Stuart Bathgate: Optimism is tempered by defeat, but some genuine signs of hope emerge from behind shadow of humiliation

“The most glaring problem yesterday was the stupidity of de Luca and Lamont in being sin-binned”

WELSh rugby followers are supposed to be the ones who switch most rapidly from dejection to elation and back again, but yesterday Scotland supporters surely gave them a run for their money. We stopped some way short of unmitigated delight, of course, but at the end of an emotionally exhausting game in which humiliation had loomed, we had several causes for genuine hope.

It was a convincing and deserved defeat, and every argument for optimism has to be qualified by that fact. But at least there was a partial recovery by Scotland after that awful spell in which two men were in the bin and the defence was in disarray. At least the try drought was ended. And at least there was a whole lot more rugby played than in the unremitting grimness of the loss to England eight days earlier.

Successful rugby teams can contrast their wins with their defeats. Scotland, for whom this was a fourth consecutive loss, have had to learn to distinguish between different varieties of defeat – and judged in that context, this 27-13 result was preferable to the earlier 13-6 one, for all that it was heavier.

Watching the Murrayfield match was like seeing a Third Division team lose to one from the Second Division. Yesterday in Cardiff Scotland lost to a First Division side, but in doing so upped their own game considerably.

Almost the entire first half, for example, constituted an object lesson in how to nullify the opposition while at the same time posing a real threat. It was a balanced, sensible blend, and surely Scotland’s only real regret at the interval, when the score stood at a penalty apiece, was their failure to turn possession into points.

There were problems aplenty in the first 15 minutes of the second half, and we will come to them later. From then on, though, there was little but decent play from Scotland.

There was a try from Greig Laidlaw that showed you can take the scrum-half out of the No 9 jersey, but you can never take the scrum-half’s instincts away from him. There was the score which should have been from Stuart Hogg, whose sleight of hand to keep a low pass under control was so deft it fooled the referee into thinking he must have knocked on. And there were other moments of real, creative rugby from both of those players and several of their colleagues that at least made us think they can make a game of it against the French.

Mike Blair again outperformed Chris Cusiter when he came on for the last half-hour, with a keener eye for the break and a sharper service. On Sunday week he deserves to start alongside Laidlaw at half-back. David Denton was again the pick of the pack, playing with the confidence of a seasoned international in only his second start. The No 8’s omission from the World Cup squad was seen at the time as sensible given his lack of experience, but in retrospect who is to say he might not have made a vital difference to Scotland there?

The forwards as a whole performed well at the set piece and in defence, for most of the time producing quicker ball than they had been able to do against England. Their task was made a bit easier in the first half by Welsh lineout problems, but over the piece it was still a highly creditable 80 minutes’ work.

With Euan Murray again unavailable because the France match is on a Sunday, Scotland coach Andy Robinson could easily select the same eight again. The only doubt is over the selection of John Barclay instead of Alasdair Strokosch, but fielding two opensides in Barclay and Ross Rennie is perhaps too gung-ho for Robinson. The coach is painfully aware that some basic problems still need to be resolved, and may regard that as the priority rather than trying to maximise the attacking options in his line-up.

The most glaring problem yesterday was the stupidity of Nick de Luca and Rory Lamont in being sinbinned in the second half. In both cases, the trouble was an inability to remain calm in a hectic situation: De Luca should have accepted that Lee Jones had as good a chance as anyone of getting to the ball first, and Lamont should have known that, with the centre already in the bin, safety first should be the option rather than committing another professional foul.

As Gregor Townsend said last week, enthusiasm kills accuracy. That failing was also apparent in the closing minutes of the first half when Allan Jacobsen knocked on off 21st-phase ball just metres from the line.

It was a debilitating error from the Edinburgh prop, but it only led to the failure to score points. The mistake by Chris Cusiter from the second-half restart was more damaging, as it quickly led to the first Welsh try, in the process undoing much of Scotland’s good work of the first 40 minutes was undone.

The restart problem, like the inability to score tries, has been a recurrent difficulty in recent years, if a less eye-catching one. Other faults also remain. But, to end on a positive note, another problem in recent seasons has been the dearth of attacking flair. Yesterday’s loss was another bitter blow, but in years to come it may just be remembered as the game in which Scotland rediscovered a more promising strain of running rugby.