Year Of The Underdog, But, Not For You Scotland

TYPICALLY – 2016's status as: “The Year of the Underdog” did not stretch to allowing Scotland to win either Friday night's football international at Wembley, or Saturday's Rugby Union one at BT Murrayfield. But: “You're no getting it” is a familiar message to we Scots.

There was much to enthuse about in Saturday's game. I had grave doubts about Scotland's scrum, which, by and large were ill-founded. I must admit, the first time I saw Allan Dell in action, I thought the SRU had boobed in bringing him over from South Africa – he simply didn't impress me.

Fair's fair, however, the young man from the East Cape has come along in leaps and bounds. He might still be a wee bit light in terms of sheer poundage, but, he is clearly strong, very mobile and, in games against opponents who seek to play a mobile, off-loading game, rather than primarily play a somewhat static, forward-orientated “arm wrestle”, he will be an asset.

An old front five “donkey” like me tends to mourn the switch away from tight play to free-flowing running rugby; this is the way ahead, however, and, for such games, Dell will be an asset.

Zander Fagerson can also play in the open. We know he is very-much a work in progress and Saturday was another positive step along the way.

The other unknown in Saturday's team also had a South African connection. As an unashamed Mark Bennett fan, I was a wee bit dismayed to see Marko not required on Saturday, but, Huw Jones certainly grabbed his chance and will take a bit of moving. He and the always excellent Alex Dunbar certainly did well, and, when we consider we have Bennett, Duncan Taylor and Matt Scott to throw into the midfield mix, we are better-off in this area than we have been for many years.

In the final analysis, I feel, where we lost on Saturday was through the injuries to Ryan Wilson, then John Hardie – we simply had no further reinforcements to throw in. Perhaps we should be thinking of a 6-2 forwards/backs splits in future games, to offset the demands on today's forwards.

We would surely need to have a specialist scrum-half on the bench, but, could well get by with one other back. Greig Laidlaw can play at nine or ten, Peter Horne at stand-off or in the centre; Stuart Hogg can play just as effectively at 10, 12, or 13, as at 15. Sean Matiland can play in any of the back three positions.

Up front, Fraser Brown has shown, he can put-in an international-class shift at either hooker or open-side. Indeed, I wonder if there had been any way we could have got Ross Ford back on, with Brown at seven, after Hardie went off. It might have served us better.

So, to sum-up, we played well, but came-up just short. The trick now is to kick-on, beat Argentine and Georgia, avoid further injuries, then send Vern Cotter on his way with our best Six Nations performance of this century. I will not specifically ask for a Six Nations win, but, we are due one.

JUST one wee quibble about Saturday, and that concerns the BBC coverage. Do we really HAVE to have that tit-on-steroids John Inverdale foisted on us? He is now a bigger irritant than his dear friend Jeremy Guscott.

Gabby Logan is not everyone's cup of tea – for my money, in terms of female talking heads she falls a long way behind Clare Baldwin and oor ain Hazel Irvine – but, she is married to a Scottish hero.