ON the eve of Vern Cotter’s final game in charge of Scotland, it was appropriate that the member of the squad who best personifies his approach to the game should be the one to pay tribute to him. Appropriate, too, that the player in question, Ryan Wilson, should echo the coach’s sentiments by insisting that today is about the match against Italy, not about Cotter.
The Glasgow Warriors forward, who has won the bulk of his 26 caps since the New Zealander took office back in 2014, is the kind of hard-working, wholly committed competitor that Cotter most approves of. At 27, he is just beginning to reach his peak, and while his own efforts clearly have a lot to do with his rise to prominence within the team, he insisted that the outgoing coach had done a great deal to help not only himself but the whole team improve.
“Not taking anything away from the guys who are coming in, but Vern’s a brilliant coach,” said Wilson, whose Glasgow Warriors coach, Gregor Townsend, will succeed Cotter in the summer. “He’s done a lot for this group, and losing someone like that is going to be a loss for Scottish rugby.
“He’s been great throughout the time I’ve spent with him. He’s straight up: he’ll tell you to go out and play as well as you can. He tells me every week just give it your all and go for it, don’t leave anything out there. That’s what I try to do and maybe that’s why I’ve got a good relationship with Vern, because every time I go out I put everything into that shirt and fill it with pride.
“It would be fair to say everyone buys into Vern’s philosophy of getting stuck in. He’s put some good things in place. Another good coach now comes in and takes over.”
After beating Ireland and Wales and picking up a losing bonus point in Paris, Scotland slumped against England last week. But they could still finish second in the table if results go their way, and Wilson thinks they have a responsibility this afternoon to return to their best form.
“What happened last week was unacceptable in a Scotland shirt,” he added. “No one wants that to happen. We’re excited to right the wrongs, go out and put in a good performance at home.
“Three home wins is massive and we’ll be looking to do that this weekend. We’re going out all guns blazing. We need to start well and carry it on for 80 minutes.
“At the very beginning of this campaign I said that to get three home wins would be a massive thing for us. We’re on track to get that, and if we finish second then it will be a successful campaign because we’ll finish higher than we ever have.
“We were always that team that was nearly there, nearly there. I think we’ve got over that hurdle now. We’re winning tight games and winning games where if we’re in it in the last 30 we know we can grind it out.”
Meanwhile, Wilson’s Warriors team-mate Richie Vernon faces nine months on the sidelines after having surgery on the achilles tendon he injured in the PRO12 win against the Dragons a fortnight ago. The 29-year-old only returned to action in February after a shoulder he injured in November needed an operation,
“We're disappointed for Richie that he faces another spell on the sidelines, not long after he'd worked hard to get back to full fitness,” Warriors head coach Gregor Townsend said. “The surgery was a success and we wish him all the best with his rehab.”
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