Scotland have been offered a blunt piece of advice by their former national coach after the deflating Six Nations defeat by Wales, with Matt Williams telling them to ‘shut up’ because ‘they’re making fools of themselves’.
A 20-17 victory over England in round one engendered a mood of optimism north of Hadrian’s Wall but Gregor Townsend’s team failed to back it up as they fell to Dan Biggar and Co at the Principality Stadium.
Read more: The latest Six Nations headlines are here
Now Williams, who coached Scotland for two years up to June 2005, has told the class of 2022 in no uncertain terms what they have to do to go forward. “I think the talk about it being their year was coming from the Scotland camp again. They’ve just got to shut up,” Williams said.
“Until they actually act out and live their talk they’ve got to shut up, because they’re making fools of themselves. They’ve done this about four years in a row; they win a couple of biggies and the next week they lose.
“Each time they come out and say, ‘We’re going to win, this is us, we’re a great side.’ They’re not doing themselves any favours in the rugby world.
“They’ve just got to stop the talk, tone it down and live it. That’s my opinion.”
It has to be said the Australian didn’t have the most successful tenure as national coach, overseeing just three wins in 17 games, but he hasn’t been slow to criticise the boys in dark blue when he feels the occasion demands and he used an appearance on Virgin Sports in Ireland to unleash both barrels after the 20-17 Wales setback.
Wayne Pivac’s side took the spoils after a spirited display in a game that saw the Scots fail to achieve dominance at either the scrum or the line-out. Scotland conceded 13 penalties, with seven of them coughed up by their front rowers, with the expected power of their props and hookers — there had been talk beforehand of the Scottish ‘bomb squad’, with Gregor Townsend changing his entire from row from the England game — not coming to much on the field of play.
On the same programme, ex-Ireland and Lions full-back Rob Kearney also waded in after the Scots’ failure to kick on after a notable success, saying: “They are so inconsistent.
“Then they will probably go and do another Scottish thing and potentially turn France over at Murrayfield, which is something that you wouldn’t bet against them.
“But they are just full of hot air a lot of times.
“They keep complaining ‘why we are not at the top table when everyone else is talking about potential winners — we should be there and we can beat anyone on our day’. Yeah, you can, but you never back it up.”
To get the latest rugby news and analysis delivered straight to your inbox, you can sign up for our Welsh rugby newsletter.
