Six Nations: Scotland yet to deliver complete performance as coach explains what it will take

Pete Horne says best still to come from Scotland in this year’s Six Nations

Ben White's try against France was cited by Pete Horne as an example of Scotland profiting from a turnover attack after creating unstructured play. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

Pete Horne believes Scotland have yet to deliver a complete performance in this year’s Six Nations but the assistant coach says the team has evolved since the Rugby World Cup and this weekend’s match with Italy offers them the opportunity to show how clinical they can be.

The Scots go into the fourth round of the championship with an outside chance of the title and although Ireland could put the kibosh on that if they beat England at Twickenham on Saturday, Horne says they will concentrate only on their own game. Having beaten Wales and England, the defeat by France in round two still rankles but the overall verdict after three matches is a positive one.

“We’re pretty happy with where we’re at,” said Horne. “We feel like the tweaks to our game, the way we’ve evolved since the World Cup, have been good. We’re right in the mix and we should be three from three.

Scotland assistant coach Pete Horne, centre, with Ali Price, left, and Ben Healy during a training session at Oriam on Tuesday. (Photo by Craig Williamson / SNS Group)

“We can’t be disappointed with that but we definitely feel that we’ve left a lot of opportunities out there. We missed a few opportunities against Wales and let them come right back into the game, then didn’t have that real conviction to get the bonus point at the end. Against England, there was a 10-minute blip between the 60th and 70th minute where we missed three or four stonewall chances to show exactly what we are.

“We are kicking more, but we’re doing that to create unstructured play to switch to turnover attack where we can then come alive. Exactly like Ben White’s try against France, for example. It’s a good place to be. We’re getting some decent results but we’re still not playing quite at our potential.”

Asked if there was still a big performance to come from the team, Horne said: “Absolutely, and the boys feel that too. We’ve been building for a long time now to really showing exactly what we’ve got. It’s taken time to work on that evolution and I think we’re getting there, but that perfect balance is what’s so difficult to come by in the game. That’s why rugby is such a brilliant game - there are so many different factors and variables. We’re hoping that having had another week together, we’ll be ready to deliver that on Saturday.”

Horne, who specialises in the attack and contact area, is pleased with the number of chances the team are creating but wants them to be more ruthless. “It’s just being a little more clinical,” he said. “There were a couple of times when we’ve turned over the ball then looked to kick it down the field just that little bit early instead of looking to move the ball into that space.”

Gregor Townsend will name his team on Thursday to play Italy and there will be at least one enforced change from the side that beat England at Murrayfield a fortnight ago. Sione Tuipulotu, the inside centre who has started 11 of Scotland’s last 12 competitive games, will miss the remainder of the championship with a knee injury which means a new midfield partner for Huw Jones and Finn Russell. Cameron Redpath, who replaced Tuipulotu when he limped off early in the second half against England, is favourite to start in Rome and Horne believes the Bath man deserves the opportunity.

“Cam was outstanding off the bench against England,” said Horne. “He’s been pushing the boys who have been starting really hard. It just shows the mental strength of our whole squad, not just the starting XV. He was so well prepped and performed so well after having to come on early in the game. I was so chuffed for him.

“Cam’s having a great season. He and Finn are going really well together at Bath. Speaking to their coaches, I know Cam is very highly regarded there. He’s just got something about him. He’s a Test match animal and he’s got real X-factor. If he gets the nod this weekend, we’ll all be really excited to see him play.”

Scotland’s other options at centre are Stafford McDowall, who has been in excellent form for Glasgow, and Rory Hutchinson who has similarly impressed for Northampton this season. Unfortunately for Hutchinson, he’s not had any game-time over the course of the Six Nations, either with Scotland or his club. There have been no English Premiership fixtures and the centre has also been denied the opportunity to train with Scotland during the weeks when there are no international games. It is a situation that has angered Townsend who spoke out about it last month, claiming the integrity of the championship was being compromised by a rule which prevents Scotland's English-based players from being allowed to train with the national squad during the tournament’s so-called “fallow weeks”.

It’s a different story for England who have a long-standing agreement with Premiership Rugby which gives them access to their players during the off weeks. Despite Townsend’s protestations, he was again denied access to the anglo-Scots last week, stymied once again by World Rugby’s “Regulation 9” which governs the release of players for international matches.

“We couldn’t get hold of them, which was gutting,” confirmed Horne. “They had the week off, so they spent the week working on little bits on their own. It’s a good chance for them to refresh and get away from rugby for a bit, which is tough in a long season.”

Asked if there was any prospect of the rule changing, Horne added: “Ideally it would. It would make it a more even playing field. It would be nice if everyone had access to their players for those weeks, but I totally get it in business as well. If you are the owner of Bath, you’re not going to want Finn risking himself for a training session up here on a Thursday. If he was to get injured, God forbid, you would be pretty gutted.”