6N Countdown: TOL's Team-By-Team Guide Part 3 – Scotland … according to 'the club stalwart'
Yesterday at 07:21 AM
IN a quest to really get under the skin of the six competing teams, to understand their strengths and weakness, what drives them and what particular challenges they will face in this championship, Iain Morrison has spoken to six individuals with a unique insight to the country they have, through one route or another, come to call home.
Bob McKillop has been coaching in Scottish club rugby for almost 30 years. He also coaches the Edinburgh Inter-District Championship side while advising Dollar Academy. Bob won the Premiership title with Heriots in 2009 after finishing runners-up one year earlier. He coaches various Caley age-grade teams, he was coach of the first ever Scotland Club International XV, he helped coach Scotland Under-20s and he was unbeaten as head coach of Scotland Under-19s, including a win over France.
Scotland
1. If not now, when?
“If only you’d asked me a week ago but every team will face injuries so I think the question is: ‘If not now, why not?’ We have an experienced and settled coaching team and a relatively settled squad with a good mix of youth and experience. I also believe games at this level are often decided by X-factor players doing X-factor things, and Scotland have a group of backs who are all capable of having X-factor moments. So we have everything that we need to win the competition, so why not? For all teams in the Six Nations, momentum is key and we have the chance to get off to a very good start with two home games. The specific challenge for Scotland has been to keep that momentum going through the whole championship. Wouldn’t it be fantastic for Scottish rugby to be heading to a ‘grand final’ shoot out with France in Paris on 15th March?”
2. Sione is a loss but this Scotland coach has options be it Cam Redpath (currently injured), Stafford McDowell or Tom Jordan. Perhaps it's his leadership Scotland will miss most?
‘There is no doubt that we will miss Sione Tuipolotu as a player. I think he is the best 12 in the world right now. I also think he is the key ‘middleman’ in the best midfield combination Scotland have had since 1999 when Gregor Townsend, John Leslie and Alan Tait ripped the tournament up. Like Leslie, I think he brings out the best in the guys around him. So yes, we will miss him as an individual, but we will also miss the game-breaking combination in midfield which is a real point of difference for us.
“I would like to think there’s enough experience within the squad to fill any leadership void. In most elite teams nowadays leadership is fairly devolved. But as you’ve said, we have three potential replacements who all bring different attributes. Hopefully Cam Redpath recovers from injury to feature later in the tournament. Personally, I would love to see Tom Jordan given a run at 12. Ever since he came into the Glasgow squad he’s really impressed me, he’s obviously very talented but his work-rate and physicality are superb, when Glasgow won the URC last season I saw him as a real ‘leader’.
“Every team has lost a key player before the tournament, and sadly will probably lose others during the tournament, that’s the nature of the beast nowadays, so squad depth will be key, which is where I think France have the upper hand.”
3. Did you ever think you would witness the era when Scotland has won or retained the Calcutta Cup in six out of the last seven years?
“Having grown up watching Calcutta Cup games in the 70s and 80s, the recent successes have been a pleasant change. Aside from the results, I think it’s the way we’ve won that has been so great – obviously some superb long-range tries, but also some real physical and mental resilience, the confidence to work our way upfield playing some fairly expansive rugby to get the winning score at Twickenham two years ago was accurate and very brave. Where we look settled on and off the pitch, England look the opposite, but I think that makes it hard to predict how they will perform, they are always capable of at least one very big Twickenham performance. Let’s hope it's against France!”
4. Ireland has long been Gregor Townsend’s bogey team, what do they need to do to beat the world’s second best side on the second weekend?
“Consistency throughout the tournament has been a challenge for us in recent years – I think against Ireland it’s about being consistent from minute to minute in that specific game. Our defensive effort in Dublin last year was excellent, but one missed line-out probably cost us the game. So we need to match them physically and emotionally but also maintain our focus for every minute of the game. Ireland, similar to England, are in a bit of a state of flux with Simon Easterby taking over as coach, and a new 10, likely Sam Prendergast, taking over on field directions. There’s speculation they may have peaked as a group, but I also wonder if their pod system is so widely used now that it’s not the innovative weapon it used to be. The large Leinster contingent gives them a settled and experienced core but the changes do add another piece of uncertainty to the tournament.”
5. Is there any left-field choice in particular you would like to see in the Scotland XV to face Italy?
“As I said I think our squad is relatively settled, and there’s probably quite a high level of agreement on what our best XV is right now, so the chances of a left-field surprise are probably lower than in the past. I also think Italy cannot be taken lightly and will be looking to start the tournament with a bang. As I said earlier, I would love to see Tom Jordan start at 12 but that may be as left-field as it gets. If injury hadn’t intervened I think this could have been a breakthrough tournament for Max Williamson.”
6. Is there anyone in the club game that you think could make the step up to Test match rugby if given the chance? Darcy Graham played plenty of times for Hawick!
“I think the gap between the club game and the international game is now so huge that we are unlikely to see the surprise ‘late developers’ come through … and I definitely don’t want to reopen the Super Series debate! So the focus is really on the young talents, who are usually already in the system. I’d be surprised if Ollie Blythe-Lafferty doesn’t boost our fairly thin tight-head resources soon. I am biased, but Henry Kesterton, the 17-year-old Heriots' school boy who is playing in the centre for us in the Premiership has a big future and it will be great to see how far he can go. I should say that everyone at Heriots is thrilled to see Jack Mann, who played for us in the Super Series, named in the full squad. He’s had a hellish run of injuries, but has been great for Glasgow this season.”
7. How to you rate the Scotland pack?
“The highlight of the autumn for me was the performance against the Springboks, whilst we didn’t win, the physicality we showed was a whole new level for a Scotland team. If we can replicate that we will be a handful for every team in the Six Nations, but to do that I think we need our starting pack to all be fit. I think Max Williamson is a loss as he is big but also very dynamic, and you have to feel sorry for Scott Cummings to be injured just before the tournament. So I think we need to be lucky with injuries in the pack from now on, especially at tight-head!”
8. Is this the best set of Scotland backs ever?
“I’m not sure about the ‘goat’ tag but they are bloody good as a collective unit. It was surprising listening to podcasts over Christmas of experts selecting their Lions XV for the summer. When was the last time commentators from other home countries were naming four or five Scottish backs in the Lions starting XV? I have no doubt we will add some top class scores to the highlights reel over the next few weeks.”
9. Rate the teams from one to six as you expect them to finish please?
France … have the best half-backs in the world and amazing squad depth, plus the form of Toulouse and Bordeaux in Europe.
Scotland…why not a Grand Slam decider in Paris come March 15th?
Ireland
England
Italy
Wales
Scotland start their Six Nations campaign at home against Italy on Saturday afternoon, kick-off time 2.15pm, live on BBC.
- You can book your Six Nations hospitality and VIP tickets with Seat Unique HERE, an Official Hospitality Partner of The Murrayfield Experience
6N countdown: TOL’s team-by-team guide: No 1 – France … according to ‘the ex-pro turned top pundit’
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