ALL through the Scotland camp this week they have been determined to look forward, without even a glance back at history. Those on the outside, however, are able to cast their minds back two years and recall the team’s last visit to Cardiff.
Tomorrow’s match against Wales is not just a chance to continue the progress from last weekend’s victory over France, but also an opportunity to wipe from the slate one of the darkest days in the team’s history.
For Chris Paterson, for example, it should have been a highlight of his career. It was his first match as national captain, heading a bright, new-look side organised by a radical, fresh coaching team and littered with exciting young talent. The air around the training camp was heavy with optimism and expectation. For Andy Henderson, who had established himself as the first-choice inside centre during the previous year’s World Cup, it was a chance to cement his place.
Perhaps more people should have seen the humiliation coming, as Shane Williams scored two tries in a 23-10 triumph. The gobbledegook coming from Matt Williams, who had just taken over Scotland’s coaching duties, the bizarre team selection, with Henderson moved from his best role to the wing, should have been clues, but such was the level of hope that hardly anybody spotted the disaster before it arrived.
“That was a low,” Paterson admitted when pressed to talk about it. “There was so much change, so much expectation and so much focus and I cannot think of anything in that first 20 minutes that went right for us. They scored early tries and it rocked us. So much had changed that we did not know where to go, we were lost. Not through any individual’s fault, but it was a mess.
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“We were defending in different positions from the ones we were attacking in, the guys had to switch round 10 to 15, wing to centre, outside to inside centre and all that. We had practised all week defending tight, so in the first few minutes they scored two tries on the outside. There was so much going on that we forgot to look up and see that the other guys were spread out.”
It was just as bad an experience for Henderson. “Before the game I was happy just to be in the team; afterwards I would rather not have been there,” he said. “I am definitely more comfortable in the centre, but I was supposed to be on the wing in attack and outside centre in defence. When we lost the ball or kicked it out we had to rejig and it did not go well at all.”
All of which explains the real reason why there is such a good feeling surrounding the Scotland team at the moment. For a start, as Paterson points out, “you have got to trust your players” and Frank Hadden, the present Scotland coach, does. Now the players have proved themselves over 80 minutes against France.
Paterson may not be back at fly half, but he is almost as effective on the wing, where he will play for the 32nd time in 62 caps. Henderson is also back in the No 12 shirt and both are relishing the different atmosphere that allows them the freedom to throw away all the pre-planned stuff and make it up as they go along.
“We are happy,” Paterson said. “We know we are going to have to play better than we did last week but having beaten France, the opposition will take us more seriously. Wales are playing in a way that means it will be an immensely quick match, and when you are that tired and the game is that quick, you know there will be mistakes and there will be tries. You just hope to be on the right side of the try count.”