NEIL DRYSDALE IN TODAYS HERALD

David Sole has always been an advocate of substance over style. Twinkle-toed wingers need not apply to join his club unless they are prepared to accept that rugby is a serious business, where any notions of serving up sevens-style flair count for nothing without hard graft in the boiler-room of skulduggery, aka the scrum.

That philosophy was one of the reasons why Sole, a relatively diminutive figure in terms of the average prop forward, flourished in his domain, whether orchestrating Scotland's fabled 1990 grand slam victory over England, or performing a pivotal role in the British and Irish Lions' series triumph against Australia the previous summer. And although he is now 45, it explains why he has spent the last three months in the gym, training for the BBC's Sport Relief in the company of his three sons, Jamie, Christopher and Tom.

In the prelude to this year's Six Nations Championship, Sole shared in the common belief that his compatriots were well-placed to launch a serious charge for the title, which explains his sense of frustration at the anti-climactic fashion in which Frank Hadden's troops have succumbed to a series of dispiriting defeats. Befitting his redoubtable approach, he doesn't waste breath in what might have beens, the bounce of the ball or vilification of officials, and refuses to seek cheap excuses in such factors as Scotland's small number of professional players - for which the blame lies fairly and squarely with past SRU administrations. On the contrary, Sole spells out his convictions, quietly, slowly, insistently, with the attitude that the listener can take them or leave them.

advertisement"I thought we had a great opportunity going into the championship. We had a relatively settled squad, we had done fairly well at the World Cup and I was optimistic that we would beat France in the opening match, because they were in transition and had only six days to make things gel before coming to Murrayfield, which has never been a happy hunting ground for them," he says.

"Momentum is very important in the Six Nations. You saw that with the Welsh, who had a poor World Cup, and who were absolutely awful in the first half against England at Twickenham. Yet, since then, Wales have aimed higher and higher and their confidence has shot up. Whereas, with Scotland, we are still waiting to come out of the blocks.

"I accept that we put up a better display against Ireland and we should probably have finished with more tangible rewards for having so much possession and territory than a 34-13 loss, but rugby is like football: the scoreboard doesn't lie and you don't win anything for effort.

"However, if there is any game designed to offer us a lift, it is the Calcutta Cup, the chance to beat England, and that is the same, whether you are Scottish, Welsh or Irish. Maybe we shouldn't take it too far, but a win on Saturday for Frank's boys would definitely be a significant step in appeasing the critics. And it isn't out of the question."

Sole was speaking before Brian Ashton's decision to exclude Danny Cipriani from his line-up, but clearly believes the visitors are nowhere near the force of Clive Woodward's 2003 World Cup-winning contingent. And, as a captain who famously psyched-out Will Carling on a mad March afternoon 18 years ago, he wants the national stadium to reverberate to the sound of everything positive about his homeland.

"England have a very strong tight five and they will be powerful in the set pieces, no doubt about it, which means our lads will have to be very combative, very hard for 80 minutes, but I'm not convinced by their blend in the back row - I reckon that Nick Easter is a bit one-paced - and we could edge them there," said Sole.

"Mike Blair, on song, is the outstanding scrum-half in the UK at the moment and he could give Richard Wigglesworth a torrid time in that department. Basically, I have no doubt that our forwards will get us a decent amount of ball. The concern is what we do with it."

This article was posted on 7-Mar-2008, 08:27 by Hugh Barrow.