THE SCOTSMAN REPORTS



Published Date: 05 March 2009
By David Ferguson
INTRODUCING Edinburgh school pupils to rugby and hoping to discover the next Scotland 'star' was clearly more enjoyable yesterday for current international Graeme Morrison than might have been the case had Scotland suffered a third successive defeat to Italy on Saturday.
The Glasgow centre was a guest coach at Drummond Community High School in the capital through an RBS RugbyLink and Prince's Trust initiative designed to encourage young people to engage in the sport. Being able to talk about what it takes to win a Six Nations fixture was infinitely more attractive to his young audience than had he turned up a week ago with defeats to Wales and France fresh in the memory.

With France having now burst Wales' hopes of a first back-to-back Grand Slam for 30 years, the championship focus is turning to Ireland – the next opponents for Scotland at Murrayfield, when the tournament resumes on 14 March.

The prospect of halting Ireland's bid for a first Grand Slam triumph since 1948 now looms large and, in looking to build on the win over Italy, Morrison views bursting their bubble as good motivation.

Morrison added: "Their (Ireland's] game against England was quite stuffy and there are definitely areas in which we can attack them. They're going for the Grand Slam and they're the only team that can do it this season, but we've been known to put a dampener on the spirits of other teams before so, hopefully, we can take a good game to them and turn them over.

"A lot of the emphasis will be on stopping Ireland, but as a squad we also need to focus on what we can do. A win would put us in a great position to build again, but we're always talking about building. We were happy with the win against Italy, but this is a chance to show we're not a 'one-week team'."

The fact that Ireland now top the table, despite a lack of consistency, underlines how open the 2009 tournament is. The smart money is now on a championship decider between Wales and Ireland in Cardiff in the very last match on 21 March, but if they can lift their game significantly Scotland have the potential to play a part in swinging the trophy back Wales' way.

Morrison said: "There has been a lot of feedback that the win (for Scotland] over Italy wasn't the prettiest, but there aren't many teams in the world that can play free-flowing stuff against the Italians. We realised we had not been performing for the nation, but when you win, the players are confident and that lifts a bit of the pressure.

"Had we lost we would be at the bottom of the table with morale at rock bottom – I shudder to think what it would have been like this week if we'd lost – but the win now gives us something to work on.

"We've got points in this championship with the next game to come at home, so we're looking to give the supporters something more to cheer.

"We know there were a lot of disappointed people paying money to come and see us lose, so now we've got the win maybe that will put a smile on the faces of a few people." He added: "Today has been great, and it definitely helps coming to schools when Scotland have won. It's brilliant to see so many kids enjoying rugby – especially as many have never had first-hand experience of playing the game."

Morrison is being rested from Glasgow's game away to Ulster on Saturday night, as is flanker John Barclay, but Scotland wing Simon Danielli was yesterday named by Matt Williams in Ulster's squad and faces the prospect of playing five consecutive weekends, which is unlikely to ease the injury concerns of Scotland coach Frank Hadden.

• Graeme Morrison and John Barclay appeared as part of the RBS RugbyLink programme, connecting people with rugby.

This article was originally posted on 5-Mar-2009, 11:31 by Hugh Barrow.
Last updated by Hugh Barrow on 5-Mar-2009, 11:31.