AN IMPROVEMENT. Not enough to beat Ireland, but maybe sufficient to give Scotland a chance at Twickenham.
So many thought on Saturday, after superior Irish experience and composure had kept the visiting side's Grand Slam hopes alive, and consigned Scotland to a third defeat in four matches. Then came yesterday's 34-10 win for England at home to France, a
nd the realisation that Scotland could have a serious fight on their hands even to remain competitive.
Granted, the Scottish defence is unlikely to spring leaks as early as the French did, and it is usually too well organised to leave two forwards manning the blindside against some of the fastest men on the pitch, as France did yesterday for England's first try, scored in the second minute. The mistakes, when they came against Ireland, were later in the game, the products of tiring minds and bodies rather than simple miscalculation.
Granted, too, the Scots scrum should be given more of an opportunity to impose themselves on Saturday than either side was allowed in London yesterday by a referee who could not produce order out of a chaotic set piece. And that, combined with a more well-drilled defence, should ensure that Frank Hadden's team are not beaten by the interval, as France were yesterday following their most calamitous first half since their match at home to Scotland in 1999.
But there should be no doubting that this resurgent England team is in the mood to end the Six Nations Championship on a high, and to do serious damage to their final opponents. To avoid such a fate, Scotland will probably have to make another significant improvement.
The trouble is, it is hard to see where that improvement could come from. Some of the mistakes on Saturday arose from a lack of self-belief, and you cannot conjure that quality out of nowhere. When you have lost three matches and won a fourth without playing too well, you cannot fool yourself into taking on the demeanour of world-beaters.
And even if there is a notable increase in morale, there remains the fact that this is simply not a great Scotland side. Hadden, right, deserves much of the criticism directed at him, and there is a need for a new man at the helm, but we should not pretend that this is an excellent team made mediocre by their head coach. Instead, the incumbent's main flaw in a nutshell is that he has been unable to get an average group of players to excel themselves.
Take the lack of a cutting edge in the team. Just as Hadden cannot take the credit for the natural verve which the Evans brothers bring to their rugby, so he cannot be blamed for the pedestrian nature of some of the other backs. We need a new coach, but we could also do with a stand-off and inside centre who constitute more of a threat when running directly at the opposition.
One school of thought suggests that what Scotland needs is an attack coach. However, given that both Hadden and backs coach Gregor Townsend already do some work in that department, we again have to question the ability of the current squad to replicate what they are coached to do in match situations.
Of course, with the final game of the season now just five days away, there is no time to unearth some quality replacements. Hadden and his colleagues will have to soldier on with what they have got, with any blooding of precocious talent waiting until a summer tour.
And, while there is always room for technical refinement and for such matters as working on defensive drills, the main work on the current squad between now and Saturday will have to be psychological. The players are down. They played their best game of the Six Nations against the Irish and were still found wanting – not just in terms of technique, but also mentally.
"Even though Ireland made a couple of mistakes, the passion and desire was still there," Thom Evans said after that match. "Obviously Ireland, going for the Grand Slam – their desire was just a bit more than we had in the second half, to be honest. You could see that in the way they were scrambling in defence."
Well, England, who have lost to Ireland and Wales, will not be going for the Grand Slam, or even for a share of the title. But you can safely bet that, far from treating the game as a meaningless end-of-season exhibition, they will want to win on Saturday, and will go all out to do so.
Will their desire be greater than Scotland's? There was a time in the history of the Calcutta Cup when such a question would be thought absurd, so badly did Scotland want to defeat their oldest rivals. Not any more.
The full article contains 830 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
