GRANT GILCHRIST believes the upcoming Six Nations is an opportunity to “right the wrongs” of last summer’s World Cup.
The Edinburgh was part of the Scotland squad that performed so disappointingly in Japan last year and having been included in Gregor Townsend’s Scotland squad for next month’s Six Nations, he is champing at the bit to make sure there are more positive performances than they displayed at last summer’s World Cup where defeat to both Ireland and Japan saw them eliminated in the group stages.
The disappointment for Gilchrist personally, and the squad as a whole, was intense following their return from the World Cup but he is confident that the team will put on a better show throughout the Six Nations, which begins with a visit to Dublin to face Ireland on the 1st of February.
“I just felt like everyone you’d let yourself down, and it wasn’t good enough,” he said of their efforts in Japan.
“If your form is good enough to get in the (Six Nations) squad, you should be feeling good about yourself.
“Whether Edinburgh or Glasgow, we’ve had a chance to get back, play well and if your form’s good enough and you’re selected then you should be in a great frame to crack on and right some wrongs in a Scotland jersey.
“My ambition, firstly, is to get in the team and when that opportunity arises, to do better than I did in Japan because I feel if we all do a bit better individually and collectively then we’re not a million miles away.”
Before Gilchrist gets back into international mode though, he has the not insignificant matter of helping Edinburgh reach the knock-out stages of the Challenge Cup.
This Saturday, Agen visit Murrayfield for the final European group-stage match of the season and if Edinburgh are to progress to the quarter-finals, they must defeat the French.
On paper, claiming the victory should be something of a formality with the French side languishing at the bottom of pool three having lost all five of their matches so far but Gilchrist insists there will be no hint of complacency from himself and his teammates come Saturday.
“It’s knockout rugby for us now in this tournament. We have to win, probably with a bonus point too. Agen haven’t been going well in the pool but Saturday is huge because this club wants to be in Challenge Cup quarter-finals,” he said.
“There always that danger [of complacency] when you play sides who haven’t been going well but for us this week we need to focus on the bigger picture.
“It’s a knockout game for us and we can’t just wander into it. If we lose we’re out.
“Secondly to leave going into the break in a good place. Win on Saturday and we’re in a great position to kick-on after the break, top of the conference and quarter-finals of Europe having had a really good performance at home.”
And Gilchrist, having been rested against Bordeaux last weekend, is feeling fresh and ready to go on Saturday.
“I’m well managed,” he said.
“I’m feeling game fit but it was nice at the weekend to have a break. I’m raring to go on Saturday and make sure I perform well for the team.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here