RUGBY: Jones senses real cause for Scots optimism

TRY-SCORER adamant competitive display against France shows national team is progressing

Lee Jones is not the biggest winger in the RBS Six Nations Championship but after scoring his first Test try on Sunday the Borderer is a good advert for the old saying ‘mighty oaks from little acorns grow’.

The 5ft 11in 23-year-old has taken his place on the international stage with terrific aplomb and he believes the tries he and fellow newcomer Stuart Hogg scored against France on Sunday are merely the start of something much bigger. He was unhappy at letting his opposite number, 6ft 4in Julien Malzieu, escape his clutches and release Maxime Medard for what proved to be the match-winning try, but it failed to dent his belief that Scotland are on the way back from a debilitating try drought.

“We have started to score tries and that’s a big thing,” he said, reflecting on only his third Test match. “It’s massive in fact looking forward to the games against Ireland and Italy. After the first two games of the Six Nations the issue was how we were going to score tries. That’s all everyone was asking. In the game against Wales we scored one but we should have been awarded two and against France we did get two, so it proves we can do it in international Test rugby.

“We’ve shown we can compete against the side which contested the World Cup final so we’re in a good place going to Dublin. We know how difficult it will be but we’re looking forward to the game. We watched the Ireland game against Italy and they did well when they got into the Italian 22; they managed to put some points on the board. If we can score tries against France then there’s no doubt we can score tries against Ireland.”

No matter how much Andy Robinson and his coaching staff have wanted to play down the lack of tries, for fear of it becoming a suffocating great elephant in the room, there had been no escaping it after Scotland’s World Cup crashed on the rocks of two try-less games and the Six Nations started in the same fashion. The statistics over the history of the Six Nations have shown a steady decline in tries, for all nations, but significantly with Scotland. Under Ian McGeechan the best total was nine in his first year back in charge, in 2000; Matt Williams’ best tally was seven in his second and last year while Frank Hadden’s best was seven in 2007.

Robinson’s teams claimed just three in 2010, doubled it last year – which bettered three Hadden years – but currently have three after three games in 2012. Scotland’s struggles to score are not new and there is not much between McGeechan (1.5), Williams (1.1), Hadden (1) and Robinson (0.7) in their try-scoring ratios against top ten nations.

Going in the other direction, however, has been Scotland’s ability to compete with every team they face, and this is where the lack of tries has only created more frustration. Whereas McGeechan’s 15 defeats were never within a converted score, and Williams’ just twice in 14, Hadden closed the gap to where eight of his 25 losses were by seven points or less and Robinson has pulled it closer with eight of 12 defeats within a converted score.

That does nothing to alter the bottom line, the fact that Robinson has tasted just 12 wins in 27 games and is on a run of five straight losses, but it does highlight how close Scotland are to turning a corner if they can improve the try rate, and points to why there is a feeling of progress without evidence in the Six Nations table. It also comes from the new players. Cynics may suggest Jones is naïve, one of a new generation of players unbridled by history and yet to experience the reality of Scotland’s struggle on the Test stage, but those who witnessed his enthusiasm for the game and attacking élan close-up at Murrayfield on Sunday might instead sense a new awakening.

“We are realistic and we know we have cost ourselves with mistakes,” he insisted. “We played well against England and Wales and you could say we were unlucky in both games, but mistakes ultimately let us down.

“But France on Sunday was by far the most frustration we’ve felt. I think we deserved something from the game because we played so well and put so much effort in. It’s really frustrating because some of our play against France was outstanding. But, again, it’s not been enough to win. I felt really positive out on the pitch. I was confident and I think that grew because of the way we started the match. We had hands on the ball, we were playing at a real tempo and we were breaking the line.

“It was great to be involved in and despite the defeat there’s no doubt I came off feeling much better about myself and my role in the team. You never know until you play a team like France how you’ll go and how tough it will be, but I have taken a lot of confidence from it. When you out-play a team like France for long spells in the game then there’s no doubt you’re going to gain some confidence. Before the game I was thinking, ‘can I compete, can I make line breaks?’ I’ve shown I can but the whole team proved it can compete.”

On his first Test try, he continued: “It was a pretty special moment and credit to Richie Vernon for the pass and also John Barclay for the turnover. It was well worked because Nick de Luca also drew his man well.

“It was good to get over the line and the performance was good, but ultimately we didn’t get a result so it was a day of mixed emotions for me. I was delighted to get my first try but I’d give it up if it meant we won by even a point.”

The current trend is also positive with Scotland’s attack showing more line-breaks, more chances and more than double the number of tries scored in the past 14 games compared with Robinson’s first 13. The last time Scotland were scoring a haul of tries to compare with the leading lights of world rugby was in 1999 – 19 in five spring Tests – when they boasted a midfield of Gregor Townsend, John Leslie and Alan Tait, wings Kenny Logan and Cammie Murray and a counter-attacking full-back of the quality of Glenn Metcalfe. As much as the try haul – Townsend and Tait contributing 17 each – it was their ability to link in attack that hurt opposition defences, with Leslie crucial, and which has been lacking since.

Scotland need more linking play in the threequarters, though De Luca started to reveal that on Sunday, and Hogg, coming in to take the ball from scrum-half, stand-off and the threequarters, is that kind of talent. Like Jones, the 19-year-old made errors and is clearly not the finished article Leslie or Metcalfe were when they stepped into the Scotland team, but with linking players Max Evans and Joe Ansbro to return from injury, and the promise of emerging talents Ruaridh Jackson, Duncan Weir, Matt Scott and Harry Leonard there is real hope on the horizon.

The most significant boost comes from having a ‘W’ to cling to, however, and wins in Ireland and Italy would inject more confidence to Scottish rugby than any statistic or trend analysis could.