The reinstatement of Rory Lawson at scrum-half for today’s Calcutta Cup match at Twickenham will neither surprise nor dismay anybody who watched Scotland’s demoralising defeat by Ireland a fortnight ago. Nevertheless, it still leaves some head-scratching over Andy Robinson’s recent half-back selections.
The Scotland coach only added to the puzzlement when he explained why he had selected Lawson ahead of Mike Blair. "It's always a tight call," he said. So far, so obvious. But what followed was more perplexing.
"I think Rory Lawson is right on top of his game at the moment," continued Robinson. "He played well when he came off the bench. I believe he is our best passer and with Ruaridh Jackson starting at 10, to give him that bit of extra time I wanted Rory to come in and play there. I think he’s also tactically our best kicker."
Which rather begs the question: why was Lawson dropped for the Ireland game when the attributes so generously outlined by Robinson could only have assisted Jackson in his starting debut against Ireland? That seemed a more obvious game for the 23-year-old fly-half to flourish than today’s potentially fraught encounter.
There is no escaping the fact that the half-back selection contributed greatly to the defeat against Ireland. On an afternoon when it was blindingly obvious what kind of kicking from hand was required to play to Richie Gray’s strengths in the lineout, Blair and Jackson hoisted purposeless balls into the stratosphere, gifting possession to the Irish and allowing them to launch counter-attacks. That Ronan O’Gara was delivering a characteristic masterclass for the other side only added to the cringe factor.
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Having seen enough and replaced Jackson with Parks after only 56 minutes, the gamble Robinson has now taken is in retaining the Glasgow fly-half this afternoon. In a bizarre reversal of the expected roles, it was Parks who took up a flatter position and asked all the questions of Ireland when he came on at Murrayfield. Had he regained his place in the side along with Lawson there could have been few dissenters. Another puzzling one.
With the RBS Six Nations now all about face-saving for the Scots, and the World Cup looming, it can only be hoped that the Lawson-Jackson combination clicks. On balance, Robinson may have felt that it would do only damage Jackson’s confidence to drop him so quickly, but today there will be a huge onus on Lawson, who turned 30 yesterday, to cajole a more dominant performance out of his inexperienced partner.
"I haven’t played a whole lot with him other than in training," admitted Lawson, "but you build up a relationship. My eyes work relatively well, and he’s vocal, so I’ll know where to find him. Obviously he plays slightly flatter to the line, but no matter who my 10 is I like to bring him onto the ball. Typically I don’t look at my target as being where the guy is, but where I want him to be or where I think he should be." And although Lawson’s memory is surprisingly vague, the half-backs were both members of the Scotland A squad that won the 2009 IRB Nations Cup, albeit sharing limited pitch time.
There is no doubting Lawson’s appetite for another bite at England, against whom he made his Six Nations debut as a replacement in 2007. He will also want to win bragging rights over his Gloucester teammate and England captain Mike Tindall ahead of being a guest at the latter’s low-key wedding this summer.
The scrum half is not the type to need a kick in the backside to work on his game, and he confirmed that neither the competition for places at No 9 — Chris Cusiter will come back into contention for the World Cup — nor his being dropped against Ireland had been a spur. "I've always wanted to improve every week, every year," he pointed out. "I'd like to think that even if I was the only scrum-half in Scotland that would be the way I’d approach things."
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"I'm aware that one of Mike’s biggest strengths is in and around the break-down, holding the ball up and pulling defenders onto himself. That’s something I need to improve, and he’d be the same. We are different players and we don’t want to completely change the way we play, but you want to add as many strings to your bow as you can and be better players as a result."
Lawson is too much of a professional to rise to the bait when asked about Scotland’s aimless kicking against Ireland. "Nobody wants to kick the ball badly," he shrugged. "The guys practise hard at it, but it’s something we need to improve."
Despite continuing optimism in the Scotland camp, the destructive trend of giving away soft tries, particularly in the opening 10 minutes — it happened for the seventh time in nine games against Ireland — continues to fatally undermine this Six Nations campaign. Against a confident England side chasing a Grand Slam, any repetition will have serious consequences.
"The frustrations within the camp are that we’ve not shown what we’re about so far," admitted Lawson. "Across the last 12 months we’ve built up a a lot of expectations, but we’ve not met these in our performances. We don’t feel that other teams have had to be on top of their game to beat us. England are obviously on for a Grand Slam, and anything other than an exceptional performance won’t be good enough to win down there."