Six Nations: All too familiar as Scots bid to prove worth at the last

It is not as if Scotland players and supporters have not been here before, but as they prepare to enter a new, more hostile Roman amphitheatre there is a deep-seated desire within Andy Robinson’s squad to prove that they are not the failures that this RBS Six Nations Championship suggests.

Scotland and Italy are such familiar wooden spoon bedfellows that there is almost an inevitability now when one travels to Rome that one almost imagines that that great metaphorical ‘prize’ would have a ceremony all of its own. It cannot be long before someone carves a ‘spoon’ and makes it part of the pre-match build-up in these highly commercial days we live in, and one would not bet against Calvinist Scots buying them up to take home.

‘Here we go again’ was a common refrain from supporters arriving in the Italian capital from Scotland yesterday before they headed out into the Italian cafes and restaurants for a night of inebriation that could provide some form of protection from what might lie ahead in the Stadio Olimpico in the first match of this afternoon’s ‘Super Saturday’ denouement to the 2012 tournament.

Matt Williams suffered the embarrassment of collecting the ‘spoon’ in his first season as Scotland coach, in 2004, the last whitewash Scotland experienced, and victory in 2005 at home might have saved a repeat but did not save him from the sack. Frank Hadden came here as Scotland coach in 2006 and won, but lost at home to the Italians in 2007 to finish bottom of the pile, and despite a narrow Roman victory in 2008 the writing was on the wall from the moment his side left Italy that season.

Robinson saw it then, as he was asked by former SRU Chief Executive Gordon McKie after the Rome defeat if he would be interested in replacing Hadden, but declined at that stage. Now he is experiencing it for himself, but he has no plans to walk away, having assured new CEO Mark Dodson that he will achieve his aim of turning Scotland around before the next World Cup, in 2015.

Robinson has spent the past two seasons turning the team into a more dynamic attacking side, working to improve the pack’s ability to compete with the best sides in the world and the back line’s ability to penetrate, as in break defensive lines. There is the promise of a finish, and four tries against Wales, France and Ireland – three from backs – began to turn that promise into something, but still errors under pressure are leaving the Scots as also-rans.

Robinson has also been hindered by injuries to key players almost with every game this season, and he is keeping his fingers crossed that scrum-half Mike Blair (shoulder), flanker John Barclay (ribs) and centre Nick De Luca (hamstring) will continue their recoveries today from injuries suffered last week after running well in training yesterday.

So it is understandable that the head coach has been finding it tough, the reality of improving Scotland sufficiently to unearth victories taking its toll on his mood. The pressure is clear on him. He has worked hard to drive up belief again this week and remind his players that, for all the mistakes that are dragging them down, they are still producing good rugby and remain close to being a winning team.

“I’m still up, ready for the game, really looking forward to it,” he said. “This team is going out to give 100 per cent, and one thing I’ve seen is that they’ve done that in every game.

“It’s not gone as we’d want it to because of the errors made but if you look at the way the team has tried to play, we’ve played some very attacking aggressive rugby and as I’ve said time and again, if we can be accurate in what we do then we’ll put Italy under a lot of pressure.

“If we’re not and we drop off tackles and Italy put us under pressure they’ll score points. It’s not through the lack of effort that this has happened, just individuals making errors.

“I’m under no more pressure than normal. It’s a Test match. You want be on this stage, in this arena, and we don’t want to be where we are [wooden spoon battle] but we deal with that.

“The attitude the players have shown is right up there, and it’s now about putting a performance there.”

Robinson remains the tactical brains and with defeats so far falling on individual errors under pressure more than any failing in the game-plan he is striving to stick to what he believes will bring Scotland success.

The key is uncovering a performance that pushes the Italian pack, in the scrum and lineout, that makes life difficult for them at the breakdown while also allowing Scotland to maintain momentum, and pick up pace, rather than allowing Azzurri hands to slow it down. Mike Blair and Greig Laidlaw know they have to strike a better balance in attack, between running ball and kicking, and not delivering kicks that make it easy for the Italians to run ball back at him. Rather, those kicks should see the Italians catching ball with Scotland players in their faces. That vital wholehearted aggression in defence and attack will be crucial this afternoon.

“Tactically we will try and mix up,” Robinson added. “Against Ireland, we kicked the ball but got it back, and we’ll have similar strategies to get the ball back again. It’s about it mixing up.

“If there’s space there we will go wide, like we did against France. The 14 points we got came from employing those tactics, and we have to be able to do that. The players have bought into it, executed it very well at times.

“But we’ve got to be more ruthless when Italy have the ball inside our half, in terms of not giving penalties away and maintaining discipline, but also in terms of defending our line. It starts when Italy have got the ball, not just when they reach our 22. We defend our line straight away, anywhere on the pitch.”

There may be many ways to play a game of rugby, but Test matches against Italy invariably bring out the old maxim that rugby is essentially a simple game. It requires forwards that go forward, backs that move the point of attack and attack with pace and a team that defends resolutely every time it loses the ball.

Scotland have improved the threat in their attack, but they are still to master the basics, from concentrating on every scrum and dealing with Italian attempts to ‘double shove’ – effectively hit, sink back, lull Scotland into a false sense of security, and then hit again – to securing ball in the lineout every time, winning restarts and making tackles. Their failure to secure ball from kick-offs and ability to drop off tackles have merely handed opponents areas to go at.

Players and coaches talk about an ‘80-minute’ performance, but in reality no team dominates for that period of time. What they require is a performance that controls this game for long enough to put the score beyond the Italians. Nothing fancy. Nothing far removed from what they have been doing; only more efficient.

Asked what he felt his side had to do differently, Robinson admitted: “Score more points than the opposition.

“We have to break them, and the way we do that is by not giving them any chances and taking ours.”

It sounds simple. Scotland have been making it anything but in this championship and piled pressure on themselves, but victory in Rome would certainly at least be a step towards easing the discomfort.

This Scotland team have the ability and have the tactics to succeed. They have one final chance to put it all together and taste victory, or leave this wonderful Eternal City with another Six Nations adventure left in ruins.

TODAY

Italy v Scotland (12.30pm)

Wales v France (2.45pm)

England v Ireland (5pm)