HARD HITTING VIEW

Vern Cotter’s return to Murrayfield didn’t have the fairytale ending that he might have wished for, but there would have been a few anxious folk in the SRU’s seats at half-time yesterday.

‘ This game should not have been as close as it was

The visitors had controlled the first half of the match and were unfortunate to go into the half-time break two points down – they could easily have been 12 points ahead had they made the most of their opportunities.

Fortunately, whatever was said in the dressing room was enough to ensure that Scotland tightened up their game and, especially, their discipline, which for the second week-in-a-row had been woeful.

Fiji were always going to be a very different proposition to the Wallabies. But with Scotland’s exiles back in a strong-looking line-up, with some astute game management, the game should not have been as close as it was.

One wonders how Fiji might have fared with more time to prepare.

The South Sea islanders are always disadvantaged compared to the Tier One nations given their players are so geographically dispersed around the world. Clearly they had talent and they could certainly play when they were given space.

It seems the Scots are obsessed with the catch-and-drive at the lineout. In opting to kick to touch they failed at least three times to score – passing up the opportunity for a very simple nine points.

One of the great virtues of the English team that won the 2003 Rugby World Cup was the metronomic kicking of Jonny Wilkinson and the scoreboard pressure that came with such accuracy.

Scotland could so easily have applied a load of pressure on Fiji, simply by opting to kick for goal, rather than gamble on the kick to touch.

Fiji have never had a solid set-piece and Scotland were able to exploit that as the game wore on. While the hosts’ discipline tightened up in the second half, the visitors’ deteriorated.

Playing any team without a man is hard, but try to do it for 30 minutes and it becomes nigh on impossible. The three yellow cards that Fiji endured cost them dearly.

Thankfully, Scotland were able to control the ball and limit the space in the second half of the game, forgoing their generosity in the first half and as their set-piece dominance developed, so the scoreboard pressure came.

Next weekend will be another different and challenging test for Scotland.

They will have to raise their game substantially for the visit of the All Blacks – a team Scotland have never beaten in the history of the game.

Gregor Townsend would love to be the coach to do so. But he is going to have to get much more from his players than was on show yesterday to stand a chance.