VERN Cotter gives little away, and it was therefore no surprise to learn that he was not being carried away by Scotland’s 16-12 victory against Italy. After six defeats on the bounce there must have been a certain relief about returning to winning windows, but the priority for the head coach is to accept the positives - and then ensure that they are built on in the coming week before the Italians come to Murrayfield.
“It was a hard, physical game, and we made it hard on ourselves up to the hour mark,” Cotter said. “We found a way to win, and I think that’s important.
“Italy are a tough team, very physical. I think the guys put in a reasonable performance - not a perfect one by any means. It could have gone either way.”
While Scotland had to show strength of character to fight back for the win after going behind - and after being second best in many departments of the game - superior fitness no doubt also played a part against a team making their first outing of the pre-World Cup campaign. For that reason, Cotter was taking nothing for granted, being aware that there is little point in celebrating the progress represented by this result if it evaporates next week when a resurgent Italy arrive in Edinburgh.
“Character played a part,” Cotter continued. “Italy were very strong and direct, and they tested our one-on-one defence. As soon as we stopped giving away penalties we improved.”
Five Scots made their debuts, including John Hardie, who has been the subject of intense scrutiny since arriving from New Zealand, particularly as he has not played a competitive match in the Northern Hemisphere and has yet to sign a contract with any club for next season. The performance put in by the openside before he had to limp off certainly vindicated his coach’s faith in him, but Cotter, again characteristically, was sparing in his praise of the individual, preferring to emphasise team virtues.
“John had a presence on the paddock. We’ll have a look at him in the next day or two [before assessing his chances of playing in the return match]. We’re happy to have a team performance that enabled us to get that win.”
Alasdair Strokosch, named captain late on after Grant Gilchrist withdrew through injury, said the team had managed not to be affected by that late change, which also saw Jim Hamilton brought into the starting line-up at short notice. “We made a point of sweeping it aside and sticking to the job we had to do,” Strokosch said. “I’m very proud of their character.”
Jacques Brunel, Cotter’s Italian counterpart, was relatively pleased with his team’s performance, particularly bearing in mind that this was their first pre-World Cup outing after two months in training camp. “Our first objective was to understand where the team is in terms of strength and conditioning,” the Frenchman said.
“It’s disappointing to lose a match in which we probably had 60 or 70 per cent possession.”
Brunel clearly hopes that after another week of training, his team will be able to turn that superior possession into a greater number of points. His captain, Willem Geldenhuys, made that point succinctly. “We were very close today, and hopefully next week we can turn it round,” Geldenhuys said.
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