Brooklyn band Yarn’s song, “This is the year,” could serve as an anthem for Scotland, reflecting the perennial spin that accompanies their quest to win the Six Nations Championship; a long dry spell that dates to 1999. It is more supporters driven, than any verbal derring-do from players or head coach Gregor Townsend.
On paper, there is some justification for the sticking a chin out defiantly given their roster but they keep getting clipped. Blair Kinghorn has elevated his game at Toulouse, Kyle Steyn, Darcy Graham and Duhan van der Merwe are among the best finishers in European rugby, Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu played for the Lions in the summer as did the halfback pairing Finn Russell and Ben White.
Ewan Ashman is a top-class hooker, Zander Fagerson and Pierre Schoeman are pillars of distinction while there is plenty of athleticism in the back five of the pack.
And yet in last season’s Six Nations Championship, the Scots finished fourth for the fifth time in six years, beating Italy and Wales at home, losing to Ireland in Edinburgh and then England (16-15), against whom they have a very good record in recent times, and France on the road.
RM Block
In the summer, they were beaten in Fiji, and in November came back from 17-0 down to 17-17 against an All Blacks team that played 10 of the last 18 minutes a man down, yet it was New Zealand that won 25-17. Townsend’s team was then booed off at Murrayfield when coughing up a 21-0 lead against Argentina succumbing to a 33-24 defeat.
It sums up Scotland to a degree under Townsend, who has been in charge since 2017, capable of playing some brilliant attacking rugby while at the same time brittle in many of the bigger matches. The fixture schedule is kind with an opening trip to Rome followed by a game against England at home and then Wales in Cardiff.
Win two or all three of those and they’ll have plenty of momentum going into a game against France at Murrayfield before heading for Dublin on the final weekend. In some respects, their brilliant but mercurial outhalf Finn Russell embodies the current Scotland team, capable of some exquisite attacking rugby but also susceptible to jaw-dropping lapses.
A key for the Scots is that the pack can step up physically in the set piece and the carrying game for 80 minutes to provide a platform for an undoubtedly talented backline. Townsend was asked whether he was the man for the job in November. He will have to demonstrate why he is over the next six weeks.
