Six Nations: Tom English: Two steps backwards

Published on Friday 11 February 2011 16:21

Somewhere in Murrayfield there was a man with a packet of pencils taking note of the statistics of this game, the number of dropped passes, missed passes and forward passes from Scotland, the number of poor tackles, the number of turnovers and unforced blunders that the home crowd saw unfolding in front of their disbelieving eyes. The stats man scribbled for Scotland, for this was a performance from Andy Robinson's that was leaden and dispiriting in every sense.

A creaking scrum – when Scotland, unbelievably, forget to hook the ball – paved the way for Shane Williams' first try and an horrendous lack of accuracy in possession did for any chance of a recovery.

Scotland showed a cataclysmic inability to seize the moment when Wales were reduced to 14 and then 13 men in the first half. They scored just three points in that period and in those moments they ceded a massive psychological advantage to the visitors. It was the seminal passage of the evening. As Warren Gatland said: "That was the game."

This was a colossal disappointment for Scotland and they were in no mood to soft soap it in the aftermath. The look of dejection on the faces of Andy Robinson and Al Kellock said everything. They were hurting, they were embarrassed, they were sorry. "The whistle went and we never turned up," said the captain. "It's unacceptable what happened out there," said the coach. "The guys are hurting, but then we should be hurting. That was nowhere near international standard," Kellock added. "We've gone back a couple of steps here," Robinson admitted.

Statements of the obvious, followed by something revealing: "Maybe we were too easy on ourselves after the French match," said Kellock. "Maybe we should have looked more at the poor points."

There's a chance to make amends now. Looking at the poor points is all they will be doing for the next fortnight.

Six Nations coverage in full

• Scotland 6 - 24 Wales: Sorry Scots hung by a hook

• Scotland v Wales in pictures

• How they rated at Murrayfield

• Tom English: Two steps backwards

• Andy Nicol: Welsh given confidence boost by hosts' poor start

• England 59 - 13 Italy: Chris Ashton try blitz sinks sad Italy

• Women's Six Nations: A different ball game for Caroline Collie

• Ireland v France: Fans key to lock's hopes of victory

For the longest while the Scotland coach shouted and roared, but by the end he had pretty much fallen silent, reduced to little more than a whimper, much like his team. "Too many errors in the first 20 minutes," he said, with the air of a man who was already taking apart the failings of his team in his own head. "We gave Wales opportunities and they grew in their confidence and in their physicality. They were deserved winners. "

Before the post-mortem begins, the Welsh should be applauded. They came here under the most frightful strain. Seven losses and a draw from their previous eight games was a record that had brought Gatland all sorts of flak, the nuances of those defeats lost on his critics. Most of the defeats had come against the blessed triumvirate of the south, New Zealand, South Africa and Australia. And the experiences had toughened-up his team, said the coach. Indeed, his assistant, Shaun Edwards, spoke about the relevance of those Tests on what happened yesterday.

"There's no way we'd have been able to hold Scotland try-less had we taken matches against lesser teams over the last year. We played these games because we want to learn and get better and there isn't a chance we'd have been able to give the Scots all that possession and territory and keep them out had we not played so often against the best."

Gatland made the kind of speech coaches like to make. He spoke of character and defiance. "The boys fronted-up," he said. "It's how you respond (to adversity] that makes you a man, it's how you front-up when your back is to the wall. And it's important to keep a sense of humour. The boys put the David Bowie (and Queen] song Under Pressure on the stereo in the bus. I haven't been able to get that song out of my head for two days."

One of the lessons of Paris is that it's never a good idea to give your opponent a ten-point start, a lesson that clearly went in one ear in the Scottish dressing room and out the other. To give the French the momentum last week was bad enough, to do it again here was infinitely worse. We saw some sobering things yesterday. We saw Sam Warburton, the Welsh openside flanker, thoroughly out-play the Scottish gem, John Barclay. We saw Ryan Jones dominate another of the Killer Bs, Kelly Brown, and, more chilling than anything, there was another wretched day for Euan Murray in the scrum.

There were mitigating circumstances for his demolition by Thomas Domingo last week, but none here. Paul James beat him convincingly in the scrum. Murray was taken off and replaced by Moray Low in the 47th minute. Reading between the lines of what Robinson said later, it might be some time before we see the Lion starting a Test for his country. Asked about the scrum the coach answered thus: "Moray Low did well when he came on." You don't need an ability to read tea-leaves to know what Robinson was driving at.

The bullied scrum, the calamity of Paris, was thereby revisited. Another lesson that went unheeded. Imagine the psychology when the Welsh – minus two world-class props – shoved Scotland off their own ball in their first scrum and gave themselves the platform from which they would score a try? Suddenly, Wales were buoyant and Scotland the ones riddled with doubt and uncertainty. When Williams went over for the score it was like the same thought was simultaneously transmitted to every Scottish brain. 'Williams never loses against us. Seven games, seven victories. Here we go again.'

Wales suckered them again. That's four victories in a row over Scotland and eight wins from their last nine meetings. For those who thought that Scotland's attacking game had taken a step forward in Paris, this was a day that laid waste to such optimism. Robinson's team came into this as favourites but the bitter truth is that they folded under the pressure. Richie Gray was a grievous loss, but not the difference on the day. He'll be back for the Ireland game in a fortnight, but what a grim two weeks there are ahead for Robinson. He asked his team to back up all the good things of Paris and eliminate the weaknesses. Their failure to deliver was a missed opportunity, the scale of which was audible by the silent retreat of the kilted masses.

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