PROGRESS AT A PRICE
Townsend’s style is right on the money but basic errors cost Scots dearly in Dublin
Two giant steps forward. A smaller one back. A self-inflicted defeat after impressive victories over France and England is not the end of the world. Far from it.
Even Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt admitted the final scoreline flattered his side. If Scotland hadn’t indulged in more butchering than you would see at a supermarket meat counter, things could have been so very different.
Three tries — 15 points — went a-begging through basic, individual errors. one Ireland try was gifted to them.
You simply can’t be that sloppy away from home against a side as good as the Six Nations champions and expect to win. At least Scotland’s man of the match, Hamish watson, wasn’t trying to sweep things under the carpet.
‘The big errors were annoying, but this game was very different to our defeat in wales,’ insisted watson. ‘we were right in it and making good line breaks and opportunities, but then not finishing them off. That cost us.’
Tactically, Scotland played the up-tempo attacking game needed to have a chance of beating Ireland, who are effective but never easy on the eye.
Gregor Townsend’s men carved out lots of chances, but, when they were just one simple schoolboy pass away from scoring, they blew it.
The misses started stacking up after Peter Horne set the tone for a day of mistakes by gifting Jacob Stockdale an easy try on 20 minutes, the Irishman intercepting a horribly telegraphed pass.
The butchering of chances then began. Huw Jones chipped, chased and gathered his own kick. Genius. He looked up and, with the Scottish fans on their feet, inexplicably chucked the ball away out of Stuart Hogg’s reach. If looks could kill. The Scotland full-back would have been in under the posts if the pass went to hand. An inexcusable error from the centre.
Hogg wasn’t blameless himself, either. He must have thought Blair Kinghorn was much taller than even his 6ft 4in frame as his wild pass sailed well over his team-mate’s head and into touch when he would have been odds-on to score.
Horne, after allowing Ireland in, was equally impulsive in attack, as well. with Kinghorn and Lee Jones outside him, he somehow managed to find neither. No wonder he looked to the heavens.
Townsend does have some concerns that need to be addressed before the trip to Italy for the final Six Nations match.
Finn Russell was magnificent against England, but was posted missing in Dublin. He was simply outplayed by Johnny Sexton, who ran the show for Ireland and kept the Scots on their toes from the first whistle. Consistency is still proving elusive.
The Scotland line-out, a decent weapon for most of the Six Nations, didn’t function properly. Four were lost on the Scotland throwin, with the normally reliable Stuart McInally not on the same wavelength as his two main jumpers, Jonny Gray and Grant Gilchrist. one missed line-out even led directly to an Irish try. The Scotland centre partnership of Jones and Horne didn’t work and were given the runaround by Ireland’s man of the match Garry Ringrose and Bundee Aki. Both centres were involved in the superb move that led to Ringrose playing a bullet pass into Stockdale for Ireland’s second try on the stroke of half-time. Conor Murray and Sean Cronin tries in the 45th and 68th minute, respectively, secured the victory.
Although Huw Jones made a massive error by failing to find Hogg when he was in acres of space, he has enough credit in the bank to retain his place in Rome.
Horne might not be so lucky. Alex Dunbar, who has missed the first four Six Nations games through injury, is fit again. Either he or Newcastle Falcon centre Chris Harris could get the nod.
Townsend won’t write off what happened as simply a bad day at the office. If his side are to progress and mature, they’ll need to be able to handle these away days with far greater composure. But this match will end up helping in that regard.
Some parts of the game did go well, of course.
Townsend made the big call to play Kinghorn, normally a full-back, on the wing ahead of more experienced players such as Lee Jones and Bryon McGuigan. The 21-year-old did play well on his first start.
Kinghorn was always looking for the ball and came off his wing to get involved. He took his first Scotland try well following a pass from Sean Maitland that put him
in at the corner and was one of the success stories.
David Denton, who came on for Ryan Wilson after a head injury, will also contend for a start against the Italians. His physicality in the back row would complement Watson and John Barclay’s ability at the breakdown.
Simon Berghan, who gets better with every game, is in great form at tighthead prop and should keep his place despite W P Nel and Zander Fagerson waiting in the wings to take over.
Greig Laidlaw, whose single penalty was the only other Scotland score apart from the Kinghorn try, continues to be reliable and a calming influence. Even he couldn’t legislate for the lack of accuracy of his team-mates and thankfully never had similar rushes of blood at crucial moments.
‘We are disappointed because we felt we played a lot of good rugby at times, but we just weren’t clinical enough,’ said the experienced No 9.
‘Even if we had taken two of those opportunities, another 14 points would have changed the complexion of the game and it could have been a lot tighter. We are really disappointed with ourselves.
‘Credit to Ireland. They are relentless and they hold on to the ball well. I felt we defended really well at times and it was just stupid little things — whether it was chucking an interception, or ill discipline. We talked about discipline beforehand, but we probably let ourselves down there — allowing Ireland to kick penalties to touch.
‘Next week is now massively important. We have had two good wins at home — and now we need to go and win in Rome next week.’
All is not lost and winning away in Italy would mean three Six Nations victories for the second year in a row, which remains an improvement on what has gone before.
Scotland are heading in the right direction. And, by the World Cup, who knows, they might just be the finished article.