What they got  was two teams prodding and pawing at each other.

In the first twenty minutes there were fisticuffs, torn shirts and curious through kicks but England always kicked it to bounce in front of Scottish cover and Foden was always waiting for Parks’ bombs.

England perhaps had an edge in the scrum first half, but it was more that Scotland had lapses in concentration. They showed later in the game that they could be solid on their own ball. There were so many knock-ons because there were only a few flowing passing moves.

So kicks characterised this game. Nothing happened for 12 minutes.  Farrell lined up a 47m monster after Denton killed it, but as boos rang around the packed stadium the youngster pushed it wide. He made up for it on the 22nd minute, however, knocking over a short penalty to calm himself.

Before this England showed a few signs that their backline wasn’t quite at clicking point yet. As a big blind hit came in from De Luca a rushed pass headed for Hodgson. He slung it wide in a rush and it skidded to deck. A hitch-kick and a pass followed but it was too high for Ashton.

On the other side Ross Rennie, Jim Hamilton and David Denton were working hard and running round corners. The scrum was creaking but the Scottish tight five carried well into their opposition. There was even a nice period where Botha carried and then his opposite number carried back at him phases later.

It could not stay 0-3, though. Parks eventually got Scotland’s first points, his kick successful at the first asking. It was built on the back of solid, if unspectacular carries. His second penalty on the 21st minute was also knocked over, but it was built on more impressive Scottish work.

As England put into a scrum just over 22m from their own line the ball was quickly fed to lone wing Ashton, with Cusiter bearing down on him. He turned 20-odd degrees and tried to skip out of any tackle but the 9 leapt towards his ankle and clung on. Pressure poured over him. A penalty followed and Parks chipped it over for 6-3.

It half finished like this, despite adventurous offloading rugby from the home side into the last minute.

Then the second half started in disastrous fashion for Scotland.

Parks –entrusted to continue in the second half –tried to clear his lines and was charged down by his opposite man, Hodgson. Farrell converted and the mood in Murrayfield turned sombre.

6-10, little noise and an England pack on the march. Kicking to touch went awry for Scotland and Parks looked forlorn. It had to be slowed down or rethought.

So the ball was handed off to Denton again.

The eventual Man of the Match carried hard and dragged Scotland into the fight. He was having a dream debut. Others felt they could play around him. When England broke there was scramble and all hoped Scotland could get the ball again, if only so the Zimbabwean-born back-row could get the hand-off once more.

Without carrying responsibilities Gray had less pressure. He was dominating lineouts and on the 56th minute made a half-break that got the people standing on their feet.

The mood changed. Robinson saw his chance and brought on the cavalry. A minute before an hour struck Barclay, Kellock, Blair and Greig Laidlaw came on.

Pace picked up. Passes went wider into lovely green space. Scotland sensed gaps. They worked up field. 61mins. Truck, truck. 62 mins. Laidlaw looks, chips over, runs. Youngs bears down on it and Laidlaw pushes a hand through, grazing the ball. Youngs chest collapses onto it.

The TMO didn’t give it, but Scotland were on the move. Rennie made a break two minutes later that almost created a two on one. It was Scotland’s biggest chance. It came to nothing, though.

England rebounded, aided by the addition of a solid Jordan Turner-Hall, Stevens and then Morgan. They waited for their moment to come back. Farrell missed another monster kick, but they fought hard. When Farrell slotted a penalty in the 73rd minute it was England’s to lose.

They didn’t.

Do Scotland change everything in their half-back positions for Wales next week? Their pragmatic moves have failed and Scotland have a tough week of preparation ahead.

SCOTLAND: R. Lamont; Jones, De Luca, S. Lamont; Parks, Cusiter; Jacobsen, Ford (c), Murray, Gray, Hamilton, Strokosch, Rennie, Denton.

RES: S. Lawson, Cross, Kellock, Barclay, Blair, Laidlaw, Morrison.

ENGLAND: Foden; Ashton, Barritt, Farrell, Strettle; Hodgson, Youngs; Corbisiero, Hartley, Cole, Botha, Palmer, Croft, Robshaw (c), Dowson.

