THERE was a familiar refrain from a coach new to the Scotland Test environment yesterday when Graham Steadman stated that the current national squad could be "a force" ... in another 12-18 months.
The new defence coach, appointed alongside Mike Brewer in August, pinpointed where Scotland were off the pace in Saturday's 32-6 defeat, but insisted that Scotland were much closer to their first win against New Zealand than the result suggested and
had the personnel to beat South Africa this weekend.
"We feel it was a great opportunity that got away from us," said Steadman. "The score didn't reflect how close we were."
The former Great Britain rugby league stand-off was reminded that Scottish supporters have endured many bad-luck stories and optimistic talk of the future, hand-in-hand with pleas for time to change from some coaches in recent years, but the straight-talking Yorkshireman replied: "I'm being genuine; I'm not one of those coaches.
"When I came into the job I looked at the potential of this squad and what was coming through. We're pulling from just over 9,000 players in Scotland, and some top-class players overseas and in the UK, but I honestly believe that Scotland can be a force.
"It's not going to happen overnight, admittedly, but with what we've got at our disposal and with key players staying fit and healthy, and one or two others coming through and putting pressure on, I honestly believe that 12-18 months down the track we can be up there with the best of them.
"Obviously, while we're looking at the big picture of the Six Nations, in the short-term we're also looking for the guys to back-up what they showed against New Zealand against the big boys on Saturday, which would give us a great platform in terms of confidence, and put us closer to where we want to be.
"I know supporters and the media want instant success, and we want to be successful as coaches, but the reality is we have just played a team that won the Tri-Nations, came off a good result against Australia, are on a merry high and have everyone playing with confidence.
"We had a squad that came together in the space of 12 days, and with several different combinations and new coaches, but the players showed a maturity and understanding that they can build on. Everybody's hurting because they know the chance got away from them, but, actually, I've rarely felt as optimistic after a defeat because the score-line did not truly reflect how well we played."
Brought in after three years' spent tightening the Ireland defence, Steadman was already au fait with Scotland's strengths and weaknesses. He has analysed his first and the national side's 25th Test defeat to New Zealand in 27 games, and explained where he thought the players let themselves down, and why he remained optimistic.
"If you break it down in detail we made seven clean line-breaks (nine in all] and manufactured six quality opportunities to score tries against the tightest defence in the Tri Nations. They came up with six line-breaks, four clean, and scored off two speculative kicks.
"For their first try they took advantage of Nick (De Luca] being in the sin-bin and everything was executed to perfection. The second one was off a turnover where our 'safety net' guys from the right side of the field, Thom Evans and Mike Blair, were sucked in at the turnover, and the Kiwis got the bounce of the ball.
"One thing I would say is Piri Weepu was at scrum-half (at the start of the second try] and tracked the ball 55 metres to score, and these are the kinds of efforts you need at this level to score tries.
"The third try (at the start of the second half] was the one that hurt most, and gave me a sleepless night. It came after our guys put the stand-off under immense pressure, so he kicks speculatively high in the air – we're not close enough to it, they get a bounce straight into 13's hands and it's try-time. I felt our back-field coverage lacked urgency and we showed some naivety in our positional awareness.
"The last one was the only one that involved a few phases, and by then the game was beyond us. But the difference was their awareness of space both ball-in-hand and in behind our front-line defence, certainly off turnovers.
"What disappointed me was the information was given to the players as to what areas the Kiwis would be attacking, but it was our reactions and recognition of where the threat was coming from that was lacking. But, there is nothing in that that can't be fixed."
Scotland's set-piece platform provides genuine hope, providing this week's referee does not allow more than half of Scotland's scrums to fall to the ground without even a free-kick benefit and virtually all of the opponents to stay up, as was the case on Saturday. The first-up defence will need to be quicker and more aggressive to cope with South Africa, but Steadman expects improvement after another week's training and, most crucially, tries.
"South Africa will pose an entirely different threat in terms of their physicality," he said, "but also their kick-and-chase because they have two flyers on the flanks and will put a lot of pressure on our back three so we'll have to be more decisive.
"We have to be hard on ourselves in training this week and not accept mediocrity. We have to learn lessons and harsh lessons, but I believe that with the quality of personnel we have at our disposal this week we can cause what would be an upset against the present world champions."
