thinking as they have a full range of skills. ‘As a winger marking one of those guys, it’s important to make sure as a backline they don’t get the ball. ‘What we can’t do is kick it down their throats as they will bring the ball back to us at pace.’