Craig Chalmers

THAT is a game that shows perfectly why Gregor Townsend was prepared to turn down big-money offers to coach abroad and take over Scotland. It has been obvious for some time that this is a squad that has something about it, who would not want to take them to the next level?

SO near, yet so far. By far the best performance against the All Blacks since 1990 in Auckland but, in the end, another heartbreaker and another in the long list of games where Scotland could have got that scalp they so desperately want – but didn't.

Scotland kicked off their Autumn Test campaign with a win over Samoa. But Craig Chalmers is concerned about the number of tries conceded ...

JOB done. Some people might have thought all Scotland needed to do was turn up and win, but there was a lot more to it than that. They had lost badly last week, and were battered and bruised against England, and results like that can take a lot of getting over.

TWICKENHAM has always been a hard place for a Scotland team to play but this was as bad an afternoon as I can remember in all the years I have experienced the stadium. A lot of people travelled in hope that Scotland might do something – me as well – so it was such a let-down.

SCOTLAND have a team capable of going to Twickenham and winning. That is the big takeaway from their performance against Wales at BT Murrayfield yesterday. It is a huge ask, but they showed they have the spirit, skills, physicality and ability to surprise the English at their own headquarters.

THE fact that there are no voluntary changes to the Scotland team for today’s game against France comes as no surprise given how well they played against Ireland. Ryan Wilson, who misses out because of an elbow infection, will be missed, but John Barclay is an able deputy and has skills that are exactly suited to what his team need to do today.

IT HAS been a long time since Scotland won their first game in the Six Nations Championship, and the effect of this 27-22 victory over Ireland could be massive. The squad will not get too carried away, but they have some momentum behind them now and will travel to Paris with their confidence high.

That first half was good, controlled and mostly accurate, apart from a few turn-overs and that’s what it needed to be against a Georgia side that was coming off a very good win against Samoa.

Last week I opened by saying that was a cracker of a match. This week it was great to get the win, but let’s just say it wasn’t as good to watch.