We’re closer than ever to mounting a huge challenge
ISAID earlier in this NatWest Six Nations Championship that it was the hope that killed you as a Scotland supporter, but after the team finished off with another of those tense battles in Rome, it is springing eternal again. There was so much hope going into this championship off the back of an exciting autumn series, and that can make it difficult to assess exactly how much progress we have made this time.
What it has done is both verify that we are going in the right direction, with a style of game and the players to upset the best teams, but also underline how much work we still have to do to become a consistent title challenger.
Gregor Townsend was right in his assessment after the Irish game that we are two or three years behind where they are, in terms of experience across the squad of winning top-class games. I also agree with him that we should be able to close that gap in less than two or three years.
The opening show against Wales is the one that stands out as the most painful. We were well beaten that day by a Welsh side that is good, but clearly not the best in this tournament. We were outthought and outplayed in Cardiff and the only positive is that those 80 minutes should become one of the most watched games for the current players as they seek to learn lessons that will help tighten the consistency in the next year.
We showed against France and Italy we can win when not playing at our best, and that is a vital trait in every side that has ambitions to be title winners. It’s not a fluke; you learn how to make decisions in games when things are not quite coming off that put you in the right places for positive things to happen — decisions, opposition mistakes, opportunities that can swing a game. We did that against France and Italy and that shows a growing maturity.
England was the great highlight and I was pleased to see Finn Russell answer the critics after the opening games. I let some of my stand-offs know when I wasn’t happy with them, but the truth is that they often cop the flak when it’s not their fault and they have to learn how to deal with that and not let it affect their ambition and desire to take risks, which is crucial to the way we’re playing.
The brilliant thing about sport is that sometimes things just click and the more that Calcutta Cup match went on, the more our game clicked into place and Finn underlined his world-class qualities. The challenge is making it click more often and that’s where you find the consistency to be truly competitive, and that applies to Finn as much as the entire squad.
And then, in the away game against Ireland we created enough chances to have claimed what would have been a very rare win in Dublin, against the winners. To go away and play like that against such a good side is a significant step forward — and I can’t help look back still and wonder what might have happened in that game had that Huw Jones pass gone to Stuart Hogg or had Peter Horne picked the right option in the second half. What might have been!
But there are also reasons why a team performs better at home than it does away, and while no one in any sport in the world has nailed it — that’s why Ireland only claimed their third Grand Slam in over 100 years last night — there are things players can do to improve their consistency and ability to perform when you don’t have the familiarity of home and the big crowd roaring you on.
I am sure Gregor and the squad will be looking closely at these aspects now because this tournament has underlined that important area for us.
In the final game, Italy probably played their best game of the championship and had us scrapping and fighting for our lives, and as impressed as I was by Italy — Sergio Parisse is a fantastic player still and doesn’t deserve the stat of enduring 100 defeats — we should not underestimate the qualities Scotland showed in the final ten minutes to pull victory out of that.
Greig Laidlaw was again a key figure and I’ve been delighted at how he has come back from injury and strengthened our leadership, reminding everyone how important his experience is.
When I look back on the squad, John Barclay has been another outstanding performer but hooker Stuart McInally has been my ‘Player of the Championship’ for Scotland, really stepping up in the absence of Fraser Brown, taking his chance and showing that he has the ability to be first choice.
His and the pack’s next step is to improve in lineouts and tighten the key throws at key moments.
What this squad have also done is restore ‘Fortress Murrayfield’ with eight wins from the last nine matches at home, so everyone — including New Zealand — now know that Scotland at home is one of the most difficult challenges in the international game.
That instils great confidence in the players, the squad and the coaching staff — and the whole of Scottish rugby.
Ireland remain the standard and with Scotland facing them in the World Cup next year, it will be fascinating to watch how Townsend’s squad try to close that gap. We have the game to cause them problems and have to learn how to produce the top performances under pressure.
Key to that is scoring tries and that is the biggest difference now to a few years ago, with ten a good return in a Six Nations. Hogg has been a bit quieter but we are seeing other attacking talents emerging, notably Huw Jones, and with Blair Kinghorn getting his chance.
We are not yet good enough to be Six Nations winners, and the road to success is never a smooth one, but we are closer than we have ever been and that is progress.