DUNCAN Paterson, manager of Scotland's rugby team, and his fellow
selectors played a oneupmanship card yesterday by naming an unchanged XV
for the Royal Bank international against Wales at Murrayfield a week on
Saturday. Effectively, they said that their Scots, even in defeat in
Paris, were good enough to beat the only country left with a Grand Slam
chance.
After the announcement Paterson added flesh to the bare bones of the
statement of the XV, though he avoided going into the detailed anatomy
of how Scotland can turn defeat by France into victory over Wales. It
was enough that the Paris performance was heartening, even if the result
was disappointing.
''In my experience, as a player and official, we played as well as
we've ever done in Paris,'' the team manager suggested, echoing the
national view with good reason. His memories of playing internationals
in Paris -- when he was Gala's scrum half -- go back to 1971, the last
time Scotland were at the old Colombes stadium before the French Rugby
Federation moved to Parc des Princes.
Scotland have lost all 11 internationals played in Paris in that time.
Yet on Saturday the Scots played well enough to deserve to have won.
''We had set-piece control,'' the team manager remarked, ''and that's
very difficult in Paris.''
Paterson was also enthusiastic about how the current players have
developed as a squad. ''As senior players move on, responsibility
shifts, and that's coming,'' he explained.
It was a particularly edifying remark when less than a couple of
months ago he complained that players such as Paul Burnell, now
Scotland's longest-serving forward with 27 caps, had not assumed more
responsibility within the squad. The more senior players, it seems, have
now gathered round Gavin Hastings to support the new captain in a way
that satisfies the manager.
Paterson was, too, highly complimentary of how newcomers such as Derek
Stark and Andy Reed have adjusted to
the demands of international rugby. Stark, the Boroughmuir wing who
scored a debut try against Ireland last month, has been ''a
revelation,'' as has Reed, the Bath lock who has assumed the role of
Scotland's principal lineout source. ''We have the nucleus of a very
good team,'' Paterson claimed, ''as long as we learn.''
No one would deny that Scotland have to learn from the lessons of
Paris, not least the need to generate more regularly sharp possession
from breakdown ball. That, I am convinced, was the root cause of the
midfield backs' failure to exploit the pressure Scotland had in the
first 50 minutes in Paris.
It did not help the cause that Craig Chalmers and Graham Shield tended
to lie too flat, assuming the alignment that has besotted British rugby
since the Wallabies won the last World Cup. That Australian format
cannot work without fast possession, and Scotland had too little of that
in Paris.
Paterson also drew comfort from Scotland's excellent Murrayfield
record -- a source of pride.
Since the 1988 Australians' victory, Scotland have won 15 home
internationals and lost only two, both against England in successive
Murrayfield matches, first the World Cup semi-final in October, 1991,
and then the Calcutta Cup match in January last year. The last time
Scotland lost to Wales at Murrayfield was in 1985, before even the
currently longest-serving Scots, Gavin and Scott Hastings, had made
their international debuts.
With Scotland unchanged, Peter Wright, Boroughmuir's tight head, will
have another international as left prop. Even as third choice, he
thoroughly merits the chance after his Paris game, a performance that
marked him as one emerging in versatility.
Derek Turnbull, Hawick's blind-side wing forward, also remains despite
his cracked left pinkie. The injury will be assessed again when the
Scots meet for a Murrayfield practice on Sunday, though the medical
opinion is that the finger will have recovered by Saturday week even if
it has to be strapped to its neighbour.
Wales are to name their team today, and they have even more reason to
be unchanged after their 10-9 victory over England at Cardiff on
Saturday. It was a result that lifted Welsh rugby from the pit of
despair into which it had slumped in 1991, and it also spiked England's
expectation of a third successive Grand Slam.
Apropos that Cardiff match, a brief conversation on the Dunfermline
touchline during the schools' district match on Tuesday summed up a
Scotsman's view of England's loss. The initial comment sympathised with
Ian Hunter, the Northampton wing who, after the international, needed
surgery to replace damaged tear ducts. The response was that the rest of
England's team would need similar operations: ''Their tear ducts will be
worn out by now.'' Scotland's XV:
A G Hastings (Watsonians), captain; A G Stanger (Hawick), S Hastings
(Watsonians), A G Shiel (Melrose), D A Stark (Boroughmuir); C M Chalmers
(Melrose), G Armstrong (Jed-Forest); P H Wright (Boroughmuir), K S Milne
(Heriot's FP), A P Burnell, D F Cronin (both London Scottish), A I Reed
(Bath), D J Turnbull (Hawick), G W Weir (Melrose), I R Morrison (London
Scottish). Replacements - K M Logan (Stirling County), G P J Townsend
(Gala), A D Nicol (Dundee HS FP), C D Hogg (Melrose), G R Isaac, I
Corcoran (both Gala).
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