Scotland shoot down questions over mental toughness - 'most people won’t know who these boys are'

Tandy says current national team are able to deal with pressure of representing Scotland

Questions posed about the mental toughness of the Scotland squad as a result of their defeat by Italy in Rome have provoked a robust response from Steve Tandy, the team’s defence coach.

Gregor Townsend’s side went from being 22-10 ahead to losing 31-29 on Saturday, giving the Italians their first home win in the Six Nations since 2013. It brought to an end a run of 13 consecutive wins by Scotland in the fixture and all but ended their title chances.

Tandy admitted they were guilty of lapses of concentration and that the tries conceded were soft but he mounted a staunch defence of the team’s character, citing their performances in the victories over Wales and England this season and the way they bounced back from the defeat by France when a controversial refereeing decision denied them what would have been a late match-winning try.

Scotland defence coach Steve Tandy, second from right, with Cameron Redpath, Huw Jones and Kyle Steyn during a training session at Oriam in Edinburgh. (Photo by Ross MacDonald / SNS Group)

“I’d never question our mental toughness,” said Tandy. “Look at the England game - if you lack mental toughness you’re not going to come back from 10-0 down and win the Calcutta Cup. And that was coming after France when we feel we’d been absolutely hard done by but came back and produced a performance. There is definitely mental toughness, I believe, in this group. There are definitely areas we need to develop and keep growing and produce more consistent passages in play and ultimately wrestle that momentum back.”

Scotland, who held a 12-point lead over Italy in the 28th minute, went on to concede 21 unanswered points before scoring a late try through Sam Skinner. It wasn’t enough and they were widely criticised in the aftermath for allowing the game to slip from their grasp. “Ultimately, we know who we are,” added Tandy. “Most people won’t know who these boys are. We know them, we see them work day in, day out.

“For me, it’s definitely not a character thing within the group. Is it disappointing from the weekend? One hundred per cent. But at the end of the day there’s no-one more disappointed than myself and the players. It’s a big stage and these boys are putting their bodies on the line in front of a lot of people. They love what they do and they’re putting a lot into the game. You would never question their mental toughness, absolutely no way.”

Scotland go into their final game of the campaign against Ireland in Dublin this weekend knowing that they could yet finish in any position between first and fifth. It would take a highly improbable set of results for them to clinch the title: Scotland would need to beat the Irish by 39 points, deny them a bonus point and hope England don’t get a bonus-point win over France. A more realistic target is the Triple Crown which would be Edinburgh-bound for the first time since 1990 if Scotland win at the Aviva.

The Scots last won in Dublin in 2010 and are facing an Irish team stinging from their shock loss to England at the weekend. They proved far too strong for Scotland at last autumn’s World Cup and Tandy expects a hugely physical encounter.

“Ireland are an unbelievable team,” said the coach. “Grand Slam last year and it’s taken a last gasp drop goal [by England] for them to actually lose. They were outstanding at the World Cup, they gave us a good lesson. Ultimately we’ve got to park Italy and focus on the performance we need to put in. We know it’s going to be an absolutely physical encounter and Ireland will be raring to go after the back of their first defeat in a long time. We know the task we’re undertaking and we know the focus and mentality we’re going to need on Saturday.”

Tandy said there had been “a hard-hitting review” into the Italy defeat which had identified lapses which allowed the hosts to score three tries as Scotland conceded a string of penalties. “Back-field, we lacked a bit of concentration,” he said. “They [the tries] do look soft.” But he denied that it was part of a recurring problem. I don’t think it’s regular for us that the wheels come off,” Tandy said. “We’re playing good teams who are going to control momentum for a long period of time ... I believe we can get better.”