THERE was a time when Scotland would need to rely on a lucky break or an opposition mistake to win against more highly-rated teams. Not any more. In last week’s Six Nations Championship opener against Ireland they proved they can now prevail thanks to their own virtues, and this afternoon against France they will aim to provide further evidence of how much they have improved over the past year or so.
They know there will be times when they are on the back foot. They know that the French, having lost to England lost week, will be desperate to assert what they believe is their own superiority over Scotland. But they also know that, from Jonny Gray in the thick of things up front to Stuart Hogg at full-back, they have match-winners throughout the team.
“We expect an open game with a lot of advantage being played by the referee, who likes to play that way, with a lot of long passages of play for both teams,” Scotland assistant coach Jason O’Halloran said yesterday. “We’re a long way from where we were a year ago, losing to England and playing poorly.
“We want to be in control of our destiny. We want to construct tries with the quality of our attacking game. We want to beat France with them at their best.”
That last sentence is a cameo illustration of how much Scotland have got better, and of how their mindset has changed as a result. They have gone into too many games thinking - probably rightly - that their best chance of a win would come if the opposition had an off day. They are ready now, instead, to welcome opponents who are on fire - in the confidence that they have the game to extinguish them.
Not that O’Halloran or anyone else in the camp thinks that France, at their best or not, will be pushovers. If anything, it may be the French who hope that they can do exactly that against Scotland: they have certainly picked just about the bulkiest side possible, one designed to steamroller the visitors into submission.
The response to that? Defend with accuracy, aggression and organisation, of course, but also ensure there is not too much defending, by using possession wisely and patiently. There may be little or nothing between the teams when it comes to fitness, but the team that has to do most chasing will surely tire first - especially if that team contains a lot of big men who are not used to tearing around the field at speed.
“If we’re having to make a lot of tackles it will sap you come the end of it,” O’Halloran added. “Off the back of 240 last week [in the 27-22 win over Ireland] we don’t want to make anywhere near that number this week.
“We want to go through 10, 12, 14 phases, and then look for the space. We can’t be too reckless. We’re not panicking as soon in attack now and not relying so much on Greig [Laidlaw] and Finn [Russell] to drive the game. There are guys out wide who are giving us key communication of where the ball has to get to.
“We’re promoting a positive branch of rugby that we feel can get results against the best teams in the world. I’ve worked on skills set to make sure we get our systems correct so they challenge the defence and make them think rather than run into them. The key to unleashing the backline is front-foot, quick ball recycled from rucks.
“We have to match the physicality of the French pack and make sure our set piece is solid. We also have to make sure the French back three don’t get the ball on the front foot, and kick accurately to put them under pressure. If France are still in it with 10 minutes to go it will be a hell of a challenge here in front of 80,000 people.”
Ideally, France will be out of it by that time. But Ireland were very much still in it with 10 to go last week, and we all know what happened then.
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