Six Nations: Pundits view on Scotland’s Sunday scrape through

Here we are midweek already and looking forward to the coming weekend’s rugby. Most of the attention up north is due to be focussed on the RaboDirect Pro12 and the Aviva Premiership as there is yet another break in the RBS 6 Nations tournament. Last weekend’s rugby may now be a distant memory but felt it would be interesting to share the views of two former international players of the action between Scotland and Ireland.

These players both represented Scotland and currently contribute towards columns on the national broadcaster’s website. The first piece is from a man who has retired very recently from international rugby, scrumhalf Mike Blair. The second piece is from a man who last played international rugby about 30 years, eighth man John Beattie. John is the father of current Scotland number eight Johnnie Beattie.

Mike Blair’s contributions may be very interesting as he seems to have a sharp analytical mind and is still actively involved in club rugby in France. John Beattie is doing well as a radio show host and manages to pen some insightful columns and one senses that he still has a lot of that passion for the game as he had all those years ago.

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bbc – Mike Blair

There are many ways to win a Test match.

The main talking point has been the statistics from Scotland’s 12-8 win over Ireland.

Possession, territory and amount of tackles made by each team all weigh heavily in Ireland’s favour. Key facets of the game, undoubtedly, and as a consequence the Scottish win went down as a “great escape”.

My first attempt at this article literally gave me a headache as I was analysing the official Scotland team match statistics put together by Rob Holdsworth. There is no point. It doesn’t make sense. I’m going to say what I saw instead.

At half-time Scotland had absolutely no right to be within 15 points of the Irish – but they were and clear-cut opportunities went begging. Sure, bemoan the clinical edge of the Irish but also remember the scramble defence of the Scots.

It must have been demoralising and frustrating for the Irish to have only gone into the changing room 3-0 up.

Scotland were playing a sensible game in the wet conditions and didn’t become frustrated by the lack of possession and start playing from deep. Laidlaw did the majority of kicking, a clever array of short chips, noticing the Irish backfield coverage was very deep, mixed with contestable box kicks and pressure-relieving touch finders.

In defence, something that caught the eye was the “one-man spot blitz”. Sean Lamont and Sean Maitland both performed this a couple of times with success.

Basically, it is when a wider defender accelerates a bit quicker than those inside him in an attempt to get in the opposition ball player’s eye-line. He is effectively trying to “spook” the opposition into not throwing the wider pass and forcing him back inside where the safe haven of the stronger inside defence wait.

Against a young 10 [Paddy Jackson] in wet conditions, short on confidence after an early dropped ball, it worked perfectly. The same two players pulled off a miraculous tackle on Brian O’Driscoll on the eighth minute of the game too.

It’s moments like these that have such a bearing on a Test match result. Concede early and confidence drops. Hang in and belief builds.

OK, I’ve caved in – here is a statistic, you have to concentrate! Of the 47 times that Scotland started with the ball they didn’t play past two phases 36 times. They kicked early in their sets and looked to pressurise the Irish through their kick chase, breakdown work and spot blitz.

Ireland surprisingly only started with the ball 42 times but they chose to play a multiphase game, 17 times putting together three phases or more (on four occasions putting together more than 11 phases).

This explains the possession statistics. Scotland were  happier to part with the ball than their opponents. There is no hiding that of course they would want more possession but as half backs you play the cards you are dealt and they played the conditions sensibly.

The fact that Scotland lost the ball 11 times in the first two phases maybe suggests they weren’t comfortable taking the risk of playing as turnover ball is a terrific attacking source. Accuracy in these first few phases must be improved as you won’t win all your games with 29% of the ball.

The line-out functioned well, especially defensively. You could see Jim Hamilton, who had a strong game, moving up and down the line-out trying to pre-empt where the ball was going to be thrown to and this certainly disrupted the Irish.

The scrum was very solid too, even when Ryan Grant was off the pitch with the yellow card.

I have taken tap penalties many times, been smashed after three or four metres and rarely has a yellow card been given. I don’t know if Grant actually touched Murray and yet a potential game-changing yellow was awarded.

