Al Kellock says pain of Wales loss will spur on Scotland

Published on Thursday 24 February 2011 17:54

THE pain of losing to Wales has yet to fade almost two weeks on, Scotland captain Alastair Kellock said yesterday.

Although the squad's attention has moved on to Sunday's Six Nations game against Ireland, the skipper implied that the hurt of the 24-6 defeat by the Welsh a fortnight ago could play a vital part in propelling the team to their first victory of this year's championship.

"It's still there, and it should be," Kellock said when asked if the players had got that result out of their systems. "The concentration has changed and the focus has changed - it's all about what we're going to do this weekend.

"You can't brush a performance like the Wales game (away], but it is very important that we focus on getting it right. We've trained extremely hard over the past week on some things that didn't go so well against Wales, and I'm pleased with where we are."

The two-week gap between internationals, and the fact that Kellock and others did not play for their clubs last weekend, ensured there was no escaping an extended post-mortem on the Wales match, which followed the 34-21 loss in Paris a week earlier. "Generally when you play you've got the opportunity to fix it almost straight away - and I don't even mean the next game," the second-row forward explained.

"We coined a phrase at Glasgow, 'Move-on Monday', so you come in, review the game from the weekend then, whether you had won or lost, you would move forward. Some guys went back to their clubs last week and had the opportunity to play. Others, myself included, didn't.

"So it was a tough week. It gives you more time to reflect, which is probably not a bad thing, because it should have been a tough week. Based on the performance we put in against Wales, there's nobody that should not have had a difficult week.

"We made too many mistakes. That's still there a week later,"

The seven changes made by coach Andy Robinson to the starting line-up included alterations in all three rows of the pack. Asked if he felt fortunate to have held on to his own place, Kellock said he believed he had to take that approach every time he was selected to represent his country, not just after a poor match.

"Every game I get to play I feel lucky. You've got to. There's competition in every place. You've got to feel privileged to get the opportunity to play."

All too aware that those Scotland fans who paid to watch the Wales game did not feel privileged to be at Murrayfield to watch an abject display by the home side, Kellock added that, come Sunday, it was up to the team to inspire the crowd.

"We've already said the performance let the public down.

"We've got to play better and if we're getting 65,000-odd in here then we've got to make sure they've got something to cheer about and we don't expect them to lift us. We lift them."

Meanwhile, tighthead prop Moray Low is determined to take his opportunity to show he is the solution to Scotland's scrum problems in the clash with Ireland. Scotland's scrum suffered in the opening losses to France and Wales and Low was praised by head coach Robinson after replacing Euan Murray early in the second half against Wales.

Murray is unavailable for this weekend's Test with Ireland and the trip to play England at Twickenham as the matches fall on Sundays and it is against his religious beliefs to play.

That has presented Low, buoyed by Robinson's endorsement of his performances, with an opportunity he is determined to seize.

The 26-year-old Glasgow Warriors tighthead said: "It is a Sunday game but I'm not looking at it that way - it's a game when I've been given a chance to wear the jersey and to start, show what I've got and that's what I want to do.

"It's a good confidence boost, but it's what I'm out there to do, to put in a performance. Sitting on the bench was frustrating and I always felt I could make a difference and I have.

"Now I've got the chance to do it from the start and make an impact on the game, for myself and to help the team get the right result."

Scotland's scrum and Murray appeared to struggle in the tournament opener in Paris and against Wales at Murrayfield and poor set-piece possession contributed to the defeats.

Low knows he faces a formidable task packing down against Ireland's Leinster loosehead Cian Healy on Sunday but is confident of success.

"Ireland have a strong pack, they're very streetwise and know what they're doing," added Low. "But we know if we work as an eight and we're tight and aggressive we can take them on. It's a massive challenge and we'll need to be at our best to take them on up front."

• Analysis, interviews and reports from our rugby writers

• Photo galleries of each Scotland match

• Our regular Six Nations blog

• Play our Six Nations Predictor for a chance to win tickets

• Follow our Six Nations coverage on Twitter