What effect does the Six Nations have on Scotland?

By Jack Meney

Scotland had an extremely disappointing (Image: Getty Images)

The Six Nations is always a highlight for a rugby fan and for the Scotland fans, there was a high

level of optimism going into this one. Unfortunately for the supporters, there was not as much

success as there was expected.

Another Calcutta cup win and a win against Wales started the tournament but after some devastating

decisions and some unconvincing performances, the question now must be asked, how will the

Scotland team react, and what does this mean for Scottish rugby?

After the first half of the opening game for the Thistles the whole nation were excited for the

tournament with a very dominant performance after scoring 27 points compared to the 0 for the

Welsh. The standout performance didn’t last too long as the Wales team came back fighting,

eventually only narrowly losing by a single point after they got 26 on the board.

The France result was a tough one to take after a good performance. France struggled with scoring

tries this year (getting only 13, compared to the 22 that they got in last years tournament) so the

Scotland defence took advantage of that but a very controversial decision to disallow a try at the last

moment of the game saw the Scots losing by 4.

A highlight for the competition for the Scotland was winning their fourth Calcutta win in a row.

Scotland vs England is always a grudge match, playing for the points and for the pride so is always

one to look forward to. This game was one that some say lacked excitement but sometimes games

just go like that. England started off the scoring, but they weren’t able to get the win that they were

wanting.

The fourth game of the campaign, the game that is probably a standout when looking at this year’s

results. The regular whipping boys of the tournament, Italy surprised everyone this year picking up

11 points after winning 2 games and drawing 1. In a game that had to be a vital win for Scotland,

turned out to be a disaster after losing 31-29. It was certainly a shock for the Scottish fanbase and

killed the hopes of winning the title.

After the shock Italian job in Rome, the final game against Ireland was definitely going to be an up-

hill battle but as ever, the Scots were going to be up for it. Unfortunately, the day ended in

disappointment even though the boys put up a decent fight in a low scoring showdown against the

giants.

On reflection, this tournament and the results that were dealt to the thistles, are tough to take for

anyone involved in Scottish rugby you can take away positives as well as the negatives.

The recent results have left fans and the media questioning manager Gregor Townsend. The way

that he conducts himself and his management style has been picked apart following the eventful

tournament with fans wondering why he isn’t more like successful Ireland boss Andy Farrell. The

final game in Dublin showed that this team are capable after they showed a heroic defensive

performance.

Townsend is under some serious pressure (Image: Getty Images)

After that game it was clear that as a group of players, all they need is to being shown

a way of playing that brings the best out of them and the only person that can do that is the head

coach. Townsend has been successful in his time in charge and has been Scotland’s most successful

manager as he has the highest win rate, but his man management skills need improving if he wants

to take Scotland to the next level (competing competitively with the big guns of the sport).

The Scotland players believe they had an okay tournament (many fans also think the same) but co-

captain Finn Russel insists that there is still work to do. He said to Rugby Pass; “Today we are

progressing. That mentality we had today and the cohesiveness, especially in defence, was brilliant.

“But throughout the campaign we need to get mentally stringer. We need to get better and put in

performances week in, week out. We’ve had spells in this competition that we’ve been brilliant but

at the same time we’ve had spells where we’ve allowed teams to get on the front foot and get

momentum”.

A tournament of up and downs but one thing remained certain throughout all of the games and that

is that Duhan van de Merwe is one of the best players there is right now. He was consistently

dominant for the Scots, scoring five tries, including a hat trick against Wales. This current Scotland

squad have many superstars, but he is undoubtedly the most important for the team.

It will be interesting to see how this team progresses on from this tournament but it is definitely

exciting times for Scottish rugby and fans are even eager for more success.