The anguished will gather in Edinburgh on Sunday. France suffered the most agonising of defeats in round one, scuppered by the Drop Goal from the End of the World, while Scotland can only dream of anything so dignified as agony. Such was their humiliation in Cardiff they were finished long before there was opportunity to feel pain – and all this just as they thought they were getting somewhere.
The truth is that Scotland have been flirting with achievement for ages now but they still seem to wilt as soon as anyone gives them a chance away from home. Respectability will not come until this infuriating failing is addressed.
Wales and Leigh Halfpenny rip apart Scotland’s Six Nations ambitions
Last season it was the humiliation of conceding 60 points at Twickenham in the most eagerly awaited Calcutta Cup match of recent times. Then they turned over Australia in Australia in the summer, not to mention the thrashing they meted out to the same Wallabies in the autumn, and the cycle of optimism was renewed.
Last weekend’s humiliation against Wales was not quite as bracing as that of Twickenham – progress of sorts – but it must leave Scotland and their fans exasperated. Which may not be a bad thing in the short term. They now have their two home games this championship on consecutive rounds to brandish the inevitable reaction and they must make it count.
On the surface six changes to the starting team may seem rash from Gregor Townsend but, if there are ever sound grounds for making as many as that, Townsend has them. Simon Berghan returns from suspension to ease the crisis in the front row; Adam Gilchrist and Ryan Wilson take positions in the pack that it was a surprise not to see them fill in the first place; Greig Laidlaw has been the soul of the team in recent years, their captain and goal-kicker; Peter Horne’s inclusion restores a balance to the midfield; and Sean Maitland is class personified. In other words this is a better team than last Saturday’s.
“We are all aware that we didn’t perform anything like we are capable of,” says Townsend, “and, even if it was the same team going back out, I am sure we would have got a better performance. But these changes we believe will make us stronger.
“The responsibility lies with the coaches and myself. We put a team out to perform. Whether it is selection or how we prepared, the first thing we look at is how we could have done it better. We, as a coaching group, and especially the players, believe that what we showed at the weekend wasn’t a true reflection of what we are capable of and what we did throughout 2017.
“But I really believe in the group of players. We under-performed – it happens every now and again. You don’t want it to happen, you think hard about why it happened and you go to a lot of measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
It can be safely assumed that, with home advantage and the fury that must be coursing through them, Scotland will be vastly improved. Their effectiveness at Murrayfield is well established.
Johnny Sexton’s stunning drop goal snatches win for Ireland over France
So the curious may turn instead to France for a dose of the unknown. Under new management and with the fewest number of caps, they entered the first round even more unknown than usual. It turned out they had little trouble keeping a fancied Ireland side away from try-scoring opportunities and, even better, scored the game’s only try with wit and precision during its most telling period.
Their anguish will stem from the needless indiscipline that gave Ireland a six-point lead and that extraordinary drop goal at the end by Johnny Sexton. Further anguish came thanks to the fate that befell their young half-backs. Two of them, the teenager Matthieu Jalibert and Antoine Dupont, suffered serious knee injuries while a third, Anthony Belleau, missed the late penalty that would have taken Sexton’s drop goal out of the equation.
As if in response to the deficit in experience at fly-half last weekend, France have promoted the 32-year-old Lionel Beauxis straight into the hot seat for his first cap in six years, leapfrogging the beleaguered Belleau. He is one of three changes. Geoffrey Doumayrou comes in at centre for Henry Chavancy but it is the loss of Kevin Gourdon that could be felt most keenly. He is replaced at No 8 by Marco Tauleigne, who made his debut off the bench last week.
It may be too much to hope for the drama of those final 10 minutes in Paris but expect Murrayfield to host a lively encounter across the 80 minutes. Anguish can do much for a team and all the more when it sinks its teeth into both sides.