Gregor Townsend’s stated aim of playing the highest-tempo rugby in the world has been much misunderstood – not least, it seems, by some of his Scotland players.
As they bid to get their Six Nations campaign back on track after it came badly off the rails in Cardiff, Scotland know they will need a more measured approach on Sunday at home to France who, contrary to the received wisdom before the championship, now look the more settled and composed of the two squads.
The France coach, Jacques Brunel, has made three changes to the team who began last week’s 13-15 defeat by Ireland – half the number of alterations made by Townsend after his side’s traumatic 34-7 defeat in Wales. The return of the veteran Lyon stand-off Lionel Beauxis after a six-year absence is a gamble but one which could increase the pressure on his opposite number, Finn Russell.
After a frustrating spell with Bordeaux, Beauxis has been rejuvenated by the Lyon coach, Pierre Mignoni, according to Brunel. “I thanked Mignoni, because he has resurrected him,” the France coach told L’Equipe. “We know his talent, his qualities – he’s not always been able to express them at the highest level. Since the start of the season he’s shown great things.”
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Beauxis comes straight into the team in place of the injured Matthieu Jalibert, while Anthony Belleau, the teenager’s replacement against Ireland, again starts on the bench. Geoffrey Doumayrou, ruled out of the Ireland game by a slight knock, returns at outside-centre, with Rémi Lamerat moving inside and Henry Chavancy dropping out of the squad. The only change in the pack sees Mathieu Tauleigne come in for his first start at No 8, replacing the injured Kevin Gourdon.
Partnering his Glasgow club-mate Ali Price at half-back against the Welsh, Russell appeared to be one of those Scots who misinterpreted their head coach’s game plan, failing to vary the tempo as required. The restoration of Greig Laidlaw at scrum-half is in part designed to help Russell understand the intention is to play at a higher tempo than the opposition over the game as a whole, not in each individual play.
It is not so much a question of curbing Russell’s enthusiasm altogether, Laidlaw explained, as reining in his impetuosity.
“Finn gets excitable and I love that side of him, but he wants to always attack,” the Clermont scrum-half said. “I’ll just be encouraging him to pick his head up, see what’s in front of him. If they’ve got 14 boys in the frontline there has to be space in the back field. If there’s space in the back field we get it down there and back our defence.
“I’ll just be keeping a tab on him – make sure he’s not getting too excited. He likes to attack, which is brilliant. I’d never take that away from him.”
Price may be more dynamic but Laidlaw’s ability to orchestrate the tempo is peerless. To his detractors, the 32-year-old is more comfortable slowing play down than speeding it up, yet for the time being at least he provides a necessary counterbalance to those team members whose interpretation of the coach’s game plan lacks nuance.
“We don’t want it to be frantic,” he added. “We want it to be disciplined rugby but quick rugby. At times we got away from that last weekend. At Test level you’ve got to understand the ebbs and flows of the game. The times that you’re up you need to keep going, keep going, keep hammering.
“But then there will be a time in the game when we’re under the pump, that’s for sure. We’re playing against a good side here and we’ll need to just grab the game and maybe slow it down just for a couple of minutes to get a handle. We’ve got a couple of plays we can go to and settle the nerves, get everybody a touch of the ball.
“We’ve got a good plan, and if we can execute it I think we can win. If we start well and play with speed, I don’t think they’ll like it.”
Laidlaw knows, of course, the converse could also be true. Scotland were thrown off their stride all too easily in Cardiff, and although those six changes by Townsend have brought greater solidity and experience to his team, France can still be expected to probe for the same weaknesses.
He said: “They have speed, power and scrummaging power, so they’re always going to be in games. They’ll always target the scrum: they love their scrumming. I think they’ll back their attacking game as well, and they’ll come after our defence, because we leaked a fair few points at the weekend.”