FORGET the Olympian ideal - all that: "The glory is not in winning but in having taken part" guff. In professional sport, even at international level, which is supposedly: "War without the bullets", it's all about winning - except we poor misguided writers like to harp on about how we played the game.
Sure, Scotland won ugly, but SCOTLAND WON, and it has been nearly a year since we have been able to write that.Traditionally, matches between Italy and Scotland are scruffy, scrappy affairs, error-ridden, with few moments of Prosecco, far-less champagne moments.
Last night's little effort in Turin was par for the course, but, we won and can move on a bit towards the World Cup.
I have always held that, we don't have enough international-class players, so, any time we go into a game missing a handful, we will struggle; and we struggled last night. Hardly surprising, but, let's not take the normal Scottish position of having the wind in our faces until we have seen our squad shoo-ins in action over the next two games.
So, who did I think played themselves into the World Cup 31, and who did their chances some harm?
Starting at the front - Gordy Reid and Alasdair Dickinson will be our two loose-heads. Until a head knock forced him off, Reid was coping really well with the Italian scrum - less well with JP Doyle's well-known inability to referee the scrums. A fit Jon Welsh will have the number three shirt, but, who backs him up is still a good question. Mike Cusack and WP Nel still have it all to do.
The three hookers will all go, but, in the second row, BVC has a big decision or two to make. I think Jim Hamilton needs to be put out to graze. With Grant Gilchrist and the Gray brothers all shoo-ins, it probably comes down to Rob Hartley's ability to cover all the back five positions, against Ben Toolis's athleticism, with Hartley favourite.
In the back row, I thought Hamish Watson made a real case for the number seven shirt when he was on the park last night, but, so too did John Hardie. Blair Cowan and Dave Denton will go, as will the still ineligible Josh Strauss. I would also take John Barclay, but, BVC might not. Decisions to be made there.
Assuming Laidlaw starts, I think Pyrgos has now leap-frogged SHC as number two, but, all three will go. Finn Russell is a shoo-in, but, I have a feeling Ruaridh Jackson might be number two at ten, because he can cover more positions than Dunky Weir, who has done nothing wrong.
A fit Mark Bennett will go in the centre, with Peter Horne, Richie Vernon and Matt Scott, while I thought Rory Hughes's Turin debut has put pressure on Tim Visser, and Sean Lamont will also go to move closer to his century of caps.
Tommy Seymour, Sean Maitland - who really needs a big game for us in one or both of the next two matches, and Stuart Hogg will all go.
So, I have filled 26 of my 31 shirts for the World Cup - we have one prop to find, two or three back five forwards and a couple of backs who can fill-in in a couple of positions.
There are still issues to be settled, we are in for an interesting week or two around the squad.
JP DOYLE, the Irishman turned Englishman who had the whistle in Turin, has long been an acquired taste. He has also, repeatedly, shown, he hasn't a clue about the scrum.
He did so again in Turin, repeatedly ignoring Italian malpractices to penalise Scotland, but, this is nothing new. The elite level referees nearly all seem to think Scotland - the land of Mighty Mouse, of Sandy Carmichael, Iain Milne, Hughie McLeod and Davie Rollo, David Sole and Jim Aitken has forgotten how to scrummage.
I don't quite know what we can do to change this opinion, other than to have a bloody good World Cup. Mind you, I still think John Humphries, our Welsh scrum coach, isn't up to the job.
Mark Dodson should maybe take a trip down to Melrose and ask Jim Telfer who he thinks we should be recruiting to sort out our forwards. Because, it isn't all about the front row.
Also, John Jeffery should maybe start sorting out the elite level of referees, after all, he does chair the IRB's refereeing commission.
When, less than a month out from a World Cup, a game is still suffering from uneven refereeing interpretations in laws covering some key areas of the game, then that game has a big problem.
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