Players just want consistency from referees across the board but that’s a discussion for another day…

Matt Taylor, Scotland’s defence coach, will be pleased with the forwards’ efforts, making 84 of their 89 tackles but will be concerned with the backs only completing 39 of their 56 attempts.

They can ill-afford making the same errors against the likes of Roberts, North and Cuthbert in two weeks’ time.

There are certainly things to work on but Scott Johnson will be delighted that this will be done on the back of a second successive win. The difference between winning and losing is marginal and often comes down to little things but the impact of a winning culture is huge.

Keep winning and no-one is too bothered about how it’s done and if Johnson’s team can keep building on their foundations in defence, set-piece work, goal kicking and desire then a win against Wales is not out of reach.

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bbc – John Beattie

The phrase that springs to mind after Scotland’s remarkable 12-8 win over Ireland is that one about statistics being like a bikini.

At the start of the month, before Scotland journeyed south to Twickenham to play England in their Six Nations opener, interim Scotland head coach scoffed at the record books.

Scotland had not beaten England on their own turf in 30 years. Indeed, they had won there only four times in a century.

“Statistics are a bit like bikinis – it shows a lot but not the whole thing,” Johnson had quipped.  “The reality is you can take what you want from statistics. “We’re here to make our own future and create our own history.”

Before I pore over Scotland’s amazing Six Nations win over Ireland at Murrayfield on Sunday, there was another stat to mark.

I’d been asked to present lock Al Kellock with his special commemorative jersey for winning his 50th Scotland cap in the changing room after the match, which I’d attended as a punter.

My speech was prepared.  In my head I was going to talk about the 1,000 or so men who had represented Scotland since 1871. I’d mention that around 300 might still be alive, and how proud they would have been of him and of watching the team win. Then there was a bit about him being a Glasgow boy and then I’d give him his jersey.

Team manager Gav Scott gave me the jersey outside the changing room door, and I mentioned to him that I was pretty tired and might cry. He said with a smile: “It’s best if you cry…”

So I was ushered in, feeling completely ill-at-ease to be back in an international dressing room nearly 30 years since the last time, and saw all the players smiling.

I garbled the words “three hundred”, thrust the jersey into Kellock’s arms, burst into tears, and ran out the room.

Utterly pathetic.

Anyway…my view of the game was pretty simple. Part of Scotland’s win was down to Ireland blowing the match as their side didn’t, as the cliche goes, “keep the scoreboard ticking over”.

They may have enjoyed 71% of possession, but they lacked a reliable kicker.

Rugby has a few fundamentals. Scrummaging helps you win games, line-outs help you win games, and kicking your points wins more games than anything else.

Scotland did well in the scrums with Geoff Cross posing a selection problem, they disrupted line-outs while securing most of their own and, unlike the Irish, slotted their easier kicks at goal.

Which is where I come back to statistics being like a bikini. You can have a thousand line-breaks, make a million ball-carries, and win all the ball, but unless you score points it’s all completely meaningless.

Of course it’s more likely that you win if you do all that, but it doesn’t mean you come out on top.

And that’s why scoring was invented. Originally the only way of scoring points in rugby was by kicking a “goal” which you were allowed to “try” to do after dotting the ball over the line. Hence, a try is a try.  You have to either get the ball over the line, or get it between the posts to win a game. Nothing else really matters.

All rugby players have taken part in a game where they have outscored the opposition in terms of tries, but the other team have a kicker who can kick from anywhere and you lose.

And my point, at the end of all this is this: are we now, as a media industry, bombarding viewers and listeners with meaningless statistics? You know, time in opposition half, ball-carries per person, tackles made, line-breaks and all the rest?

One piece of genius from one person who breaks through a line and scores, or one successful kick from the halfway line, must be as important as all the rest put together.

The only statistic that really matters, surely, is the final score.

Tell me, what did you think of the game?

Official Match Statistics

(provided by accenture)