Scots far better than table shows but must banish doubts about winning on the road
But for that poor performance and defeat in Cardiff, we would, despite losing quite heavily to France, have been approaching today’s match in Rome with justified confidence.
We should still win and indeed do so by a comfortable margin, even though this young Italian team have been playing with spirit and ambition, but the anaemic display in Cardiff reawakens doubts concerning our ability to win away from home.
A good start is surely imperative; otherwise such doubts may infect the players themselves. The truth, however, is that this is a much better Scotland team than its position in the Six Nations table indicates. There were good spells even against France. Indeed, if the form of the second quarter of that game is reproduced, Scottish tries will surely come, even abundantly.
Duhan van der Merwe’s absence may be felt, for Italy are a team against which he might be expected to run in two or three tries. We can’t complain about his suspension. Fending an opponent off with a forearm to the head is dangerous, and there’s an end to the discussion; or at least it would be an end to it but for the fact that his victim, Kyle Rowe, was himself also to blame. He was tackling high, and nobody’s head can be at risk of a forearm blow to the head if he tackles low. The current laws, of course, encourage players to tackle high in an attempt to prevent the ball-carrier from going to ground.
Gregor Townsend’s selection has been conservative. Finn Russell has had two indifferent games, but so at times have all the best fly-halves I have seen, from, say, John Rutherford by way of Gregor himself, Jonny
Wilkinson and Ronan O’gara, to Jonny Sexton today. Nevertheless the cream, as Jim Telfer liked to say, always rises to the top.
Restoring Sam Johnson to the inside centre position makes sense because he has always played well off Finn. It may have been tempting to field Mark Bennett at 13, because he has been in excellent form, but, though Chris Harris doesn’t have Bennett’s
nimble feet or speed, he has been the anchor of our defence for a couple of successful years now.
You might argue that such an anchor is less needed against Italy, but in fact the Italian backs have been moving the ball well, and often threateningly. In any case, few can doubt that we shall want to have Harris in the 13 jersey against Ireland next week, lining up opposite Garry
Ringrose, arguably this year’s outstanding midfield back.
Almost as much Scottish interest will be directed at Twickenham immediately after the match in Rome. Ireland may, by general agreement, be currently the best of the four Lions countries, but, like most other teams, they have a poor record at Twickenham.
Eddie Jones has as usual been talking his head off while Ireland’s (English) coach Andy Farrell says very little in public. Jones says that Ireland will not have experienced as physical a test as awaits them at Twickenham; they haven’t played South Africa for years while England beat the World Champions in November.
What he doesn’t say is that South Africa won the physical battle hands-down that day, and were defeated only because they made half a dozen wrong judgements. Moreover, England were very fortunate to beat Wales a fortnight ago, a day when they dominated a turgid first half in which they were able to score only four penalties.
Man for man this Irish team is better than the English one, and on recent evidence seems likely to win the forward battle, while their backs seem possessed of more fire-power than England’s. On neutral territory I would expect Ireland to win comfortably, but one should never discount the Twickenham factor.
Finally, I would hope that someone in authority has reminded the Television Match Officials that their role is advisory only. It’s still the referee who is, as the Laws say, the sole judge of fact. He may consult the TMO but is not required to accept his judgment. And I also hope that all officials will soon be told to cut their conversations short. We, the spectators, come or switch on the TV, to watch players playing, not to listen to referees, assistant referees, and the TMO, holding up the action for long minutes as they argue about this or that.