Darkest hour may have passed but too early to welcome new dawn

Published on Monday 23 November 2009 22:57

A TREMENDOUS heroic victory, magnificent defence; emotionally draining – I wonder how many of us couldn't bear to watch Matt Giteau's last kick? It was, of course, the Verdun-style – "they shall not pass" – defiance under the posts which forced Australia to score wider out that determined the result. Even in his form of Saturday evening Giteau couldn't – surely? – have failed to convert a try scored between the posts. Meanwhile I have to confess I got it wrong on Saturday. I

We have waited so long to beat Australia or to record another victory over one of the Southern Hemisphere Big Three that any feeling other than euphoria seems ungrateful. Nevertheless it's too soon to hail that long-awaited new dawn, and not only because Australia actually crossed our line four times, being held up twice and having Drew Mitchell's try correctly disallowed because of that egregious and quite unnecessary forward pass.

More to the point, it's premature simply to attribute this result to the new coaching team. They have, it would seem, instilled a new and welcome confidence and their selection has been good. But we have been here before. This victory recalled in its manner the two Calcutta Cup wins gained by Frank Hadden's team, especially the 2006 one. In that match, too, we were outplayed for much of the eighty minutes and it was the quality of the defence that secured the triumph. Indeed, I think we made even more tackles against England in 2006 that we did on Saturday. But nothing came of these famous wins. They didn't lead to a sustained improvement. So this Saturday's match against Argentina takes on an added significance. Can this Scotland side attack with the same intensity and skill as they have shown in defence?

Saturday saw such a committed team effort that it seems invidious to pick out individuals. Yet a few did stand out. Johnnie Beattie was terrific and has surely established himself as Simon Taylor's successor, while John Barclay had his best game for Scotland to date, tackling everything within sight. Ross Ford, too, has recaptured the form that a year ago made him favourite to be the Lions' first-choice hooker. All three have years ahead of them. That may not be the case with Nathan Hines or Jason White, but both made huge contributions.

The backs had little opportunity in attack, and, in the first fairly even 20 minutes of the game made too many handling errors. But Alex Grove once again tackled magnificently. It will be good to see him with ball in hand, especially since Gregor Townsend says that his handling and passing are the strongest parts of his game. If they are indeed better than his tackling, they must be pretty good. Rory Lawson was another who did splendidly, especially since it's never easy to come on as a replacement. That said, the way the match developed suited him. He doesn't pose the same attacking threat as Mike Blair and Chris Cusiter but of our three very fine scrum-halves he is probably the best box-and-line kicker. The cool manner in which Chris Paterson dropped the goal that actually won us the match reminded us that he is still the best all-round footballer we have – too good to be relegated to the bench?

That said, Phil Godman has taken over the goal-kicking role successfully, and in general played well. However, I trust it will be impressed on him that it is near-criminal, with the laws as they are, not to find touch with a penalty kick. His failure to do so cost us our only real chance in the first half of establishing ourselves in the Australian 22 and enjoying a spell of sustained pressure. This was a pity because some of our driving mauls and passages of pick-and-go were very good indeed, and if that kick had found touch and the forwards had taken the ball on, we might have found ourselves with a bigger lead to defend.

Andy Robinson, his fellow coaches and, of course, the players themselves have now raised the bar of expectation. It will fall again if they can't achieve a convincing victory over an Argentinian side that is a mere shadow of the one which knocked us out of the last World Cup and finished third in that competition. They were well beaten in Cardiff on Saturday and people will now be looking for an equally comprehensive win at Murrayfield. There were a few indications against Australia that this may be possible, but only a few. After the Fiji game, Robinson called for a 15 per cent improvement. He got that, and must now call for an equally big improvement this week.

Meanwhile, though the margin of Saturday's win was narrow, the victory was even more satisfying than the last time we beat one of the Big Three, for that South African side was below strength and in disarray, while this Australian one had beaten England and should have beaten Ireland.

A final thought. In 1994 Gregor Townsend seemed to have secured the Calcutta Cup with a drop goal. Then we failed to clear the kick-off, the referee awarded a penalty the wrong way round and Jon Callard kicked the goal. Gregor's feelings as Giteau lined up the kick which would have deprived us of the victory that Paterson's drop goal had made possible can only be imagined. Would history repeat itself? Happily it didn't. Perhaps it is not only belief that has come back. Our luck may have turned, too.