Late lapse takes some shine off Rome win
Kyle Steyn made his first Six Nations start in Rome’s Stadio Olimpico yesterday, writes ALAN SHAW.
And while he was happy with a bonus-point away win, the Glasgow wing admits a little gloss had been lost by Scotland’s late defensive collapse.
“First off, five points away from home in the Six Nations, you’re going to accept that any day of the week,” he said.
“But we know, especially on defence, we weren’t as consistent as we wanted to be. For most parts of the game we controlled things pretty well and played rugby where we wanted to play it, in their half.
“But we’re disappointed we didn’t kick on in that second half and really make it count.
“We weren’t happy to finish like that but we’ll put that into next week and we know defending like that next week isn’t going to be good enough and we have to make sure we’re up to the task in Dublin.
“Everything turns to next week now, and the clash in Dublin’s going to be massive and finishing on a high is top priority for us.”
Scoring five tries away from home in the Six Nations is not to be sniffed at, and Steyn says: “It’s a massive positive and a lot of it came from turnover ball and our ability to quickly transition from defence to attack, which we’re really chuffed with.
“Going to Dublin, we know that game management and playing rugby in the right areas is going to be crucial.”
Ireland won’t cough up the ball as easily as the Azzurri did but Steyn says: “We’ll back ourselves to take the chances when they arrive.
“The biggest thing will be fronting up on defence.”