There’s green shoots of life and a bounteous future coming for Scotland after their victory over Wales in Wales for the first time in eighteen years took them to four wins on the trot and completed what was a peculiar Six Nations campaign.
That peculiarity manifested itself in a number of ways including trying conditions (two matches – England and Wales – were almost written off being played in gale force winds), the Russell/Townsend affair (which, by the buoyancy of the camp now, I’m starting to think was just a figment of my imagination), and of course the ‘C word’.
Scotland came through the fractured Six Nations 2020 campaign finishing fourth, level on points with Ireland and six points ahead of Wales, matching their best tally in the new scoring system since 2017.
-Match report: Scotland defeat Wales in Wales in final 2020 Six Nations match
Shoots of progress
It’s not like the Scots to get carried away when their team starts winning having endured a rather disappointing recent history in international rugby since the heydays of the Twentieth Century.
But there are encouraging signs.
Scotland have a good side now with nine of the selected fifteen versus Wales at Parc y Scarlets plying their trade at clubs which compete in the top tier of European club competition; the Champions Cup.
In Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg, Townsend has genuine world class talent and Adam Hastings has made the step up to international rugby look like no step at all.
Can Townsend come up with a system where Russell and Hastings play together? Both are fly-halves who like to dictate the course of the game.
You’d think the solution could be Hastings at twelve with Russell orchestrating at ten.
Hastings has proven himself not only to be a great playmaker, but he’s a strong tackler too and his kicking ability could be a valuable asset compared to the sometimes erratic Russell.
The other big thing to come out of this Six Nations is Scotland’s defence, which has made massive strides under Welsh defensive co-ordinator Steve Tandy.
Whilst the Scots average points scored in this Six Nations was the sixth lowest in twenty years, their average points conceded is top – 11.8 points conceded a match – beating the previous record set this century by close to five points – 16.2.
The Scots are almost letting in a try less a game.
This could be the real key to propelling Scotland to the heights they reached when Townsend wasn’t orchestrating his magic off the field, but on it.
The Autumn Nations Cup
Scotland’s next challenge.
A new tournament hastily assembled largely due to travel restrictions.
The usual tests of metal for the home nations against the Southern Hemisphere boys of Australia, South Africa and New Zealand will have to be postponed till next season.
In the Autumn Nations Cup, teams are split into two groups:
Group A: England, Ireland, Wales, Georgia
Group B: France, Scotland, Italy, Fuji
Each team plays each other once in the group and then first, second, third and fourth places play the corresponding first, second, third and fourth places in the other group in a ‘finals weekend’.
Scotland will play their home matches at Murrayfield, whilst not all the away venues have been confirmed.
Harry Jamshid Reporter Sports Pages 