Discard Scott battling back into midfield frame
GARY HEATLY finds that Scotland have a surfeit of genuine talent in the centres
Matt Scott believes being dropped for the autumn Tests may have been a blessing in disguise and given him the spur he needed to force his way back into Vern Cotter’s Scotland squad for the Six Nations.
Ever since he made his debut off the bench against Ireland back in 2012 the centre has been involved in Europe’s showpiece event at some point every year.
His participation in the 2017 tournament looked in doubt when Cotter dropped him in November and then the impressive Huw Jones joined the ever growing ranks of quality midfield men north of the border.
However, Scott, 26, has been in superb form for Gloucester over the last couple of months to earn a recall ahead of the opener with Ireland at BT Murrayfield on Saturday.
The man with 36 caps has been in his hometown of Edinburgh training with the Scotland squad this week and said: “Being dropped was really, really tough to take.
“It was probably the first time I’ve been properly dropped when I’ve been fit. So watching the autumn internationals was really difficult because I’m sitting there fit, feeling like I’m playing some decent rugby.
“However, you can take these things in one of two ways, and the coaches were obviously looking for me to do something else. They highlighted that they wanted me to make better decisions in defence, so I spoke to my defence coach at Gloucester and said, ‘look, if I want to get back into the squad, I need to work hard on this’.
“I used it as a big motivator, I didn’t sulk. I went off and worked, put in extra hours, and I feel my defence has improved.
“I was prone to making bad decisions at certain moments in the game, whether I was tired or trying to solve certain issues in defence on my own, but hopefully that is in the past.”
Over recent days at the Oriam facility in Edinburgh, Scott has been putting his best foot forward to impress Cotter and backs coach Jason O’Halloran.
With Alex Dunbar, the aforementioned Jones, Duncan Taylor and Mark Bennett also gunning for a centre spot against Ireland it will be interesting to see what combination Scotland go with.
“Everyone will agree that it’s probably the most competitive that the centre spots have been in years with Scotland,” Scott said. “You could make a case for any number of guys playing in the first match, so it’s extremely exciting that there’s that level of talent here at the moment because it’ll definitely bring us all on as players.
“It’s competitive and we all want to pull on the jersey, as a result we have all been getting out there and training well to put our hands up for selection.
“I feel I have come back to this squad a better player, even if I hadn’t scored any tries this year at Gloucester I’d feel like I’ve learned a hell of a lot just from being around people with different rugby philosophies.
“At this stage of my career, it’s the small details that make the difference. I had been at one club [Edinburgh Rugby] my whole life so coming to a new club meant that I was exposed to different ways of doing things and I am loving it.”
Meanwhile, full-back Stuart Hogg, 24, believes the Scotland squad can go into the Ireland match brimming with confidence.
“Ireland are a good side, but we have earned the right over the last year or so to be called a good side also and a lot of us are coming into the tournament in good form,” he said.