SCOTLAND v FRANCE
1.10pm, BT MURRAYFIELD TV: LIVE ON PREMIER SPORTS
THE criticism, unlike Scotland’s performance against France in Nice, has been fierce. So much so that if Gregor Townsend’s side were needing a wake-up call before the World Cup, they would have been hard pressed to sleep through the alarm bells ringing last weekend.
Former Scotland skipper Peter ‘PC’ Brown became the latest to voice his dismay at the 32-3 warm-up defeat this week, penning a letter to a national newspaper questioning the passion and desire shown by the current international generation.
Townsend has rung the changes, of course, for today’s sold-out Murrayfield clash against the same opposition, with only full-back Stuart Hogg retained in the starting XV. One would assume that a higher level of performance will be on display — although it always is when the Scots play in the comfort of their own home — but there will also be a determination to prove this is a squad which is ready for the daunting task that awaits them in Japan next month.
While many sport stars insist they don’t pay much heed to the outside ‘noise’ from punters and critics alike, there’s little doubt the damning words from the likes of Brown have caused a stir in the Scotland camp ahead of today’s game.
‘They are tough words to take,’ admitted assistant head coach Mike Blair (right). ‘He (Brown) knows what it’s like to pull on the jersey for Scotland.
‘What I will say is that it is better that happened in the first warm-up game of the
World Cup rather than at the World Cup. We were aware that the guys weren’t going to be at their absolute peak of their game but we are looking to be peaking once we get to the World Cup. ‘There were obvious disappointments that were plain to see by everyone but as we go through we expect to see significant improvements.’ Making up for the heavy loss against France is now on the shoulders of the team led by Greig Laidlaw, who takes over the captaincy from dropped hooker Stuart McInally. And when asked if the players had shamed the jersey last weekend, Laidlaw replied: ‘That’s certainly not the case. The group are tight-knit. I’ve been involved in performances that have not gone to plan before and it’s for a number of reasons. We’d probably rather it happened last week than at the World Cup itself. ‘We’ll take it on the chin and look at how to improve things. Whether that is from how we trained all week or how we travelled. ‘We need to look at all of that for away games. ‘But this week is not an away game, we’re home at Murrayfield and we simply need to concentrate on that — and make sure we get the next 80 minutes right. ‘Look, firstly it was difficult to watch last weekend. We never started the game well. We gave away a try after just two-and-a-half minutes and their tails were up. ‘Their winger (Alivereti) Raka, on his first start in an international, scores in just two minutes.
‘Then we give (Damian) Penaud a bit of space and time and he is lethal. We just have to be tighter in those first ten minutes, stick the ball up our jumper, be a bit more direct and don’t hurt ourselves.
‘We will show a true account of ourselves. That away game is gone. We’ll never get that game back, so you can look back all you like, but you’re not going to get much from it now.
‘We’ve got to look forward and the first ten minutes of the game is where we’re going to have to set our stall out. We’re back here at BT Murrayfield in front of another sell-out crowd and the boys are as highly motivated to pull on the jersey, as am I.’
Laidlaw remains one of Townsend’s options to take on the World Cup captaincy, with McInally and John Barclay the other contenders.
‘If it happens and I am picked as captain in the World Cup, it would be fantastic,’ said Laidlaw, who was skipper in the 2015 tournament in England. ‘I have done it before and there is no better feeling.
‘My job is to turn up against France and play well today. All the rest of the stuff like captaincy maybe comes along with it if you are performing well and that is something I have tried to pride myself on doing through the years whether I am captain or not.
‘I am the same person and I will keep doing what I am doing and will give the group direction and confidence. That is part of my job.
‘As for the Scotland captaincy, I am not sure who it will be for the World Cup but for me it is the ultimate honour and always will be. There is one thing captaining a team but you want to be captaining a winning team. It all comes back to that.
‘We spoke to the boys on Friday morning about the responsibility that comes from wearing the Scotland jersey and we can’t wait to turn up at Murrayfield, get our feet on the ground and perform in front of our own.’