RES: Webber, Stevens, Parling, Morgan, Dickson, Turner-Hall, M. Brown.

OFFICIALS:

 Ref: George Clancy (IRFU)

Assistants: Roman Poite (FFR), Leighton Hodges (WRU)

TMO: Nigel Whitehouse (WRU)

espnscrum.fantasyleague.com

Once you have created a team you should click on “Enter Private League”.

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Teams need to be in by Saturday lunchtime to qualify for the opening weekend.

If you prefer playing SportsGuru and making predictions, our pals over at SportEngage have created a league for Scotland Fans.

He was a fictional character, sure, but he represented everything you want to be as a leader. Firm. Fair. Loyal. Battle hardened. Decisive. The captain of all captains.

Now I’m not saying Ford will be underhanded –far from it –but he could be just like this. He will have a number of captains at his disposal come game day. He can get by with a little help from his friends.

Ford is the strong silent type. A journalist once told me that he encouraged an opposition hooker to strike Ford early in a match because it would fire him up, but he is a smart player. He picks his battles. When he takes it to the mattresses it is with a direct drive and volume of attacks. His mind sharpens and he returns the favour, but in a different way.

Perhaps the captaincy will make Ford this kind of leader for 80 minutes. Andy Robinson certainly feels it can. Most importantly, though, Ford’s supporting captains can do as he would want them to.

He will run the scrum, of course. In the lineout, though, he needs someone on the ground; a consigliere. He needs someone to pick a spot for him. He needs a player willing to back his throws and give him favourable targets. He also needs a defensive marshal and a stand-off willing to move to the beat that he and Robinson dictate.

Ford is fortunate. He has a number of deputies, familiar faces, willing to back him up. He has Kellock, Gray, Barclay, Cusiter, Blair, Lawson, Sean Lamont, Morrison and Jacobsen. He has a host of personalities attuned with the cause. He should have no problem with the squad understanding his messages, or the plan put forth by the management.

This, it would seem, is the crux. The team need to be tight and in synch. Ford has to hold them all together. He has to make all of his deputies feel confident and vital. They are vital. Ford can only represent so much, and it is getting closer to the time when talking to TV folk and sitting down with press mobs is not important.

The game is important. The team is important. The deputies are important.

Big games bring big noise. Clapping collisions and songs ring around stadiums. Everyone shouts that little bit more when they realign. Opposition attackers are called out that little bit more aggressively by would-be tacklers. You urge people more. There is more hard breathing and swearing as contact is met again.

In this heady environment Ford will have to keep his cool and he cannot rally the team at every breakdown or set-piece. He needs supporting captains for that. He needs his 9, whichever one is selected, to collar him and his forwards, screaming at all of them to career round the corner for the team. He needs his 10 to put him in the right place to make his calls. He needs to be pushed himself.

Al Kellock said the other day that being captain is a great honour. It is also true that a captain will be honoured in his role, being supported and worked for. With so many other captains Scotland are now in the privileged position where they can use experience and support to carry them through one of rugby’s most testing fixtures.

Ford will lead everyone, and everyone will strive to repay his support in kind.

And don’t forget to check out Write For Us if you are interested in getting involved. As always we could use people to cover London Scottish (and maybe London Irish!), age grade, women’s rugby, the club game. Tell us what is going on!

Rory, Alan and Al
Scottish Rugby Blog

We hope you will come along for the rollercoaster ride that is being a Scotland fan!

Rory, Alan and Al

We’ve called in the banners (sorry, reading Game of Thrones at the moment), and the full team are meeting up next weekend to have a bit of a chat before the Edinburgh vs Leinster game.

So if you have any suggestions for ways we could improve this site, what you’d like more of/less of, your thoughts on advertising/sponsorship or even just how you view the site (mobile/RSS/browser/syndicated pages), please feel free to comment below. Or if you’d like to share your thoughts privately feel free to email rory@scottishrugbyblog.co.uk with your comments or ideas.

