The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Resilient Scots can beat the heat in Far East
Coach McFarland confident ahead of Italy match
Forwards coach Dan McFarland says Scotland are ready for surprises when they take on Italy in the humidity of Singapore today.
The oppressive climate is likely to pose almost as great a problem as the opposition themselves but McFarland says it is a challenge his team will relish.
He said: “You want to put yourself under pressure, you want to do something different.
“In the same way that guys who like to climb mountains don’t just want to climb Ben Nevis every day, they are going to test themselves on something else, something more difficult. They don’t whinge when Mount Everest is put in front of them. The bigger the challenge, the bigger the story afterwards.”
All the players and coaches are desperate to get the new Scotland setup, with fresh coaches and players, off to a winning start. Despite the heat, the plan is to step up the speed of their game even more to accomplish that.
“It’s a good challenge,” added McFarland. “It is exciting from my point of view, a first Test match as a coach, so my expectations are pretty high.
“You can see in the players that feeling of anticipation that comes from representing your country.
“As far as the game itself is concerned, Italy have shown the kind of rugby they can play. They have not always got the results their ability has merited, we expect them to be playing at a high level, so we will have to play at a higher level to beat it.”
For captain John Barclay, the key is to take the patterns established under the previous regime of Vern Cotter and add to them under new head coach Gregor Townsend.
“Under Vern we played quick rugby as well,” he said. “The intensity was high under him, he understood as a nation that is how we have to play. That is how Gregor played at Glasgow and he has placed more of an emphasis on it. This is how we want to play.”
For Italy captain Eduardo Gori, revenge is in the air after his players were whitewashed at Murrayfield at the end of the six nations this year.
“That was a very bad defeat but it will help us with our performance in this game,” he said.
“It is going to be a very demanding match, Scotland have improved hugely over the last few years, but our goal, as always, is to give our best and win the game for Italy.”