It’s a very good time to be a supporter of Scotland’s men’s national team at the moment. Put it this way, if before the Guinness Six Nations someone had offered us victories over England and Wales with nine tries and some champagne rugby, we would have bitten off their hands for such an outcome.
At times on Saturday in the second half, Scotland played really scintillating stuff and Finn Russell showed just how he can orchestrate brilliance from his fellow backs. I am amazed more hasn’t been written about his resurgence as a player and as a man after the birth of his baby daughter, and as he told the press after Saturday’s game, he is getting on better with Gregor Townsend than ever before. And that’s another thing that wasn’t really highlighted – his offload out the back for Kyle Steyn’s first try reminded me instantly of the ‘Toonie Flip’, the offload perfected by Townsend which so memorably set up Gavin Hastings for the clinching try against France in 1995.
That Russell is copying Townsend’s classic offload move is a very good sign for Scotland, especially when Russell says, as he did on Saturday, that “offloads are the easy bit.” Easy? Well only if you have practised it ten thousand times.
Yet we shouldn’t get carried away. I hate to be curmudgeonly but the fact is that Wales were poor over the 80 minutes, though don’t forget they dominated possession in the first half and could have been leading at half-time if Rio Dyer hadn’t dropped that pass with the line in sight.
George Turner’s correct sin-binning was a bad error by an otherwise excellent player, and can somebody tell me why George North was allowed to continue when he was clearly showing the effects of that collision? The loss of Stuart Hogg might also have turned things against Scotland but Blair Kinghorn settled into the full-back role as if to the manner born, showing why his versatility is a vital asset for Scotland.
I have to conclude that if we play against France and Ireland the way we played against Wales in the first half, we will lose and lose heavily as they will not be as flagrantly inaccurate in attack as Wales were. Still, once Scotland hit their stride on Saturday they were as good as any side in the world at the moment, and yes, I include South Africa and the All Blacks in that assessment.
Let’s just enjoy it while we can, because obviously we are still to face massive tasks against France and Ireland. Their classic match at the weekend showed just why they are numbers one and two in the World Rugby rankings, though I have to admit I was a trifle disappointed that both sides indulged in a lot of safety-first play, and neither showed the creativity that Scotland did at Twickenham and in the second half at Murrayfield on Saturday.
This being Scotland, it wouldn’t be Scotland if there wasn’t an argument about something or other, and there has been a lot of sniping about the fact that Gregor Townsend has been prepared to play ‘foreigners’ in the squad. Criticism on social media from English and Irish fans just made me laugh – the Vunipolas and Bundee Aki, anyone? – but some Scottish fans also expressed misgivings, though not after the performances over the last fortnight of Duhan van der Merwe and Kyle Steyn in particular.
Others pointed out that the likes of Stuart Hogg, Finn Russell and Chris Harris have to ply their trade in England and France which means that – as is happening with Russell this coming weekend – they have to go back to their clubs during the Six Nations. I get that point but it is unfair to the players who as professionals with a short career must go where they can earn the best money.
As a young foot soldier in the football Tartan Army, I recall watching Scotland beat Wales and qualify for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. Of the 12 men on the pitch for Scotland that night, no fewer than nine played for English clubs, though to be fair Kenny Dalglish had only been transferred from Celtic to Liverpool – for a then British record fee – just two months previously. Alan Rough, Sandy Jardine and Tom Forsyth were the only ‘home-based’ Scots but I can assure you from personal experience, nobody doubted the intense Scottishness of that side, even during the disastrous World Cup campaign. There was even the thought that playing in England made the Scots better players because the level of competition there was so much higher.
The point is that the Scottish Rugby Union just cannot afford the wages of all the squad to play in Scotland, and our player resources are such that we need to have imports such as Jack Dempsey, and while it would be ideal for Finn Russell to play for Glasgow Warriors again, that’s not going to occur soon – and yes, I believe playing in France has made him a a better player, just as happened with a certain Gregor Townsend.
