Horne is not answer for coach Townsend
Hastings would be better alternative for Scotland at fly-half, writes Ben Coles at the Stade de France
Peter Horne’s mind must have been an interesting place to be when he clocked France captain Guilhem Guirado hurtling out of the defensive line towards him at a million miles an hour. Frankly, there was little Horne could do other than to prepare his body before being rocked back to earth. Much as Scotland were as a whole in Paris.
Having clung on up to half-time, ultimately they were second best by some margin, with yesterday being their biggest defeat in Paris since 2007. Scotland were always going to be worse off without Finn Russell, Stuart Hogg, Huw Jones, Ryan Wilson, WP Nel and the rest, but the sheer extent of the damage caused by the loss of those missing players was laid bare. Russell and Hogg will need to return for Scotland to threaten Wales and England in their remaining fixtures.
Given France’s implosion at Twickenham there had seemed no better time for Scotland to win a first Six Nations game in Paris this side of the millennium, even with that long list of high-profile absentees.
Except ultimately the gap between Russell and Horne, or Hogg and Blair Kinghorn at full-back, proved to be too much. This was Horne’s 40th cap for Scotland but just his third Test start at fly-half. The last came in Fiji almost two years ago. The first was in the 2015 defeat at home to Italy.
For all of Horne’s qualities, he is unlikely to get a fourth audition starting in the 10 shirt following this 44-minute effort in Paris, returning to the field later at centre and creating a consolation score for Ali Price.
Were it not for a knock-on by Wenceslas Lauret, after Horne’s failure to secure a catch in his own 22, then Scotland would have been even further behind at half-time than only seven points.
Adam Hastings appears a better long-term alternative as a back-up for Russell, notably pinning France back in the second half when Scotland were chasing the game, but the drop in quality at fly-half with Russell absent through concussion has to be a major concern. Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend admitted this week that Russell would be a doubt to face Wales in two weeks’ time. By contrast Romain Ntamack thrived on his first Test start at fly-half for France, making 15 tackles in the first half alone and scoring the opening try.
Not that Horne at fly-half was the only concern. For all Nick Grigg’s tremendous work-rate in defence at outside centre, the attacking edge regularly supplied by Jones was missed. Kinghorn, perhaps showing some early nerves, was also bailed out by a French error after having the ball ripped out of his hands in his own 22, with Antoine Dupont’s prior knock-on chalking off a try for Damian Penaud.
Kinghorn is just 22, the same age as the hugely impressive Dupont, and notably grew in confidence as the game progressed. The only problem was Scotland needed ready-made superstars in Russell, Hogg and Jones to end their 20-year barren run in Paris, not stand-ins or long-term projects, given that France were a far stronger opponent – with Dupont and Ntamack directing traffic and a genuine full-back in Thomas Ramos – than the side who were humiliated by England.
Not that it will offer much immediate solace, but better for Townsend and his coaching staff to identify solutions now with seven months still to go ahead of the World Cup later this year. If Russell has not recovered in time for Wales’ visit to Murrayfield in a fortnight, then Hastings certainly deserves a start.