Ton English: It was the same old story – Scotland promised much and delivered nothing

Published on Sunday 5 February 2012 00:40

‘What ails Scotland is a failure of coaching, a failure to address the chronic inability to execute try-scoring chances’

THE silence was the thing. Minutes of silence at the end. Scottish fans standing their ground but saying nothing because nothing needed to be said. Away in the distance some English supporters sang, but it was Murrayfield’s deathly hush that was the most noticeable thing. Beaten again. Beaten just like last time and the time before and the time before that. “A bit like deja vu,” said Andy Robinson. Not a bit, a lot. “We’ve been here before,” said the Scotland coach.

If Hollywood ever remake Groundhog Day then they should come to Murrayfield to cast it. Robinson does a mean Bill Murray, never more forlorn than yesterday when the hangdog expression was on view again, when the pain of coaching the team that can’t score tries was writ large on his face. He invested huge amounts of himself in this game, talked it up, laid it on the line. No more excuses, he said. No more moral victories. Judgment season is nigh, he stressed. Indeed it is.

Did England win it or did Scotland lose it? Not to deny the visitors their moment, but more of the latter. Credit to England. They were tenacious and more together as a team than they had any right to be given they have spent just nine days in each other’s company. Seven made their debuts. So much for the importance of experience on such occasions. The thing that got England home was the commitment of their defence – “the desire to play for each other and to play for the jersey” said their coach, Stuart Lancaster – and the continuing catastrophe that is Scotland’s attack. They were also gifted a try by Dan Parks. Did Robinson regret picking him ahead of Greig Laidlaw, who improved matters at fly-half when he came on? “I’m not here to pull apart players,” he said. Yes, in other words. Laidlaw will surely start at the Millennium next Sunday.

If you weren’t watching, fear not. You’ve seen it all before from Robinson’s team. Many times. Scotland did what they usually do. Promised much and didn’t deliver. David Denton was a revelation and the heart goes out to him. This was Scotland’s fourth straight game without a try. For the 12th time in 13 seasons they have begun the Six Nations with a defeat. Robinson has now won two of his 11 championship games in charge and six out of 21 when you include his England years.

We can bemoan things, but the reality is that what ails Scotland is a failure of coaching, a failure to address the chronic inability to execute try-scoring chances when they come along, a failure that was profound yesterday, a failure that was the difference between victory and defeat. Again.

“We weren’t able to convert the chances we created,” said Robinson. “We had 14 line breaks. It’s a frustration we all feel. We have to keep working in training, keep putting guys in these situations. Ross [Rennie] made a great break, but credit to Ben Foden for stopping him. Richie Gray got through, but we lost composure. Jim Hamilton had an early break and we turned it over. I have spoken to Greig [Laidlaw, about the moment the TMO ruled he hadn’t grounded the ball for a second half try] and he feels he got a hand to it and got the first touch. The law states you need downward pressure and it looks like he got it.”

There was no bucket big enough to hold the hold the collective sickness that befell the Scottish fans in the aftermath of a match that only belatedly came alive. The Rennie moment – ignoring two men running free outside him and clattering into Foden, the last defender. – was Scotland in microcosm. He went through two English players, went around a third, accelerated into space and then, metaphorically speaking, threw up all over himself when it came to the moment to give the try-scoring pass. It was a staggering error.

The great appeal of the Calcutta Cup, of course, doesn’t lie in glamour and adventure, but belligerence and bloody-mindedness. It is to do with nationalism, naked and unadorned.

England’s first job was to quell Murrayfield’s noise. What we had here was a pre-match that crackled with anticipation and then minute upon minute of rugby of error-strewn rubbish that had you wondering who pulled the plug on the electricity. Murrayfield was quiet and up in the coach’s box Lancaster would have ticked a box in his to-do list. His team took the lead, then lost it, fell behind and then hit the front and stayed there. A charge-down settled it. Small margins, yes. But it’s not a coincidence that Scotland keep ending up on the wrong side of these margins.

In the midst of the joyless attrition of the first half – Parks kicking and kicking and kicking again, no doubt at his coach’s behest – we saw the problem. There was some rare Scottish possession in an attacking position inside the England 22 brought about a smart chip and chase up the left wing by Max Evans.

