Disaster For Scotland - Again

LIKE EVERYONE else in Scottish Rugby, I am as sick as the proverbial parrot at how events unfolded at Murrayfield yesterday.

But, I've had longer experience of Scotland marching us to the top of the hill and straight back down again, our sporting history is littered with instances where we have risen to the heights in one game, then bombed badly in the next. They never tell us it will go thus, as we first sign-up for the Tartan Army, but, we learn quickly.

We may speak of: “The Luck of the Irish,” but, as the Guinness Six Nations 2021 unfolds, that old cliché is starting to look more and more like: “The Luck of the Welsh.”

Wayne Pivac's side is a limited one; they fall a long way short of the great entertaining sides of the past. Sure, they have one or two special players, but, in all honesty, they are not that good. Yet, there they sit two wins from two starts, both victories aided by playing a good portion of either match against 14-men.

I was convinced in Week One, had Peter O'Mahony stayed on the park, Ireland would have won. I am even more convinced, had Zander Fagerson stayed on the park yesterday, we too would have won.

Of course, what POM and Zander failed to do in the games was, obey Jock Stein's First Law of Game Management - “Don't give the referee a chance to intervene and hurt you.”

Basically – keep the heid, don't make daft choices, and have individual and collective TEAM DISCIPLINE. For all the good things Scotland did yesterday – they didn't do this basic at all well.

However, increasingly, in rugby today, we are seeing referees and referees' interpretations of the Laws, coming into play. Look at the two red card incidents: even at normal speed, POM's foul was – under the instructions to referees, to cut-out blows to the head – was a straight red card, every time.

The Zander incident was less clear-cut. In 'real time' it didn't look that bad, and, received wisdom among the commentators was of a sympathy for Fagerson, which was absolutely absent from O'Mahony.

There is a wide-spread belief that referees are loathe to brandish their red card and will generally bend over backwards to avoid so-doing. Look at the other contentious issue yesterday – the one when Leigh Halfpenny took out an airborne Darcy Graham – and escaped without even a yellow card.

I can hark back to a previous Scotland v Wales clash, when in a near-identical incident Geoff Cross was red carded while flat on his back on a stretcher, following what I still maintain was a Mai Tobi Geri (a flying front kick in karate) from Lee Byrne.

We want consistent refereeing – and we are not getting this - Chairman Jeffrey – wearing your World Rugby hat, please note.

One suggestion, which I have seen put forward widely on social media is – that after the standard ten minutes in the sin bin following a card, a red-carded player can be replaced. I could live with this, certainly at the top end of the game, where what should be spectacles of good rugby are being ruined by red cards.

Forty per cent of this season's 6N games have already been ruined by cards, this is bad for the game. I still maintain too, the quicker we get back to old-style rucking, where the ball has to first be played by a foot, then the quicker we will stamp out both these red-card incidents and also, as happened to England's Jack Willia at Twickenham yesterday, instances where a player in the vulnerable “Jackal position” is badly hurt.

With old-fashioned rucking, those front five players, loitering as road blocks in midfield, would need to get into the rucks, which would create space in midfield. This, with the faster ball provided by over the ball and heel back rucking, would speed up the game, and hopefully provide more running rugby and tries.

However, for some reason, the game's high heid yins, such as Jeffrey, seem reluctant to do the obvious and BRING BACK RUCKING.

OKAY – that's the greetin' done with. I have played the poor old Scotland card. This, however, cannot cover the facts, our Red Zone Conversion Rate in our first two games has not been good enough. |We are dominating possession, but failing to convert pressure into points.

I am confident Gregor Townsend is well aware of this failing. We have the best attacking fly half in world rugby, and the best attacking full back. We have two wingers who are as good as any when it comes to knowing where the try line, and how to get over it. But, we are just not getting pay-off for this talent.

Up front, we do not seem to have either the bulky ball carriers who can smash through defensive walls from close range, or the split second decision-making to get us over when pressing. Hard work on the training field might sort this out, but, sort it out we must.

We are not far away from going from a good team to a very-good one, but, it's those last, crucial tiny steps of progress which are the hardest to do.

I am not going into Private Fraser mode just yet.

FINALLY, while I have seen him have better games, I thought Mikey Adamson had a reasonably good game at Twickenham on Saturday. I marked him down for not marching that twat Farrell back ten metres, after England's golden child rushed up to get involved in a spot of hand-bags, then spat the dummy when Mikey pulled him up for it.

England must be a nightmare to referee. Spoiled children, used to dealing with poor referees like Matthew Carley on a weekly basis, and with the English bug of entitlement.

Mikey did ok overall, if there is any justice, Saturday will not be his last 6N match.

Mind you, my dream 6N officiating team would be Sara Cox, Hollie Davidson and Joy Neville – that trio of ladies would quickly sort out the boys when they threatened to get out of hand.