THE HERALD REPORTS

Prove that it wasn’t a one-off
KEVIN FERRIE March 11 2008

TO THE VICTORS, THE SPOILS: Graeme Morrison, Jason White, Dan Parks and Fergus Thomson clearly enjoyed winning the Calcutta Cup. Picture: Colin Mearns
As Ross Ford joined Rory Lamont on the injury list for Saturday's meeting with Italy, Frank Hadden called on the rest of his Calcutta Cup-winning side to prove they are capable of more than simply lifting their game against the Auld Enemy.

The Scotland coach said yesterday there had been minimal time to revel in last weekend's win over England, but that in any case he hoped his players have moved on from the days when that would be seen as a major achievement in itself.

"We didn't have to play out of our skins. It wasn't a super-human effort. The players all did their jobs really well for the first time. That's the first time this season they could look themselves in the mirror and say that because previously we've had people who have been honest enough to hold their hands up, letting us down," Hadden said.

"That has to be the bench-mark and in the weather conditions at the weekend it was not far off flawless. However, I said to them today that is totally wasted if it's just because you've got a white jersey in front of you."


That is not least the case because Italy have, since their introduction to the champion-ship eight years ago, demonstrated just how rapidly teams can develop when exposed to higher levels of competition.

While yet to win in this campaign, they pushed France all the way on Sunday, having previously made life extremely difficult for Ireland and England. Consequently, Hadden believes this will be a much tougher task than last weekend's.

"Last time we beat England we had a fortnight to wallow in it, but this time we have to focus on the Italy match and what a challenge that's going to be," he said.

"They're a side that's made a lot of progress over the past couple of years, a very, very impressive pack and they're starting to move the ball around with a lot more confidence now. So we actually believe this is a bigger challenge now."

Hadden described Monday and Tuesday as "manic" when preparing for the second of back-to-back Test matches, but added that the task facing the Italians was even tougher having played on Sunday, so leaving them with just six days to regroup.

Scott Lawson, the Sale Sharks hooker, and Simon Danielli, the Ulster winger, were called into the squad yesterday to replace Ford and Lamont respectively.

Lamont is hopeful of being available for Scotland's summer Tests against Argentina and perhaps for English Premiership play-off matches if his club Sale make it, but once the swelling has subsided he will require surgery on the cheekbone fractured in a nasty collision with England's Iain Balshaw. Ford, meanwhile, is under-going further assessment on the ankle ligament damage that forced him off.

Nikki Walker was the only other player to miss training yesterday, having also suffered an ankle knock, but that was merely precautionary and he is expected to be fit to take part today.

Hadden, who was heavily critical of the negativity of the press in the build-up to Saturday's match, refused to take offence at risible, albeit predictable claims made in some quarters that Andy Robinson, Edinburgh's coach, had been the key figure in plotting England's downfall, instead laughing them off.

"Did you not know he was Scotland coach?" he chuckled. "Apparently he's coaching Glasgow as well . . ."

That was not to in any way diminish his colleague's contribution since Hadden pointed out that all coaches on the SRU staff work closely together and offer one another feedback, whether the next match is for club or country and that, last week, Robinson could offer particular insight.

"I think you would think we were stupid if we didn't ask Andy for some information in the build-up to the England game," he noted.

In fairness, many of those curmudgeons who struggle to acknowledge any Scottish success are consistent, since they gave Robinson a great deal of the credit the last time Hadden's team won the Calcutta Cup, two years ago. He was, of course, England's coach at the time.

This article was posted on 11-Mar-2008, 08:03 by Hugh Barrow.