Cotter: More hard work needed to back up win
Adventurous spirit reaps Roman reward
VERN COTTER, the Scotland coach, has warned there is no guarantee that more successes w ill follow in the wake of his team’s 3620 win over Italy on Saturday.
Several players suggested before the game in Rome that they would go on to beat France and Ireland in their remaining RBS 6 Nations Championship matches provided they ended their ninegame losing streak against the Italians but, while not ruling out that possibility, Cotter insisted that a lot of hard work would still be required over the coming weeks.
“There are no guarantees in the game,” Cotter said. “We’re not going to get thrown into this as some sort of great release and Scotland’s going to win every game for the next 20 years. It’s not going to happen. I think we can play better than we did against Italy. There are things we can improve on. The players can see that too.
“What we saw was a team that wasn’t frightened to lose. Even though there was a lot of pressure on them externally, the players did a good job of not letting that take over, then applying pressure on the opposition. I’m pleased they got the win, as they worked hard to construct the win.
“It was important that we didn’t go out there facing backwards and the players went into their shell. They didn’t. They scored two tries quickly. We knew we would be tested in the ebbs and flow of the game and that was important. The next thing is France, who bring us other things we have to adapt to.”
After losing his first seven Six Nations games in charge of the squad, it was perhaps natural that Cotter did not share the certainty of his captain Greig Laidlaw, who said he had known by looking into his teammates’ eyes before the game that Scotland would win.
“No, I’m not that confident, but I felt the team prepared well and it was a good two weeks. We got this and we’re happy to take it and we will enjoy the victory. It’s important to celebrate it because it has been a long time coming. There will be a different atmosphere at training. It won’t be complacency – just a real desire to keep going forward.”
IN any competition that consists of just five matches, players and observers alike can be tempted to overstate the importance of each game. A narrow defeat is viewed as a catastrophe. A fortunate win is hailed as an epic triumph.
It’s the feast-and-famine syndrome, and it is something that Scotland will resist in the wake of victory against Italy just as they did after the defeats by England and Wales. Even though those two latter matches followed seven other losses in the Six Nations Championship, both Vern Cotter, the head coach, and his players, insisted they were not far away from getting things right.
The key was to look at each game in isolation, not as part of a long string of reverses. To understand that, for all the obvious failings against England, that match was lost by only six points. And that, while lapses were again glaringly obvious against the Welsh, the margin of defeat there was just four.
So they told themselves they were on the right track, and, crucially, they stuck to the adventurous style of play that had served them well at last year’s Rugby World Cup. Desperation for a win can often cramp a team’s style, but Scotland stuck to their guns and were rewarded on Saturday with their first victory in the tournament for two years.
The enterprise they showed in the opening stages of the game was vital, as it yielded two tries and had the Italians chasing the game – a position from which they were almost inevitably going to commit errors. Just as vital, however, was the resolution shown late on in defence, above all when first Finn Russell and then WP Nel were yellow-carded.
Scotland weathered that late storm in Rome’s Olympic Stadium, then broke upfield to claim victory a couple of minutes from time when Tommy Seymour scored their third try.
That distribution of the three tries over the course of the game might suggest that this was a rollercoaster of a match, but, while there are ebbs and flows in almost every contest at this level, there were aspects of play in which Scotland were ahead vir tually throughout.
The scrum, above all, gave the visitors an edge. Italy have long been regarded as experts in that department, but even a decade ago that was perhaps a generous assessment, one which only made sense in comparison to their backs’ lack of a cutting edge. Certainly now, with their cult idol Martin Castrogiovanni reduced to a trundle-on role off the bench, they simply do not have mastery in the set piece.
Scotland showed as much by achieving parity in the first scrum, putting on an almighty push at the second, and then winning a penalty at the third. Other penalties followed, too, relieving the pressure at crucial moments.
Kelly Haimona opened the scoring for the Italians against the run of play, but Scotland soon hit back. Half the team were involved in the build-up to their first try, but credit for creating the score has to go to Stuart Hogg, who popped the ball out of the tackle for John Barclay to go over and touch down.
Not long after captain Greig Laidlaw had converted the try to begin his personal points tally of 21, Scotland scored their second. Ryan Wilson did much of the damage this time, stretching the Italian defence down the line before passing to John Hardie, who was all but unmarked.
Wilson was only in the starting line-up because David Denton had injured himself in training on Friday, and it was credit to the side as a whole that they were not thrown by the late change. Josh Strauss, who had played almost a full game for Glasgow on Thursday night, was drafted on to the bench, and fortunately did not have to come on until late into the game.
Laidlaw added a penalty to those two converted scores to take the score to 17-3 after 25 minutes, but Italy fought back to claim their own first try and reduce the half-time deficit to seven. There was an ominous ease with which several would-be tackles were shrugged off in the phases before Leonardo Ghiraldini’s score, but the defence, although it would be breached again, proved not to be so porous thereafter.
In the second half, three more penalties from Laidlaw and one by Haimona took the score to 26-13 – but then the Italian fight back really began. Russell was yellow-carded for handling in a ruck, and within minutes the home team took advantage, running a penalty which ended with Marco Fuser touching down.
Haimona’s conversion reduced the gap between the teams to a full score, and although Laidlaw soon restored his team’s lead to nine, Italy were not finished. Crucially, though, the defensive line held, and at last a scrum penalty relieved the pressure.
There was relief as much as sheer joy, too, when Seymour made sure of the win with a try again created by Hogg, because this was a closer game than the scoreline would indicate. For that reason, and because, after all, this is only one win after so many losses, Scotland will not get carried away.
Even so, they can go into their match against France in confident mood. For one thing, they came out of this game with no significant injury concerns – a rarity at Test level. Of more lasting significance, however, is the fact that they believe in the way in which they are playing the game, and at last they have proof that it can produce results. ITALY. Tries: Ghiraldini, Fuser. Cons: Haimona 2. Pens: Haimona 2.
SCOTLAND. Tries: Barclay, Hardie, Seymour. Cons: Laidlaw 3. Pens: Laidlaw 5. Referee J Peyper (South Africa).
Attendance: 67,721
Seymour said. “We had said that playing well isn’t enough. It’s about results: that’s what drives the business.
“There was a lot of steely determination in the squad to get over the line. It was really pleasing that we could get the monkey off our back, and we can now drive on from here. Going into the last two games, this team has a lot of confidence. Leading on against France, hopefully we can go back home and get a result there as well.”
There have been games in the past when an Italian resurgence has sapped Scottish morale and provoked panic, but this time the team stood firm. On another day Italy might have won the try count 4-3 rather than losing it 3-2, but the Scots defence held up when it mattered most.
“I think we did give a couple of penalties away, but it was mostly about composure,” Seymour said of the backs-to-the-wall passage of second-half play that preceded his score. “It was unfortunate to get the penalties against us, but we managed to get the ball back and get out of the half, so there was a lot of relief and a lot of pleasure taken. That kind of thing gives you almost as much of a lift as a try.
“We got to the point where we were defending on our line, nine points to the good. If they had scored there with ten minutes to go, the game would have been very much in the balance. But I thought the defensive work on the line there was excellent, and our scrum did what it was doing all day.
“It was important for us to see out the game. There was obviously a lot in the build-up to the game about not closing things out, so it’s great to get over the line.
“It’s just about character. Obviously, there are technical things as well that you’re trying to implement, but to be honest it was more about character.”
During the long losing round in the competition that began back in 2014, the Scotland players have insisted that their self-belief has not been damaged. But, as Seymour accepted, it is always easier when you have proven you can win, rather than merely talking about being capable of victory.