If we didn’t know it before we certainly know it now — there is a massive gulf in class between Scotland and Ireland at the moment. At the start of this Six Nations championship I felt it was closing, and the opening-weekend win over England seemed to suggest that — but at the finish it looks as wide as ever.
That would be worrying enough in any year, but it is far more alarming with the World Cup just 18 months away. Scotland have been drawn in the same pool as South Africa and Ireland and will almost certainly have to beat one of them to get through to the knockout stages. On this performance it is desperately hard to see them pulling that off.
I used to hate players being marked out of 10, mostly because I always used to get a four, but if I was to rate Scotland’s championship as a whole I’d struggle to give them more than five. There were good elements — the wins against England and Italy, the fact they lost by just three against Wales when they played so poorly in Cardiff — but they were a few critical notches below their best for too much of the tournament.
The loss to Ireland was almost their tournament in a nutshell. A few good flashes early on, followed by the creeping realisation that they just weren’t good enough. They looked pretty impressive for the first 15 minutes in Dublin, but after failing to get points on the board in that period their confidence and accuracy ebbed away. And once Ireland had made their breakthrough with their first try everything seemed to go against Scotland.
The grim truth is that the game probably went the way we thought it would go. The gap in class between the two sides was apparent before the game and Ireland, in a way, simply confirmed what we suspected. Over recent years they have evolved into one of the best sides in the world and although there were inaccuracies in the way they played yesterday they had the skills and organisation to deal with them and regroup.
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If we are being frank about it, Scotland were just not good enough to live with Ireland here. There were a couple of opportunities that could have drawn them back into the game, but after that opening spell, when it looked as if they had turned up physically and turned up mentally, they never looked as if they could pull off an upset.
To their credit, Scotland had clearly identified opportunities around the breakdown — one area where you have to compete with Ireland. They rattled Ireland when Pierre Schoeman made his big break through the middle, but once Ireland settled into their rhythm they were physically dominant across the field. With the advantage they had in their maul it was always going to be difficult for Scotland to defend the drive.
As Ireland built their scoreline there was a feeling of desperation about Scotland. They became ragged and that led to knock-ons, balls being ripped in the tackle and problems with discipline. That’s something Scotland really have to sort out as they’ve been the most penalised team in the championship this year. Most of the penalties have been at the breakdown and Scotland have to do a lot of work to do there to tidy up their act.
I think there is a realisation around the Scotland team that physicality is an issue. We lack power to go up against teams like Ireland and South Africa and put them under pressure. Losing Duhan van der Merwe for the last couple of games robbed Scotland of a big, physical threat in attack and a player who could make something out of nothing.
Everything feels flat at the ends of this championship. The talk in the build-up was of a once-in-a-generation Scotland team, a golden generation of players who could challenge for the title and maybe even a grand slam. But they just haven’t delivered in this Six Nations and the coaching review afterwards will have to be far-reaching.
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We will never really know if the off-field discipline lapse, with players going out for an illicit drinking session, had an effect on morale. Obviously, it’s hardly the best preparation for a Test match but I genuinely don’t think it changed things. It brought some unwelcome publicity, but I don’t believe the final scoreline would have been any different without it.
