TODAYS HERALD WRITES
Criticism of Scotland’s recent form has no sense of perspective
KEVIN FERRIE March 20 2008

COMPETITIVE: Frank Hadden, the Scotland head coach, admitted to making mistakes in the RBS 6 Nations campaign, but his determined approach is relatively successful.
The way emotion often overwhelms reason when addressing sporting matters has never been better demonstrated than in one of many emails I received at the start of the week, lamenting Scotland's RBS 6 Nations championship performance.

"As an ex-pat, the progression of Scottish Rugby has always been close to my heart. But since leaving Scotland in 1981, apart from a few golden moments', our standard of rugby has deteriorated almost on an annual basis," my correspondent wrote, before continuing an attack on the present state of the game.

His message was not far removed from that of many who seem to have lost perspective in their disappointment, so I now invite anyone inclined to sympathise with his comments to consider the following:

In 1982, Scotland beat Wales in Cardiff for the first time in 20 years.


In 1984, Scotland won the grand slam for the first time in 59 years.



In 1986, Scotland inflicted an all-time record defeat on England.


In 1990, a very different team to the 1984 side won the grand slam.


In 1995, Scotland beat France in Paris for the first time in 26 years.


Between 1989 and 1999, Scotland were unbeaten against Ireland.


Either side of England becoming world champions, Scotland ended a 10-year losing run against the world's best-resourced rugby nation before beating them on their last two visits to Murrayfield.

Far from there having been "a few golden moments" since my correspondent left these shores, he departed just before Scottish rugby's golden era. Some may say that the weakness of his argument should not deflect from a sense that performance in the 21st century has been poor.

Certainly professionalism, which has forced the stronger nations to hone their structures, has been hard on this country. However, the second part of my message to that reader sought to outline how, at worst, Scotland has merely reverted to its traditional position:

In the fifties, Scotland lost a record 17 successive matches.


In both 1965 and 1968, Scotland failed to win a championship match.


The seventies, when Andy Irvine, David Leslie, Ian McLauchlan, Colin Deans, Sandy Carmichael, John Rutherford, Iain Milne and Ian McGeechan were playing, produced a run of 13 successive matches without a win.


Jim Renwick, regarded as another all-time great, experienced his first away win in the 47th of his 52 Tests, a decade after his debut.

When I pointed out most of this to my correspondent, his response was refreshing, suggesting he now has the matter in better perspective.

Even so, this Six Nations campaign was very disappointing, not least because expectation had been raised, leaving many of us to reflect on how bullish we had been about Scotland's prospects.

There were also mistakes made in terms of both selection and strategy, most markedly for the last match in the manner of Dan Parks' late reintroduction at stand-off and the way he sought to play, operating much closer to the gain-line than usual and seeking to force far too many over-ambitious passes.

Forced into the selection he should have made in the first instance, Frank Hadden, the head coach, ought to have given his playmaker clearer instructions to stick to his strengths. Failure to address that at half-time hugely exacerbated the problem. Hadden has also acknowledged that he underestimated the impact of the exodus of leading players in preparation for the championship.

Furthermore, like many a professional coach who is uncomfortable when dealing with the media, Hadden is inclined to try to spin his way out of trouble, thereby weaving some tangled webs for himself. Yet knee-jerk, football-style calls for his removal from the post are premature and ill-considered.

Few probably want to read this right now in the heat of the moment, but Hadden's record stands favourable comparison with any other Scottish head coach in the professional era, the vaunted Jim Telfer and Ian McGeechan included. Scottish professional rugby's competitiveness is, meantime, almost ridiculously good when resources are taken into account.

Some may counter that by pointing to Wales' success, but their great over-performance on the rugby field is comparable to Scotland's in the even more competitive world of soccer. In both cases, that comes down to the national sport having access to the best of what talent does emerge, allied to decent coaching.

While, then, there has been a fair bit to criticise in the efforts of both management and players, both Hadden's record and circumstances - like those of Parks incidentally - have earned the right to a more considered assessment of performance.

Meantime, those still feeling emotional might more intelligently direct their vitriol towards local and national politicians whose abject failings are the reason so few youngsters in this tiny little nation of ours properly get to explore their sporting potential.

This article was posted on 20-Mar-2008, 08:25 by Hugh Barrow.