Scotland have always matched the passion, now they also have the power to be winners

Published on Friday 12 March 2010 23:05

THE Calcutta Cup provides as clear an indication as any Test match of where modern internationals are decided and all the passion, excitement and colour whirling around this evening's 127th staging of the famous fixture will play its part.

&#149 Chris Cusiter practices his passing

The power in the scrum when the two packs come crashing together for the first time, the fight for possession at the lineout and the thunderous collisions across the field as players in blue and white crash into each other will set the tone for another coruscatingly physical encounter, the intensity of which increases with every passing year.

But, now, they do so on a level footing, which makes this Calcutta Cup meeting as close as any in the past 139 years to call. The bigger they come the harder they fall was a mantra Scottish sides employed for decades at all age levels to steel themselves for an often lop-sided battle of physiques. That is no longer the case with Scotland as physical as any team they meet now and the forward pack will have no fears of being outweighed today.

The result is that more games are again being determined by those crucial brief moments of skill and rugby intelligence from the minds of the on-field performers. It does not mean that games will always be open as we have seen in this championship already and England are among the best still at playing forward-dominated games where the ball spends as much time hidden in driving mauls as it does flitting between threequarters' hands.

But, for Scotland, the move offers real hope. Scots coaches have tried various methods in the past few years and there remains a sense that they find it easier against higher-ranked favourites, because the expectation is on their opponents to find the space and score, and they become the more frustrated when they fail. This was the case on the last two occasions England visited Murrayfield, in 2006 and 2008, where they tried to attack through the forwards and hit brick walls, moved the ball wide and were cut down. Australia, similarly, came unstuck for the first time in 27 years because they could not pierce the Scottish walls of defence more than once, and their kicker was a bit awry.

This is another of those occasions. England head north with the greater expectations of winning as is always the case when the Calcutta Cup is at stake, but also, even though neither side has played consistently well in this championship, the visitors have the 'two-from-three' record and comments from Scottish players, students of their opponents' games this week, that England were unlucky to lose to Ireland is accurate.

They may not yet be playing a brand of rugby that follows a nice rhythm, but only the Irish have beaten them, and that came with a last-gasp score that snatched victory from Martin Johnson's men and killed an unlikely Grand Slam dream.

Rugby, as any sport, could never be described as a science; there is too much passion, raw emotion and unpredictability to be such, and is what fills the stadium and will draw Scots to the television after 5pm tonight. But, now, more than ever, games of international rugby rest on finite decisions, the combination of brain matter and skill, and so far in this championship Scotland have not been getting them right.

So far Scotland know that they had victories over Wales and Italy, at least, well within their own grasp and should never have left those outcomes in the hands of others. The decision by Andy Robinson and his coaching team to switch to a more attack-minded philosophy at the outset, with the players' enthusiasm, was crucial to encourage ambition and it has been backed up by a serious focus on skills behind the scenes, in international sessions, pro team training and one-to-one involving leading players and various Scotland coaches.

But in Italy, when a bold response was required to the dramatic finale in Cardiff, the players retreated into their shells and got it horribly wrong. It forced us to question whether they were any different to the players of a year ago and a year before that or had even fallen below the standards of 2006, when wins over France, England and Italy promised a new era.

Do we have fewer genuine rugby players, the kind that instinctively know when they reach this level when to draw a man and make the pass, when and where to drive into a ruck and what angle to choose in support to ensure they can not only take a pass but exploit space when they do? Only they can provide the answers and that comes with decisions at crucial times; the big tackles, the searing work-rate that soaks the jersey. The putting the body on the line is all tough, painfully tough at this level, but it is expected. Any player can produce that, but to play and win for Scotland invariably takes something special.

The England pack has been picked to ensure set-piece possession with a big, direct back row built to batter Scots backwards in the tackle and allow such individual talents as Riki Flutey, Mathew Tait, Ugo Monye, Mark Cueto and Delon Armitage to open out in attack. It has not really fired yet, but the quality is there to be lethal.

The referee Marius Jonker will have a huge role to play in ensuring the game flows, but so do Scotland as while England's forwards could set up Jonny Wilkinson for kicks all day, without pace and high tempo the hosts' ability to score points will be strangled early on.

Scotland have fewer choices but have also gone with a pack tilted towards securing good ball, but have the quicker, more gifted ball-playing back row, and if that does not become obvious this evening then Scotland are getting something badly wrong. The selection of Nick De Luca came in tandem with the desire of Robinson and his coaches to shift Max Evans, the centre of perpetual motion, wider out and onto the end of attacking moves, but De Luca is a supremely gifted footballer too and, now with experience, the hope is that he can cause Mathew Tait more worries than the deceptive and skilful Tait does him.

The key to Scotland unlocking England tonight will be in achieving the right balance between taking on England up front, which is essential and will be brutal, driving into spaces around the fringes – Cusiter knows he must seek to ask more questions of England's defence – moving the ball wide and kicking. Scotland are more efficient now at breaking defensive lines and while Scotland want to see Evans dancing round forwards, where he will be most dangerous is once England's defence is pierced, by hand or foot, as a man in support.

For those with the wit, skill and confidence to grasp the opportunity Test rugby thrusts into the air there is no better occasion that today on which to do it. The Calcutta Cup is a game that makes heroes of Scots; creates reputations. It may be unfair on those who have shone in other games, but to glance around Edinburgh today and feel the atmosphere generated within Murrayfield is to realise that this is different.

What springs first to mind of Duncan Hodge's international career? His try that won the 2000 Calcutta Cup surely? Jason White and Mike Blair are forever cast in stone by many in the pose of holding the unique trophy above their heads?

Other great moments in Scottish rugby? The David Sole walk, John Jeffrey and Dean Richards' 'fun' with the cup, Jon Callard's last-minute penalty at Murrayfield, Andy Irvine's momentous comeback in 1976, Peter Brown's match-winning conversion at Twickenham in 1971 and for those with longer memories, 'Wilson Shaw's match' at Twickenham, in 1938. Calcutta Cup matches all. The incredible history, passion and colour of this oldest of international fixtures rushes to the fore and transcends simple sporting contests, but to come out the other end as victors, which remains the most important facet of this weekend, the current crop of talented Scotland players have to grasp the cold challenge of blending skills and nous to create space and choose the right options to turn it into points.

While the spotlight will shine again on the stand-offs, Jonny Wilkinson and Dan Parks, and their cool heads and accurate boots will inevitably be crucial factors, any player could become the match-winner in this encounter. That adds to the excitement. A Scottish Calcutta Cup win for a remarkable third time on the trot at Murrayfield – last achieved 34 years ago – is only achievable if the entire home team play their part from the first minute to the last shriek of Jonker's whistle. They have learned that much in this tournament.

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