Six Nations: It’s not all gloom as new faces offer Scotland bright flashes of promise

THERE have been many lean times in Scottish rugby and a run of just five victories in the last 27 RBS Six Nations games makes clear this is one, but as we look for perspective there are genuine signs of hope to clutch.

It emanates from the new faces handed their international debuts this season, notably David Denton at No 8, Greig Laidlaw at stand-off, winger Lee Jones and yesterday’s latest debutant, Stuart Hogg. While recriminations will continue with no match at the weekend to move the focus from the demoralising opening defeats by England and Wales, games that produced so much promise, but failed to grasp victory, the new faces have brought flashes of light to the picture of gloom.

Robinson has striven to introduce these players gently into the Test arena, initially off the bench, but the way in which 26-year-old Laidlaw, the Edinburgh skipper, ran Scotland’s game in the Millennium Stadium yesterday suggested he should have been handed the reins a week earlier.

Laidlaw’s ability to attack the gain-line, to vary attack with hand and boot, catching the Welsh defence at sixes and sevens with kicks, and often threading players into gaps, helped Scotland spend long spells on the front foot yesterday. His scrum-half’s nose for a score late on that few stand-offs would see, far less attempt, further underlined his value to the team.

The one blot was when he was bounced off the tackle by Alex Cuthbert, a winger, admittedly nine inches taller and four stones heavier, for the first Wales try, but his defence elsewhere was at times exemplary.

Denton was again the most potent attacking forward for Scotland, with Richie Gray and Ross Rennie close behind, while, quick and aggressive in defence and attack, Jones looked completely at ease despite only making his Test debut the week before at Murrayfield.

Hogg was sprung from the bench at full-back after just 15 minutes, a replacement for Max Evans, who suffered an ankle injury that could threaten his involvement against France. The 19-year-old – Scotland’s first teenage cap since Gregor Townsend in 1993 – warmed to the game to produce two scintillating breaks in the second half and score a try that the officials wrongly disallowed.

Robinson said: “I have to give Greig Laidlaw real credit today, making his first start at ten, and also highlight Stuart Hogg – the way he came on and took to the game was pleasing. Stuart played really well and looked very comfortable today. I’m delighted with the way he played.

“Lee Jones was another player who had a cracking game. These guys are learning the game, learning it on the international stage, and they’ve done well. That’s credit to them for the way they’ve approached it. When players come through and play well then they get introduced in, and that’s what we’ve done, but it’s a step-by-step process.”

Hogg said: “It was disappointing for Max to come off so early, but it was great to get on and earn my first cap. I don’t think I’ve ever felt as nervous in all my life as when I got the call to go on.

“It’s a great honour to play for Scotland and it was fantastic. Once I got into it things seemed to happen for me, but we’re bitterly disappointed with the result.

“Andy said at half-time ‘the next 15-20 minutes will determine the outcome of this game’, and then they [Wales] came out and got three tries, but we got back into it and I scored a definite try in the corner. If they went to the TMO it would have been a try because I lost the ball but gathered it before it hit the ground.

“That is very disappointing, but then Greig ended up scoring, and it was good to show we can score tries. Now we have to look to France and do all we can at training to build on this. Hopefully, I will [start against France], but all I can do is work hard and hope that things come my way.”

Laidlaw added: “It was a frustrating game and once again we’re talking about chances created and a lack of composure in the last third. And the five minutes when we were down to 13 men cost us the game.

“Overall, I was quite happy with my first Test [start]. There were a couple of errors, and I’m disappointed I slipped off the tackle – we were numbers short and under pressure and I moved late to him – but those are the margins in Test rugby.

“I felt I got the back-line moving, and we challenged a good Welsh defence. Our attack is good and we are getting up the field quite easily times. If we keep our composure and hold on to the ball for longer, I’m 100 percent sure that we will cross the line on more occasions.

“Hoggy did score – that was a poor decision by the referee – but if we go behind in games it’s tough to come back, so that’s the lesson: don’t go behind.

“I’d like to be playing France next week, but if given the chance against France I’m convinced that Scotland can get a win back at Murrayfield.”

The belief and enthusiasm the new faces are bringing to an experienced core is what could lift Scottish fortunes, with more young talent in the shape of Rob Harley, Matt Scott, Harry Leonard and Stuart McInally also on its way. It has been another wretched start to a Six Nations campaign, but all is far from lost.