No need to panic but improvements are needed

LET’S start by putting Scotland’s defeat by France in context. This was a World Cup warm-up game that was just that, a warm-up to the main event that takes place in September and October. In these kind of matches the result is almost irrelevant, but there is no doubt the size of the defeat has meant there is now a real focus on how the players performed. In that regard, the display was not good enough. End of. There are many reasons for this, some understandable, some slightly worrying, but the main reason is that it was the first game of the season for all of these players. For the Edinburgh players like captain Stuart McInally, it was their first game since the end of April when the regular Pro14 season finished. They have trained hard over the summer and are clearly in great shape. They have benchmarked themselves against other countries from a fitness perspective and are coming out very positive indeed. So they are fit and have the conditioning to take their game to the next level. Now they need games, live games, not just the

in-house controlled games, not even the one they played against Edinburgh recently. They need to play the type of game they got in Nice on Saturday evening. It doesn’t matter if you are the national team or a club playing in the bottom league, you need pre-season games to get rid of the rustiness that comes when you don’t play over the summer. In these warm-up games, you want to see three things; good shape in attack with combinations coming together, solid defence that is tough to breakdown and no injuries. If I start in reverse order, it didn’t look like there were any injuries to get worried about. There will be bumps and bruises and the bodies will be aching today but everyone seemed to come though unscathed. You only need to look at Wales to see how any injuries could be crucial so close to the World Cup. It is in the first two areas that Gregor Townsend will be very disappointed. The attack only showed glimpses of good play and, as the game progressed and players tired, it was very one-dimensional and easy to defend against. It was good to see Duncan Taylor back after his injuries and he did look sharp at times. He is highly regarded by all at Saracens, and by Gregor, and I imagine he will see a lot of game time over the coming weeks to get him match-sharp. Rory Hutchinson came off the bench to win his first cap and it will be the first of many on the evidence of the 32 minutes he played. He replaced Taylor on Saturday but I would guess they will be playing together in one of the remaining three matches. There will need to be a big step-up in Scotland’s attacking play for the return match against France at Murrayfield this weekend. If your attack is not performing, then you hope a solid defence can keep you in the game. Sadly, this was not the case with Scotland conceding five tries. Some were well created by France but they didn’t have to work too hard against a tiring defence. There was a lack of intensity to work in the defensive line, especially in the inside channels which France attacked with good effect. Huge improvements needed in all areas really, but I am prepared to give them the benefit of doubt with it being their first run-out of the season. If there is no improvement next Saturday, then I will be worried.