SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS SERVED US SO WELL
WHAT do they say about revenge? After falling on the wrong side of really close defeats to Australia, getting up early to watch yesterday’s game left me with a very sweet feeling. We have talked plenty about learning from narrow defeats in the past and I think the biggest point in Scotland’s win over Australia in Sydney was both that they learned from those losses, to hang in there at the end, and also drew on the belief that came from those setbacks.
You could see it in their faces, in the way they threw themselves into the contact, into tackles, and put their bodies on the line right to the final act. There was huge belief in this team that they could beat the Wallabies in Sydney for the first time.
There is little doubt this was a strong squad performance because, for once, we saw a really strong bench come on and make an impact right across the pitch. But analysing the individual performances, it’s hard to see past the quality of Finn Russell once again.
The stand-off has been absolutely outstanding in the last two games, unlocking defences, having a go, being cheeky at times, but also brave in defence and taking the ball to the line — and taking some hits because of it. I hope he gets a chance to play with the Lions now because he deserves it.
Duncan Taylor was also very impressive. His interception maybe looked easy, but it showed his intelligence in pushing the defensive line and going looking for the chance. Scotland will have targeted Will Genia’s poor kick clearance, as well, and Finn was looking for that, but he was very quick in getting to it and finishing.
Hamish Watson’s try was the pick of them, but it was a fantastic team try. It owed everything to a number of players executing basic skills exceptionally well, from Matt Scott, Ross Ford and Jonny Gray making yards, to Russell and Taylor’s passing skills, Lee Jones hurdling players and Taylor delaying the pass perfectly to put Watson in.
Jonny Gray was outstanding on his return, John Barclay was fantastic in so many areas and, when you look at the quality of boys Scotland were missing — Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland, Tim Visser, Greig Laidlaw and Richie Gray — it is impressive how the team came together so tightly, especially in defence.
A big mention has to go to Ross Ford for equalling Chris Paterson’s 109-cap record and, when you saw the dynamism and strength that he, WP Nel and others brought to the last quarter, we have the strongest squad that we’ve had for a long, long time.
Huge credit also to Matt Taylor whose up-skilling of the players in tackling and defensive awareness left the Wallabies with nowhere to go. We got caught a couple of times when Israel Folau scored his tries, but I don’t think anybody could have stopped Folau scoring his second — that was world-class athleticism to take the ball about 11-12 feet in the air.
But, throughout, we chopped Australian runners early, or double-tackled them, and we had players just refusing to give up.
Ryan Wilson is an example. He plays right on the edge. He gives away a few penalties but gives us an aggressive edge in the confrontations and he cares about his team-mates, as you saw when he followed up the big hit on Rory Hughes early on and made sure the Wallabies knew Scotland were not going to take anything lying down.
I enjoy watching Ryan play and, while his yellow card was costly, as they scored shortly after, there was an element of sacrifice there in stopping a try, so it’s a close call.
The one disappointing note from yesterday was the Lions call-ups. It was great to see Russell and Allan Dell called in, of course, and Russell should have been there from the start. But I thought it was a joke when I read the Welsh names because I consider myself pretty clued-up on rugby and I hadn’t heard of a couple of them!
It is a great honour to be selected for the Lions and I know what it feels like because I was the third back-row replacement called up to the last New Zealand tour in 2005, and you can’t be critical of the players as it’s not their choice.
I was on holiday in Scotland when the call came in 2005 but, while there have always been some funny emergency call-ups — Andy Nicol, take a bow — Warren Gatland is now handing out Lions jerseys to players because they are closest to the tour rather than form.
That devalues the jersey in my opinion. I’ve nothing against Cory Hill but, even if Gatland couldn’t get Joe Launchbury from Argentina in time, what about Jonny Gray? Outstanding in Glasgow’s European Cup games, big player for Scotland, and Gatland prefers a Dragons player playing in the Challenge Cup and having failed to feature in this year’s Six Nations?
But, for me, this weekend is really about Scotland and what was an historic third Test win ever in Australia. Gregor Townsend and the squad will not be getting carried away, but we’re playing a brand of rugby that suits us and more and more players are stepping up and running it.
I believe we’ll beat Fiji next Saturday and returning three from three will give a huge confidence boost to Scottish rugby. Winning is becoming a habit for this team.