South Sea men will give us rough ride, warns Gregor Townsend

Published on Thursday 12 November 2009 21:48

FIJI may present a real challenge of the unknown for most of the current Scotland squad, but in backs coach Gregor Townsend, they have enough knowledge of the islanders to fill a library.

Townsend toured the South Seas in 1993, his first season of Test rugby, and played in Scotland's stunning 51-26 defeat in Suva five years later. He played a key role in the 36-22 victory the last time Fiji visited Murrayfield, which secured Scotland's historic first autumn Test series triumph, and was at centre in the nervy World Cup encounter a year later which the Scots squeezed through thanks to Tom Smith's late try and Chris Paterson's conversion for a 22-20 win.

Add to that the many times he has played with and against Fijians on the sevens field, and his huge admiration for the South Seas legend Waisale Serevi, and it becomes clear that the Borderer is one man who will not take Fiji lightly. Experience of international rugby was a key reason why he was fast-tracked into the national coaching set-up and in his first full Test as assistant coach that knowledge could prove very important.

"All of these games were different, but they all showed how dangerous Fiji are," he said. "The one in 1998 was a strange situation. It was a tag-on game at the start of the tour and we arrived in Fiji, after a hell of a journey the day before the game, and we just didn't perform at all – it was a big wake-up call for the players.

"We went in thinking that if we kept ball and structure we'd break Fiji down, because they're a sevens team, but when you play them out there, with not much preparation and not being switched on to getting the basics right, they kill you. I think we were 10-0 up and cruising, but once they got going and started to find space too easily, the crowd responded and they started playing some amazing stuff. It was like sevens, but effective.

"In 2002, we had had a very tough week's training because 'that was the way to keep our feet on the ground after beating the Springboks'," he said with a heavy dose of sarcasm, pointing perhaps towards Jim Telfer's training methods. "We were actually pretty tired by the end of the week and weren't as fresh or happy in the game as we had been against South Africa, but when you look back we doused their fire pretty well and got the win, and scored 36 points, so we did OK.

"On a sunny day in Sydney in 2003, we were torn apart early on by one man in particular (Rupeni Caucaunibuca], but as we kept working and holding onto ball the points started going in our favour and I felt that if the game went on for another ten minutes we'd have scored another two tries.

"The closeness of that result didn't surprise me though. Touring there you really get into what Pacific Islands rugby is about, and develop a respect for it. You see how they play in tropical conditions and how tough it is, and, bringing it back to these autumn games, that is what is exciting for these Scotland players because they're going to face three very different teams, with different challenges and different lessons."

Townsend was quick to state, however, that he can only draw on experience so much as he expects something quite different again from this, only the nations' fifth Test match meeting.

"Back then a big part of our team talk was that they would be making breaks and would look very good early on, but 'just keep tackling hard, keep the ball and their fitness won't last because they're not playing at the level we are week in week out'.

"Now that has changed, with most of their squad playing professional rugby every week, and in the 2007 World Cup they finished their pool games strongly, beating Wales to qualify for the quarter-finals and pushing South Africa to the last minutes.

"Now we're facing more guys playing at the top end of the game in France and England, and the IRB has invested a lot of money into conditioning for the home-based players as well and so this will be much more of an 80-minute test than Scotland have ever faced."

He added: "We don't know much about some of their starting XV, but we know Fiji's strengths – they are probably the best in the world in broken play one-on-one and if you give them any easy ball, from turnovers, they will punish you whoever starts.

"And they play at a pace and with a style as if they are under no pressure; they play what they see and like to have a go. A real strong point of their game is Nicky Little, who is playing stand-off for Bath. In the key decision-making position you have someone who is a good tactical player, kicker and defender.

"They are ranked above us for a reason, but that's the fantastic challenge of these games – we're playing three teams ranked above us but we're planning to win all three games."

That message is coursing through the squad and there appears little reluctance to make clear what every home supporter will hope, that Scotland are aiming for nothing less than victory in each of the next three weekends. How they do it though is open to question. Townsend built a reputation as something of a Fijian in navy clothing, as his most electric moments came when he played rugby off the cuff and found team-mates willing to respond to that lead.

As Scotland's attack coach, he now has a similar responsibility to provide inspiration, and here he follows the mantra of Andy Robinson – it all comes down to winning, however that is achieved. "This is the first game and it's been really exciting working this week about what we want to do with the ball and how we can play rugby that challenges the opposition at all times.

"But we're here to play winning rugby – so whether that's through tries and looking at areas where we can find space, or through putting pressure on the opposition to get penalties – then that's the way we do it. Fiji play a game that some would say was a polar opposite to Argentina, and Australia are probably somewhere in the middle, so there will be different approaches (from us].

"But all the time we're trying to do what we believe is right for exploiting defences. We're going to play with ambition and when it's on to move it, we'll move it, but our play has to be linked with accuracy. The players will learn that from the start because if we just throw the ball around, Fiji, more than anyone, will kill you."

&#149 Tickets for tomorrow's game will remain on sale from the usual outlets until 8pm tonight. There will be no tickets on sale tomorrow.