Farewell To The Joy Of Six (Nations)

WELL – that was Super Saturday that was. Congratulations to France, on a well-deserved Grand Slam. Well done too to Italy on a brilliant finish, to get that no wins monkey off their back. Well done also to to Ireland, we were always playing second fiddle in Dublin.

My take on the tournament. It was mainly disappointing, with not a lot of champagne rugby played, but, maybe that's where the game is at at this moment. I don't think New Zealand and South Africa will be too worried about the threat from Europe as they look ahead to next year's Rugby World Cup.

France will be in the mix – provided weight of home team expectations does not get to them; they have a great team which I think can get better still. They are Europe's best bet for next year.

I wonder about Ireland, but fear they might be one of those teams who get their timing wrong. This year, they would be a real contender, but, by August next year, some of their key, experienced players might have be too far down the far slope of the hill.

It will be interesting to see how Saturday's win in Cardiff affects Italy. Theirs is a young team which will improve, but, maybe 2023 is a tournament too soon for them.

The other three teams: England, Scotland and Wales, I think have problems. If you watch the Gallagher Premiership, you know England has a lot of good players to choose from, but, maybe too many. Also, I feel Eddie Jones has maybe reached his replace-by date as their coach.

There is no consistency of selection, while, I fear some of their players are not nearly as good as their media cheerleaders would have us believe. They are getting a wee bit like English footballers. There is talent there, but, the sheer grind of their over-long league season plus the weight of expectation crushes them.

Wales and Scotland are, quite simply bad teams. I don't really care about Wales, so will say no more, but Scotland???

No question, we probably have greater depth than ever, very few of our players are automatic choices. Sadly, as we have seen this week, some of the “automatic choice” group appear to know this and are maybe taking liberties.

How the SRU reacts to the events of the past week will be interesting. I sense there is discord between players and managers and, when this situation exists, the usual answer is to sack the coach, since it is easier to get one coach than any number of players.

I recently read oor ain Gregor Paul's excellent biography of All Blacks coach Steve Hansen. The point Gregor hammered home was how Hansen made the players the custodians of the All Black allure. Peter Bills makes the same point in his book 'The Jersey.' The All Blacks' Head Coach is, naturally, the top man on the totem pole, but, whoever successfully holds that post, he always seems to carry the squad with him.

The ABs also have had, at least since the days of Wilson Whinerary, Colin Meads Brian Lochore and so forth, a leadership group culture. These guys set the standards and tone and you confirm or you're out.

We hear, there is a group within the current Scotland squad – The Big Dogs – who appear to set the standards, and theirs' is not a high one. This needs to be sorted out, before we embark on that aircraft bound for Argentina.

It's not a job for Toony, he's part of the problem. It's a job for the high heid yins in the SRU – the Council members and perhaps the past presidents. I don't have any confidence in the paid officials being the guys to sort things out – too many of them are not Scottish, but, sorted out it has to be.

We need to decide:

• Do we – this close to the Rugby World Cup – stick with Gregor Townsend, or do we twist?

• Do we still have time to recruit, appoint and get behind a new coach, if the decision is that Toony isn't the man?

• If we stick with Toony – is the entire squad on-board?

• If not – can the SRU be ruthless and cast-out the unwilling?

• Is Hoggy the best choice for captain?

• Can he, whether captain or not, re-discover the ability to pass, between now and the World Cup? Because right now, he's doing a Tartan impression of Mike Brown in his inability to finish-off great broken field running with a pass or offload.

• Whether Finn Russell? Is he to be our playmaker, talisman gallus genius, or does the champagne rugby 'Finntastic' produces for Racing 92 translate into 'Finnsanity' when he wears the thistle?

The most-obvious glaring failure with our current squad is – We give away too-many penalties. Our on-field discipline is shocking and definitely not international standard. This has to be addressed. The match-day squad split on Saturday was 15 Home Scots to 8 Anglo-Scots. Two-thirds of the squad are split between Edinburgh and Glasgow, therefore, they are under the day-to-day control of the SRU. Surely, as part of their work-load, they ought to be being trained to make the correct decisions, to understand what they can and cannot get away with on the park.

Set the expected standards for the Home Scots, then insist the Anglos get up to speed on what is wanted. Also, maybe we should be setting our standards higher.

The First Test of the Summer Tour to Argentina is three-months away, let's not waste these three months. We may not solve all our problems within that time frame, but, let's hope we can make progress. The Scotland team has problems, now is not the time to sweep them under the carpet in the Murrayfield board room.

FINALLY – as one of The Edinburgh Six, wee Darcy Graham has a bit of lost ground to make-up with the Tartan Army, I think he took a giant step towards this when he dumped Peter O'Mahony on his erse in Dublin. Sure, it was a penalty, but, that's one I was delighted to see us conceding. POM didn't like it one little bit, but, for me, on a weekend of several significant moments, this one stood out – admittedly for some wrong reasons. Nice one Darcy.