INTERNATIONAL rugby is tough.

It takes years of individual training to develop the appropriate physique and skill level required to take on the best players in the world, months of preparation to create a team unit which can endure extreme pressure, days of analysis to ensure that nobody is caught out by the opposition’s game-plan, and then 80 minutes of intense concentration and effort to make sure that all this build-up work has not been in vain. 

As if all that wasn’t demanding enough, then there is the issue of coping with outside expectations, which is a minefield in a world where the boldest rather than brightest opinions – knee-jerk reactions rather than reasoned debate – increasingly hold sway.  

Saturday’s performance against Italy fell well short of the level Scotland have set for themselves. The middle 40 minutes were decent enough but both the first and last 20 minutes of this contest at Stadio Olimpico in Rome were poor. The 1-point gap between the two side at full-time is the closest Italy have got to a positive result in a Six Nations match since losing 15-26 to Wales back in February 2019.  

So, not a great day for Scottish rugby, but neither was it the disaster it is being presented as by a vocal section of so-called supporters on social media. Scotland were never in danger of losing this match, they scored five good tries and generated some much-needed momentum – following back-to-back defeats against Wales and France – heading into next weekend’s Six Nations denouement against Ireland in Dublin.  

If you can’t enjoy a bonus-point victory by Scotland on the road in the Six Nations then it is questionable whether you’ve really cottoned on to how difficult international rugby is. Results like this used to be as rare as hen’s teeth. Are Gregor Townsend and his team victims of their own successes, who are being castigated for not always over-achieving as they did against England at the start of this Six Nations campaign?  

“You will get a grumpy coaching group tonight rather than one that should be happy with the result,” reflected Townsend, speaking immediately after the match, and making no attempt to disguise his own disappointment at what had transpired.  

“Look at the players, they know themselves we did not perform as well as we should have in that final quarter. Credit must go to the boys for the work they put in before then against a really good Italian side. The reality, though, is that if we play like that next week, we have no chance of winning. 

“We will have to improve to be in a position to really challenge Ireland, stay in the fight and create opportunities to go ahead of them.” 

Scotland picked up a win in Dublin in 2010 but that was at Croke Par because Lansdowne Road (aka the Aviva Stadium) was being redeveloped, so they haven’t tasted success at the home of Irish rugby since 1998 (when a 16-17 victory was quickly followed by the resignation of home head coach Brian Ashton mid campaign, to be replaced by Warren Gatland). 

Recent successes at Twickenham and Stade de France after many years of failure will provide Townsend’s boys with some belief ahead of this weekend’s clash – but they will also be acutely aware that they face a big step up in class to what they faced in Rome this weekend. 

“It is one of the biggest challenges in rugby, playing one of the top sides away from home in a venue where we have not done very well for a while,” the coach acknowledged.  “We have to be better next week but at least we go into it with confidence on the back of a win.  

“We are very honest with each other and know that we have to be better to win in Dublin.” 

“I think it will be a much more open game than maybe games against Ireland in the past,” he added. “They play a lot of rugby so that could work in our favour or put our defence under real pressure.  

“We know Ireland are very good in the contact area, very good at the set-piece, and they have built this attacking game that is really threatening. 

“But we have got to be able to match that as well as create problems for their attack through the way we defend, and bring our own game to put them under pressure.” 

One of the big bonuses for Townsend was that Finn Russell, man-of-the-match Ali Price and captain Stuart Hogg – his three most important playmakers – produced improved performances on Saturday after struggling for form earlier in this Six Nations championship.  

“We have been on a journey of four games now and we have learned things about ourselves as a leadership group,” said Townsend. “I felt Stuart and the other leaders this week really stepped up with their honesty over what was required. They were some of our better players in the game.   

“We know in leadership the best way to influence your teammates is playing well and they did that today.”