John Barclay: We blew it with four minutes of madness

THERE were plenty of good things in our performance but ultimately we have lost the first game of the championship.It is the same situation we have faced since I started playing in the Six Nations and clearly we will have to pick ourselves up before we face Wales next weekend.

We spoke afterwards about how it’s important that we don’t wait until our backs are really against the wall before we react – it certainly can’t be left to the last game and playing for the Wooden Spoon, the reaction has to come now. It was the first time in more than 30 caps that I’ve started on the bench, and maybe because I was a sub I had time to savour the atmosphere, which was brilliant – the fans were tremendous, and that’s what makes the result so frustrating.

How many of our games have been like that in the last year or two? We’ve had exactly the same scenario of playing well but coming off on the wrong side of the scoreboard, and the problem is the same that we have had for years – creating chances but not taking them.

I don’t think it is a cultural or psychological thing, because Edinburgh and Glasgow have been scoring tries. Edinburgh in particular have been prolific this year, so I don’t know what it is with Scotland.

We have guys running on to ball and making breaks, but we clearly have a problem with scoring and that is something that needs to be remedied. This team can perform to the next level which will be when we start making the breaks and finishing them. Until then we will continue to struggle to put teams away that we should beat. And after all, how many clear chances did England create?

After the point I came on in the 59th minute, I hardly had to make a tackle and I was on for 25 minutes including stoppage time. That’s pretty unusual but it shows how well we were playing.

I would say, however, that we didn’t get a lot of quick ball throughout the match, as they were very good at slowing things down in contact, which hampered us. Maybe we were not physical enough in that area but they did well and the referee did not deem their play as illegal.

Their try is annoying because during the week we practised getting our protection together in exactly those circumstances and making sure that we cleared our lines on our terms. It didn’t happen, and it proved to be a game changer, unfortunately.

It really was just four minutes of madness after half-time, because we conceded the try after 29 seconds of the half and then gave away penalties down the pitch. It was a big swing in momentum towards England, but we got back into it and Ross Rennie made a great break but we didn’t finish it.

I was looking at the big screen after Greig Laidlaw’s score which was disallowed – it looked like a try to me and clearly the TMO took his time to decide against, but that was just one instance where we could have scored. There were plenty aspects of our game that were good and better. We dominated the lineout, the scrum was strong, and our back row was tremendous. I thought Ross Rennie and Dave Denton were excellent. That’s worrying for me because there’s huge competition for places in the back row.

My last word has to be about Chris Paterson. He came into the dressing room afterwards for a presentation, and the way he spoke about what it means to play for Scotland makes my spine tingle even now as I think of it. It was emotional, as he was talking about playing for the family and the fans, and everyone who heard him will remember his words and be inspired for the rest of the Championship.