SEIZE THE DAY AND BE BETTER BY HALF

Can Cotter’s promising side play to their potential for 80 minutes and secure a place in history?

THE relief of reaching the Rugby World Cup quarter-finals and reclaiming lost pride has subsided as the prospect of Scotland writing a new chapter under Vern Cotter carries hopes into Twickenham this evening. After another deflating Six Nations whitewash, many had Cotter’s Scots written off as pool fodder for South Africa and Samoa, while the players rightly made no secret of the quarter-final stage as being the minimum requirement.

Anything else was failure. But now they are staring at a new opportunity to make history and it will take a combination of brain and brawn that this team promises but has yet to realise.

It is invariably thus for Scotland, a nation that has spent more time out than in the top eight in the world during the past decade — and only twice having experienced anything other than a quarter-final exit.

In 1991, under skipper David Sole, Scotland followed the Grand Slam triumph with a place in the semi-finals while, last time out, Al Kellock’s team could not find the skills at the crucial moments to overcome Argentina and England and suffered a first pool departure.

This afternoon’s 28th meeting between the Scots and Australia comes with the predictable expectations of most encounters of the last 30 years.

The reality is that this Wallabies squad is far more experienced than its Scottish counterpart — not only in Test matches but, crucially, in red-hot high-intensity atmospheres.

Even losing unique talents such as David Pocock and Israel Folau does not bring the same sense of disaster it would with most other teams.

If Scotland play to the Wallaby strengths, they might as well pack up and go home at half-time. But clearly that is not the intention of Cotter and his team.

The great challenge the head coach faces is how to bring a team of potential stars to the point of being genuine competitors over the full 80 minutes. Finding a way to start the game better is vital. Scotland have shipped a plethora of points in the first half of every pool match and been behind the USA, South Africa and Samoa at the halfway stage.

A repeat of that scenario, combined with the fact Australia have boasted the tightest of first-half defences, will bring a deathly hush from the large Scottish contingent expected inside Twickenham this evening and a call for a priest to administer last rites.

But, like every team, Australia have weaknesses and we have seen them in this tournament. They have thrown up penalties and missed tackles with the frequency of trains leaving Waterloo, while four yellow cards point to the ill-discipline in their ranks.

Their 13 men should have been beaten by Wales, but the Welsh lacked clarity to exploit the gaps at the key time.

To create the same chances, Scotland need a consistent scrum and line-out, and to win more breakdown battles than they lose; both in a sense of beating the Aussies to the tackle and maintaining their own flow of ball and in slowing the work of Michael Hooper and Ben McCalman especially to deny the Wallabies the momentum they use to wreak havoc.

Scotland’s selection of two openside flankers in Blair Cowan and John Hardie offers hope in that regard as the kilted Kiwis are technically good, strong over ball, accurate and skilful. But they will have to play on the edge and walk a tightrope with the referee.

The Wallabies were heavily backed when they finished on the wrong end of a 9-8 scoreline at Murrayfield in 2009 and, similarly, Ross Ford’s Scots were written off in 2012 when they emerged triumphant in the driving rain of Newcastle, New South Wales.

They were different Tests and did not carry the lustre of a World Cup, when Australia traditionally turn it on, but they provide a psychological boost.

This is also a Scotland squad that is going places. There is a crop of young players, in Jonny Gray, Finn Russell, Mark Bennett and Stuart Hogg, in particular, who bring fresh threat.

And, just as when Scott and Gavin Hastings, Gary Armstrong, Craig Chalmers, Sean Lineen and Tony Stanger emerged, with leaders such as Sole and Fin Calder around, Greig Laidlaw, Ross Ford and Richie Gray are developing as leaders able to make the right calls at the right time.

The question in the minds of many is: ‘Is this a World Cup too early for this team?’ It may be and, if that is the case, the lessons learned in England will be invaluable for the likes of Russell et al in coming years, but they have a chance to prove they are quick learners today.

And they need to control as much of this game as they can to nullify the Wallaby threats.

Scotland must also find ways to change the expected pattern. Will Genia arguing with the referee, the 100-cap hooker Stephen Moore shaking his head at another scrum penalty or Hooper moaning at Scots ‘ illegal’ breakdown work are the sights Cotter will be hoping to see and that will enliven Scotland supporters.

This is a Test for the courageous and clever but, if Scotland follow Wales’ first-half example, it might also be one for the underdogs.