A BOOK I keep returning to is Matthew Syed’s “Bounce”. Syed is a three-time Commonwealth table tennis champion who now writes for The Times, and set out to explore what makes people successful in sport and life.
We all love to throw around words like ‘genius’, ‘naturally gifted’ and ‘genetics’ when we describe and explain such individuals, but I’m with Syed in believing that excellence is primarily down to sustained, purposeful practice. Other aspects he identifies as key are pushing past the comfort zone, belief and the ability to learn from failure, not to mention a couple we’ll all be hoping for today: serendipity and luck.
The challenge for Scotland is hefty, but by no means insurmountable. And at the forefront of their hopes is Greig Laidlaw, a man who encapsulates and dictates the culture within the group.
Greig signed for Edinburgh the summer I left for Gloucester, where he now plays. I’ve known and admired him for many years. He’s a Borderer through and through, a proud Scot, and incredibly competitive. Some people questioned his position ahead of the World Cup, testament to the form of Henry Pyrgos and Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, but Greig has taken both the No 9 jersey and the captaincy and owned them.
His success isn’t down to natural ability, although it goes without saying he’s technically astute. As Syed asserts, with effort comes excellence, and Greig has always pushed himself beyond the comfort zone, believing that hard work pays off. Irrespective of his age or seniority within a side, he’s always taken it upon himself to drive standards. It’s a fantastic quality, one that makes him an outstanding leader.
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Most importantly, given the position he plays and the number of close scrapes Scotland tend to find themselves in, his clarity of thought in the heat of battle is second to none. As we saw last week against Samoa, he backs himself and thrives on big decisions. It’s not about bravado; these are carefully calibrated judgements based on belief in those around him. I know from my time as captain of Scotland and Gloucester that when you’re not a physical specimen who can command respect by bashing people, the ability to be assertive in the decision-making process while empowering and showing faith in your teammates is absolutely crucial.
Laidlaw sets the tone, in what he does and what he says. He’s the World Cup’s second highest points scorer, and his goal-kicking can now be described as world-class. He’s always been good from 40m and in, and he now seems to have extended that range a touch. Again, this won’t have been by chance.
I have vivid memories of being with Scotland when Greig was still finding his feet at Edinburgh. We’d train on the back pitches for autumn international and Six Nations campaigns, typically a quiet time for the domestic leagues. Day after day, we’d see a lone figure cast in the darkness of late afternoon on pitch 1.
Waiting in the wings behind Mike Blair, an experience I knew when I was first at Edinburgh, Laidlaw put the hours in to ensure that when the chance came, he could grab it, and he hasn’t looked back.
Like Stuart Hogg, Sean Lamont, Richie Gray, Alasdair Strokosch, Jon Welsh and Richie Vernon, he knows what it’s like to be in a match-day squad that beats the Wallabies. Both the 2009 and 2012 wins came in monsoon rain and were built on titanic defence.
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Australia are the tournament’s form team. They’ve come through the pool of death unbeaten and both their defence and attack look formidable. Their pack is now a force, the axis in the back row, even without Pocock, a constant menace, and they have movement and flow in the backline.
I like the balance of the Scotland team, however. The set-piece is tasked with finding a way to disrupt the Australian scrum and lineout maul while John Hardie and Blair Cowan must defuse the menace of Michael Hooper. Holding possession is the key to building any kind of pressure. We can’t kick aimlessly to Kurtley Beale, even if he’s not the same threat as Israel Folau.
The inclusion of Peter Horne at 12 brings a left-foot option which makes the Scottish kicking game harder to read, but it needs to be targeted and well executed. Finally, we must hold our discipline. Scotland have the players in attack to cause problems, but there needs to be a ruthless precision to all they do.
It would have been ridiculous had Jonny Gray and Ross Ford not been allowed to lend their weight. Intent must surely play a huge part in any disciplinary process, and to me the bans were disproportionate. Common sense has prevailed belatedly, but it’s still far from ideal in terms of the disruption to Scotland’s preparations.
Scotland must be inspired rather than distracted by what’s gone on. To win, they’ll have to push beyond their comfort zone, believe in themselves, ride out some tough times and take the breaks when they fall their way. It’s a monumental challenge, and Laidlaw is the man to lead them into it.