IT IS often said that teams on losing runs have forgotten how to close out games. If that is true of Scotland after six defeats on the bounce, it is surely appropriate that, in Duncan Weir, they have recalled a player who remembers extremely well what it takes to win a match - and against Italy to boot.
Games between the two countries have tended to be claustrophobically close contests, and that was certainly the case in the 2014 Six Nations match in Rome. The Italians, who had been 13-3 up at half-time, were still hanging on with full-time approaching. Then up stepped Weir with a drop goal to give Scotland a dramatic 21-20 victory - their last to date in the championship.
The Glasgow Warriors stand-off missed much of last season through injury, and last week he was the only substitute not to be used in the match against Ireland. Yet, for all that he would rather have returned to the national team sooner, there is something appropriate about his doing it in this fixture, even if it is in Turin rather than the Italian capital.
“It’s nice to be back out here and playing again,” Weir said yesterday. “It helped me through injury periods just thinking of that day. I knew as soon as I hit it, it was going over.”
The late drop goal has always been a potent option in games against obdurate defences, but teams have been all the more aware of it since Jonny Wilkinson’s dramatic last-gasp winner for England against Australia in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final. “It’s something you have to do as a team when you’re behind in the closing seconds,” Weir continued. “You need a routine to go to.
“Possibly since that World Cup people have started building doing something like that into their structure and talking about it as a squad. We knew the structure, but it was Chris Cusiter’s pass that was on the money, because I was under a bit of heat, a bit of pressure. It was a quick transfer of the ball to ground and the rest was history.
“That Six Nations was a tough campaign. The first run-out that year was similar to last week in that we played good rugby but just fell short, and then the following week was a disappointing defeat to England at home. It was key to bounce back after those two defeats and great to get that win, and it was a shame we didn’t back it up in the rest of the Six Nations. It was a great win and one that we all needed just to get back on the horse.”
Weir is part of a new half-back partnership today alongside Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, who is starting a Test for the first time. The Edinburgh scrum-half has a growing reputation for the incisiveness of his attacking bursts, but will probably have to bide his time and provide a lot of straightforward ball for Weir first. If today’s game is as tight as previous matches against the Italians, we can expect a fair amount of kicking for position from the No 10.
“It’s about getting the fine balance about when it’s on to play and when it’s on to put pressure on the opposition,” Weir said. “It’s going to be a good decision-making battle between me and Sammy over when we’re going to put pressure on. We’re an ambitious squad and have played some great rugby over the past couple of seasons, so it’s about getting the right balance between when to kick and when to go out and express ourselves by taking the spaces.”
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