Wilson eager to cast aside Scots’ ‘nearly men’ tag
RYAN WILSON insists Scotland are ready to rid themselves of the ‘nearly men’ tag in this year’s Six Nations Championship.
And he says there is no better place to start than by banishing the ghosts of Cardiff past.
When Gregor Townsend’s men kick-off their campaign away to Wales on Saturday they will be seeking to rewrite 16 years of failure in the Principality, having last triumphed there in 2002.
If the free-flowing Scots are to fulfil their promise as title contenders after a superb autumn Test series in which they beat Australia and came so close against New Zealand, then winning against Warren Gatland’s understrength side would seem like being pretty close to essential.
Cardiff might not be seen as the ideal place for them to begin their challenge given the letdowns of yesteryear there, but Wilson is confident they will not be deterred.
‘If we go down to Cardiff and play the brand of rugby we’re looking to play, and it’s a quick game of rugby, we will win,’ he declared. ‘We believe we can do it. There is belief in the squad that it can happen.
‘Winning in Cardiff hasn’t been done for a while, so it’s a significant thing, but we’ve got confidence. It’s a huge start and we have to make sure we go down there and do it.
‘The guys in the team can quickly forget about what’s happened in the past because we’ve got a confidence about us.
‘Forget about all the stuff from years ago, we’re just trying to focus on the now.’
Wilson has witnessed first-hand the progress that now sees Scotland tipped as dark horses for the title.
‘We were always the team that nearly did it,’ he said. ‘Then we started getting results where we’d grind them out. Now we’ve become a team that’s doing better.
‘The All Blacks game was different. We should have won that match but we’re not a team that’s thinking: “Oh, we lost but we did well”. We’re a team thinking: “We’ll win this game”. And we’re starting to do that.’
Gatland has lost ten first-choice players to injury but Wilson knows it won’t hamper the determination or will-to-win of a home side eager to get their Championships off to a flier.
‘Wales have a pretty strong team anyway,’ said the 28-year-old, who expects just as tough a fight from the Welsh as the likes of Sam Warburton, Toby Faletau and Dan Biggar would have presented. ‘Rhys Patchell has been playing well for the Scarlets. Back row is strong with Ross Moriarty, Steven Shingler and Josh Navidi. They have talented players all over the pitch.
‘But they can put out who they want. We’re going down there to try to beat them either way. We beat them at Murrayfield last year, remember.’
Wilson’s return to full fitness is a major boost for Scotland, although there is no guarantee he will start. John Barclay and Hamish Watson will be the two flankers, which leaves the No 8 position up for grabs.
David Denton has hit a bit of form with Worcester Warriors, while Cornell du Preez has been doing well with Edinburgh.
Glasgow Warriors captain Wilson has not played since picking up a serious ankle injury in the European Champions Cup defeat to Montpellier in France in mid-December, but feels ready to make his comeback.
‘I haven’t had any 80 minutes in any behind-closed-doors games since, but I’m ready and good to go if selected,’ said the 32-times capped back-row forward.
‘We get 50-minute sessions at training and you sometimes end up doing more there than you would in a game anyway.
‘I can take encouragement from Stuart Hogg, who came back well a couple of weeks ago after he spent some time out injured.
‘A lot of it is down to mindset, telling myself I’m not tired. I also have the advantage of being a lot fresher. I’ve not had five weeks of bashing myself to pieces before a Six Nations.’
With ten Scarlets players in the Welsh starting line-up, Scotland captain Barclay‘s inside knowledge on his Llanelli team-mates has been invaluable.
‘We’ve obviously got our mole John Barclay who’s telling us all sorts about them, so we’ll be all right, I think,’ said Wilson. ‘It’s nice to have someone in there.
Scotland centre Huw Jones also has his eyes on a title challenge but admits that everything will hinge on the opener against Wales.
‘This is a must-win,’ said Jones. ‘If we want to win the title, then every game is a must-win.
‘Last year, we didn’t win away against France or England, but there is a lot of optimism and we are getting a lot of praise for the way we are playing.
‘We definitely don’t want to be complacent. We think we can win, but we would never go into a game expecting it to happen.
‘It’s going to be a hard game and we’ll have to earn it. We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves but we feel we can build on what we did in the autumn Tests.
‘A lot of their players are from the Scarlets, who’ve been doing really well this season. Having them in their team will help Wales because of their familiarity with each other’s game, so we have to be ready for that.’