So here we are again after the Guinness 6 Nations and not for the first time there is a general feeling that Scotland blew it. I never thought we would win the championship, and wrote that at the outset, but at the end I yet again have that feeling of what might have been.
If only Finn Russell had scored that conversion against England, if only we had played for 80 minutes against France, if only we had turned up against Ireland, if only we had not suffered from the unconscious bias and incompetence of officials…if only.
The fact is that Scotland COULD have won the title but to put it bluntly, our players and coaches just made too many mistakes, and in reality any chance of mounting a bigger challenge disappeared when Sione Tuipulotu and Scott Cummings pulled out injured before a ball was even kicked.
To lose your captain and your best second-rower was insurmountable and the eventual 23s showed that while Scotland do have strength in depth, we need to have our best players available and fit at all times.
Selection-wise, head coach Gregor Townsend should have gone with Gregor Brown from the outset and the Glasgow Warrior must surely be a shoo-in come the Autumn tests, though whether that’s in the second or back row is still to be decided. Otherwise, Townsend had little choice but to stick with tried and tested players and tactics, and the lack of variation in the latter was obvious – we know how Scotland are going to play, and so does everybody else.
You have to say that for entertainment value and attacking style, Scotland’s backs are up with the best. The other nations, however, have twigged that Scotland’s main threat is out wide and it was noticeable that Duhan van der Merwe was always under the attention of two and three players at a time, but as I thought might happen, that left Blair Kinghorn in particular the chance to strike – and yes, he was my Scottish player of the tournament with Huw Jones a close runner-up.
Alongside Jones, I thought Tom Jordan filled in very well in the centre, and it will be really interesting to see where he plays for Bristol Bears, but Kinghorn has the No.15 jersey for good. The fact that he is one of four nominees for the Player of the Tournament gong shows that the move to Toulouse has upped Kinghorn into a new stratosphere as a player.
France and Ireland, however, exposed the real issue that Scotland has – when confronted with a big, muscular and skilful pack, Scotland’s forwards are just not up to the task. Oh, sure they are committed and mostly competitive, but they lack the sheer power of the French and the nous of the Irish, and while their scrummaging and line-out play was adequate, they allowed themselves to be dominated in the loose too often. We urgently need to find big forwards who can carry the ball with menace and compete on the ground.
There will now be the post-tournament analysis and this time it will be carried out by performance director David Nocifura. He might even have finished it already. I’d like to be a fly on the wall when he delivers his report to the blazerati at Murrayfield, but there’s no chance that the media or the people who pay the wages, the Scottish fans, will ever get to hear the verdict or any recommendations that Nucifora makes. I would love to be proved wrong, but it ain’t going to happen.
Other points to ponder: how did Ireland lose the championship that was theirs for the taking? A Triple Crown is no consolation to a side that will now have to be rejigged given the retirements of Cian Healy, Peter O’Mahony and Conor Murray. It might take them a season to adjust and the question of whether their best No. 10 is Sam Prendergast or Jack Crowley needs to be answered soon.
In truth, however, Ireland didn’t lose so much as France won, and apart from a few minutes of madness against England, the French were by far the best squad with the brilliant Louis Bielle-Biarrey my pick as player of the Guinness 6 Nations.
England showed – especially against Wales – that they are France-lite in the way they play but they have several good new players, and in Fin Smith they have an exciting fly-half who can be the best since Jonny Wilkinson.
Italy showed again that they are a threat to anyone on their game, but Wales were just dreadfully poor and will take at least another season to improve.
I’ll give my thoughts next week on the officiating and the need for rule changes, but the championship overall was exciting and memorable, and the best news of all is that it will continue to be shown on free-to-air television for the foreseeable future.
