Lionhearts can propel Scots to Six Nations title success
IN 1989, nine Scots went on the victorious British and Irish Lions tour of Australia. The very next year, Scotland completed the Five Nations Grand Slam. Coincidence? Or a direct consequence? Eight Scots have been selected by Warren Gatland for this summer’s tour of South Africa — the highest figure since then. Lightning may not strike twice in terms of Scotland winning the 2022 Grand Slam but, in my opinion, there’s no reason why those players can’t return from Lions duty and help their national team win their first-ever Six Nations title.
Ask any of the Scots who graced that tour 32 years ago and they will tell you they came back better and far more confident players for the experience.
Playing and training alongside English, Irish and Welsh stars showed them they were every bit as good — if not better — than any of them.
Without exception, they returned home fearing no one.
Craig Chalmers, Finlay Calder, Gavin Hastings, David Sole, Derek White, John Jeffrey, Scott Hastings, Gary Armstrong and Peter Dods were part of a golden generation. They all went on to be part of the Scotland squad who went through the 1990 Five Nations undefeated.
The current Scottish Lions have a long way to go to match their achievements — but the potential is there.
Stuart Hogg is a modern-day Gavin Hastings; Chris Harris as brave a centre as Scott Hastings; Finn Russell is a more inventive fly-half than Craig Chalmers; Hamish Watson as strong a tackler as Finlay Calder.
And it’s not only the Scottish players who will benefit from going to South Africa.
Ian McGeechan was the Lions coach in 1989, the first of four times he led them. His team became the first Lions side to recover from an opening Test loss to win, while the following year he led the Scots to their Grand Slam.
As Gatland’s attack coach and right-hand man, who is to say that Gregor Townsend won’t draw renewed strength from a successful Lions campaign?
Having been head coach of the Scottish national team for four years now, he will undoubtedly learn new training techniques and ideas working under Gatland.
All of which can only benefit Scotland in the long run and with a World Cup on the horizon.
No matter how Scotland fans still regard Gatland after he picked only three of their compatriots for the 2013 Lions tour to Australia and two for the 2017 series in New Zealand, they can’t argue with his impressive record as head coach.
Now that he is taking eight, it’s an exciting moment for Scottish rugby that is sure to have long-term positive effects.
As Hamish Watson told Sportsmail, the players selected hope to inspire a future generation of young Scots with their performances in a British and Irish Lions jersey.
Hopefully that will just be the start of a major resurgence.
And Scotland fans will be daring to dream, based on their favourites’ performances in South Africa, that they have a national team good enough not just to challenge for, but to win, the next Six Nations.