By Matt Hardy
How do you measure success? Is it by trophies won, memories made or the journey you take along the way? For Scotland it remains unclear.
Every year seems to be heralded as their turn in the Six Nations and in 2023 they got off to a best ever start, winning their opening two matches for the first time ever.
But then came the losses – to France and Ireland – before a victory over Italy, and seeing them finish above England and Wales left those north of the border wondering, “what if?”.
Gregor Townsend’s men must, though, think incrementally given their lack of a Six Nations trophy since the competition added the Italians.
Recognise Scotland disappointments
They’ve enjoyed success in Calcutta Cups against England and have come close to a number of significant wins, but it hasn’t yet all come together in one season. And at last year’s World Cup they failed to reach the last eight.
If they’re to repeat their feat of winning their opening two games this season, they’ll need to go to Cardiff and triumph before beating the French at their Murrayfield fortress.
Key to that could be choosing co-captains in forward Rory Darge and blockbuster No10 Finn Russell, who featured in the World Cup but whose captaincy, in place of Jamie Richie, could add new dimensions to the side.
“It is important that we recognise that the World Cup was a big disappointment,” Townsend says. “We have come together on a video call to process what we learned from that game. It was really positive that we did that and now we can focus on the Six Nations.
“The two players in Rory and Finn are key players in our squad. They are leaders, leaders in different ways. We also feel it is a good way to develop leadership. They’ll complement each other well.
“Finn is in charge of our attack on the field and has experience of playing in lots of Test matches, while Rory is our leader of physicality and defence.”
Captaincy
Russell is Scotland’s star man, and jokingly compared himself to Lionel Messi in the recent Netflix documentary based on last year’s competition. He has turned a rotten Bath side into title contenders and is seen by many as one of the best attacking fly-halves in the game.
He has had his issues in the past with his head coach – Townsend famously dropped the Scot after a spat – but he is back with more responsibility than ever.
“Captaincy is something that can help you go further as a player and a leader and you can thrive with that,” Townsend adds.
“But with that comes responsibility like talking to the players more – it could change the way you play.
“Finn is a key leader for us and on reflection he thrived [in the role in the past] so we have confidence that this will add another layer to the performances.”
Beating Wales will be objective No1 for Scotland, then toppling France. If they’re successful in that feat then they can dream of three wins, then four and five.
Scotland are always there or thereabouts, and they’ll hope the 25th anniversary of the competition’s expansion will bring them their first title since the 1999 Five Nations.
