Have a go and be HEROES
Rutherford excited by Scotland’s new crop of stand-offs
1980 or 2015, it’s the difference between us being competitive and being dangerous
JOHN RUTHERFORD does not have to reach far into the memory banks to picture the scene of him running at French or English back lines with Jim Renwick and Ian McGeechan outside him. He sees it vividly. The secret, he says, to successful rugby lies less in intricate moves, clever dummy runs and off-loads, and more in the attitude of the players responsible for leading attacks.
‘I can’t stand it when an attack gets up to 20-odd phases and you see boys expending so much energy — to do what?’ he said. ‘You’re expending more energy than the defence, who just wait to pick off a mistake.
‘Of course, defences weren’t as well-organised when I played as they are now, but you have to play in the era that you play and there are still principles that hold true in any time.
‘The worst thing still that a defence wants to see is players with evasive skills running at them. That’s why the All Blacks are brilliant. They have not just a backline of boys that want to run at you, want to try to get past you, but probably 10 players who evade.’
The former Scotland stand-off will turn 60 later this year and his most memorable moments in rugby came more than three decades ago, topped by the Grand Slam of 1984 that brought an end to years of ‘false dawns’ as excitement grew around the Scottish game, with entertaining play and some famous wins but precious little silverware.
Drawing parallels between decades is difficult, never mind seeking similarities between players, teams and eras more than 30 years apart. But there is something to like in Scotland’s burgeoning stand-off talent and Rutherford is excited by it.
Still based in his Selkirk home, ‘Rud’ has followed a playing career ended by injury with coaching roles at club level and with Scotland age-grade teams. He has served as a committee member at his old club and, despite trying to avoid it for some time, took on the role of president a couple of years ago.
He is back among the hoi polloi these days, retired from a business in insurance and enjoying golf trips with friends as much as he enjoys following Scotland around the Six Nations stops. He prefers it away from the limelight. He brought much to his coaching, great insight that players including Chris Paterson will tell you they benefited from hugely, but he struggled with being the main man. Which is fascinating. We are discussing his area of expertise at the start of a year in which hopes abound that Scotland could compete in the top half of the Six Nations table rather than the basement — and bounce back from a first World Cup pool exit in 2011 that, for all the ignominy attached, was also a wake-up call on the level of competition that now exists around the rugby world.
Strong squads and good coaching are key but no team succeeds without a good controller in the No 10 jersey and it was intriguing that news of injury to Scotland’s 2014 Six Nations stand-off Duncan Weir this week — which rules him out of the 2015 tournament — was not met with widespread panic. Weir’s Glasgow team-mate Finn Russell was Vern Cotter’s preferred choice during the Autumn internationals, whilst Rutherford insists there are others who have caught his eye.
‘I’d never heard of Finn Russell until he started getting picked ahead of Duncan,’ Rutherford said. ‘But I can see why Gregor (Townsend, Glasgow coach) has faith in him because he has some good touches; he takes control of a game.
‘He looks a confident lad and doesn’t let mistakes bother him.
That is vital for an international stand-off because you touch the ball so often that you have to be able to put errors behind you quickly.
‘I didn’t have that to begin with. You learn as you go along. You want to play stand-off. Then you accept you have to vary your play, and so you will make mistakes.
‘Sometimes the lessons in that role are pretty harsh and there were times I thought: “Jeez, I won’t do that again!”. Sometimes you’re not having a great game but you’re still on the ball regularly, so you have to make sure your tackling is good or, if it’s your kicking that’s off, that your passing is bang on, so that you don’t go to pieces.
‘On the other side of the coin, because you’re touching the ball so often you have to have the ability to shake off mistakes. I see that in Finn, and Duncy has that as well.
‘I think Duncy would be the first to admit his distribution wasn’t great when he first came into the team, but he has worked hard with Gregor on that and is better now, and that has made him a more dangerous player.
‘Finn is maybe more natural and likes to have a go — and that is at the heart, I think, of Scotland’s improvement.’
Competition is also a big factor and Rutherford continued: ‘I really like the lad Tom Heathcote and I’d like to see him playing more at Edinburgh because I think we have still to see the best of him.
‘Greig Tonks can look slightly out of place, probably because he’s played full-back for so long, but he does enough good things to make me think that, given time in that position, he could come through. He has a good boot on him and is a physical guy.
‘So there are four boys there now where four or so years ago we didn’t have much strength in depth, and four boys that all want to play.’
ONE for the present, rather than looking back, Rutherford has to be prodded for a comparison to his time in the spotlight, but the rugby equivalent of nature versus nurture is intriguing. He says he learned as he went, and many who remember the Borderer’s career will recall the work he had to put in to turn from a running stand-off into a more astute kicker.
But was his back line one of the most exciting because the individuals were born with silky skills, ‘a nose for gaps’, or did they practise something in particular?
Have we simply had to wait for similar, attack-minded players to come along or are the current crop now learning better?
‘It’s lots of thing but I come back to the attitude you have,’ said Rutherford. ‘In my first season, there was me, ‘Geech’ and Renwick, and we had very few moves. But we had a plan to have a go at the opposition defence. We just passed the ball and I suppose we were good enough to know when to pass, kick or break because we’d all played a lot of senior rugby by then.
‘The other thing was that we had good back-row players, who would latch on whenever you made a break. You’re not looking to score every time but just get in behind the defence, trusting your team-mates to be supporting to take it on.
‘That’s why I don’t mind players kicking. About the first time Finn got the ball against Edinburgh last week, he kicked it over the defensive line and caught it, and I haven’t seen that from a Scotland stand-off for ages. He nearly scored off it.
‘There is a fear about giving the ball away, and I accept that it’s different to my time, with such wellorganised defences now, but should we run 20 phases and go nowhere?
‘I was a poor kicker when I started. It was a bit strange because I was a good footballer, but I was brought up to run and pass, and so didn’t practise kicking. I was lucky that I had good employers when I started playing for Scotland. While as a PE teacher at George Watson’s, and then in insurance, they let me go away and practise.
‘Players now are decent kickers; Finn and Duncan are exceptional kickers. So the challenge now is about when to use it. The key remains the same — you have got to ask questions, whether kicking or running. We have more players now asking questions across the back-line — Alex Dunbar, Matt Scott and Mark Bennett, and the back threes Stuart Hogg, Tommy Seymour, Tim Visser and Sean Maitland, and there are others.’
Rutherford is planning his trips to Scotland’s Six Nations games, sounding like an excited schoolboy talking about the thrills of watching the new generation. But it is attacking rugby he wants to see more than anything.
‘There have been a few things that have improved,’ he said. ‘We are more physical now and you have to be able to compete in the scrum, line-out and forward battles with extremely big men, and I think we have a good coach in Vern Cotter.
‘But we now have backs that want to have a go and, no matter if it is 1980 or 2015, that’s what makes the difference between being competitive and being dangerous.’