We’ve all been in this movie before with Scotland. And it is tiresome. They get to the 22, they truck it up, they go around the side, they spin it one way and then the other, they go nowhere only from side to side and from front foot to back. And then the moment passes. This is the way it has been for years and this was the way of it again. You’d call it heart-breaking if it wasn’t so damned predictable. The tragedy is that Murrayfield almost expects it now.

There are no crumbs of comfort in this defeat. None. Let’s not even go there. The fact that Denton was immense only serves to heighten the regret. He deserved better.

“We all look at ourselves,” said Robinson, when asked about Scotland’s endless wastefulness in the opposition’s 22. “This is down to us. We have to stick together. We look at what we’re doing and I’m accountable for that. I know my responsibility. It’s a team effort and we are going to solve it together. We’ll continue to work in that way.”

Words. Just words. This was another game lost that could have been won, a lament to be written on their sporting tombstone. It’s Wales on Sunday. The Millennium awaits the arrival of the team that cannot score and cannot win.

Comments

There are 5 comments to this article

Order by:

• Newest first
• |
• Oldest first

Page 1 of 1

• 1
• Show all

5

Aubrey Wilson

Friday, February 17, 2012 at 05:42 PM

The average performance of the last three Scottish coaches in the 6N has been dreadful. So far, Andy R's performance in this competition is appalling. But this suggests that performance is far bigger than the coach - that other factors are at work. One factor might well be the ability of the Scottish backline. There were opportunities this year against a new English setup and a Welsh team without its best three second rows. Yet, both teams in their own way, thwarted the Scots yet again.

• Report Unsuitable

4

Ben_Gunn

Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 06:39 AM

Never been a big fan of Dan Parks and yesterday demonstrated why. Way too many errors of judgement. Jim Hamilton is now past hos sell by date. Now for the coach. Is he a bad coach or does he have little raw material to work with. I am beginning to think his tenure as Scotland coach has little time left. But where do we find a replacement. On the positive side it is refreshing to watch Cussiter and to see players like Denton and Laidlaw show positive wearing the international jersey. We appear to have players to build on - but we need a rugby man who can mould them.

• Report Unsuitable

3

Faceless_bureaucrat

Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 03:49 AM

Time for a new coach ? Robinson has yet again signally failed to deliver the goods.

• Report Unsuitable

2

anyoldname

Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 02:59 AM

I am hoping this is the turning point and the press & fans finally stop tolerating the excuses from Murrayfield & Robinson, we've been here so many times and fed the same old "its our own fault, we'll go away and work even harder......". When Gregor Townsend was being selected to play at Stand Off, the build up to every game was "Scotland have good potential but it all depends on how Gregor Townsend controls the game...." and every post match analysis was about how it had not gone right for him. Now he is failing to deliver as attack coach now yet this has been tolerated along with the same old excuses. When the national team has been scared by the chance of getting near the try line for several years, how can the attack coach only come under fleeting scrutiny? Unless the whole set up gets a real boot in the backside they will all continue to repeat what they've been doing, wheeling out the excuses and collecting their nice salaries. Scotland have historically needed someone like Jim Telford to shout at people and get them out of their comfort zone. Scott Johnson has ruffled a few feathers in the past, the chance that he may do so again is the only ray of hope I can currently see for the National sides coaching & management set-up.

• Report Unsuitable

1

RossM

Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 02:35 AM

Sorry Tom, You miss one group out who have totally failed at their job - The Sccotish Rugby Journalists. To a man you are all way to soft on Robinson - how about when he picks the team and Parks is in it - ask this question - 'Why are you saying on the one hand you are picking form players - then on the other picking a guy who has had kicking duties taken off him - and has a great set of backs but can't get them to score tries - why do you think he can do for Scotland what he can't do for Cardiff'?? Let's stop this nicey nicey with Robinson - if that means he walks out - fine - he is a world class coach - but clueless as a Selector!

• Report Unsuitable

Order by:

• Newest first
• |
• Oldest first

Page 1 of 1

• 1
• Show all

Logged in as:

Comment here. Start typing your comment here:

Post comment

Please adhere to our Community guidelines

Your view

Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.