Feedback is important to us and we are thankful for your continuing support and readership. We’ll probably post again afterwards with some of our ideas to see if anyone likes them.

As for your thoughts on how to improve Scottish rugby itself, we are always glad to see those in the comments on our posts, so keep them coming too. Don’t forget we’ve got a massive back archive of ramblings that might be of interest!

Caught bits of the Aus v NZ and Ire v Eng games at the weekend in various Bangkok bars. Didn’t see all of the games so I thought I’d ask you: Australia looking good – or was it just a flash in the pan? Has Genia picked the perfect time to become the best 9 in the world? England’s defence looked solid (only saw second half), are they timing it right? It looked a bit like Ireland’s second team though, so is there nothing to worry about?

In the mean time check out reader Graham’s Rugby World Cup trailer, Lego style!

Don’t worry! We have a way you can keep up with the Scotland squad and have your player fix…

We are pleased to announce that Richard Vernon, Scotland Rugby World Cup 2011 back rower, has joined Scottish Rugby Blog as a tour diarist.

He will be keeping us abrest of all goings on in the camp as well as letting you know about team preperations and group morale leading up to, and following, all the big RWC matches.

Our first post should be up on Thursday and regularly after that.

Keep following the Blog to see what the Scotland boys are up to!

They unveiled a gaudy new set of shirts and a list of names that would be contracted to the sevens and seconded to the two pro sides between tournaments.

The Sevens Specialists, picture courtesy Scottish Rugby/PA Images

Struan Dewar, James Eddie, James Fleming, Colin Gregor, Peter Horne and Andrew Turnbull will all be on full contracts whilst Adam Ashe, Sam Hidalgo Clyne, Kerr Gossman, Rory Hughes, Sean Kennedy and Hamish Watson will all be training as Elite Development players. 

For the build up to tournaments, though, Graham Shiel insisted, “Sevens is the priority for these 12 players.  They can play with the pro-teams or in club rugby out with the sevens window but, when it comes to preparation and playing in the HSBC Sevens World Series, then Scotland 7s has first call on their services and that’s different to the way we have operated in the past.

 “When we have had consistency in our squad we have been able to be competitive on the world stage.  In the past we have had players with some sevens expertise but, particularly when we have been choosing players from the pro-teams, we have been asking players whose focus was understandably on XVs to prepare in a very limited time frame, and play sevens.

 “Now the emphasis for this group will be sevens and that matters a huge amount in terms of their preparation, their strength and conditioning and their nutrition.”

On top of this 10 or 12 club players deemed good enough will be hand-picked to supplement the squad if and when they are needed, and some have already been earmarked. It is broadly suggested that Andrew Skeen was Scotland’s best player last year and should have been given a contract, but he is one to come back as a club player. Another example is Cameron Wyper, an Australian utility-back that qualifies to potentially represent Scotland, who was recommended to Dundee HSFP by Shiel.  

It must also be flagged that Shiel is a man still operating under restrictions. It is no wonder he dreams of greater resources. “I was watching Canterbury versus Wellington [in the NPC] and I heard a name Mc-something. I got excited. If someone is good enough for the NPC, who knows what they could do here? You have to explore every possibility.”

Taken out of context this comment could anger purists, but the reality is that we have incredibly shallow talent pools in this country. We need as many quality players as we can get and as consistent a ‘team’ as possible in order to “compete”, as Graham Lowe puts it.

“Sevens is a phenomenon.  It’s growing rapidly and if we want to be competitive on the global stage then we had to find a set-up that would suit Scottish rugby” the Head of Performance stated.

I must hand it to Lowe: he is very good at talking to conferences.

Studying a few of the words he used, however, I found myself realising some of the unmentioned reasons the SRU have finally taken this step.

As the other 2 talked of the “provisions now”, the “spread of experience” and a “model that best suits us” I was considering the words of Lowe. He made no bones about repeating over and over words like “marketplace”, “stage” and “profile”.

No doubt the pressure was on the SRU to name a full-time sevens side, particularly as chatter continues about Scotland’s worth to the Sevens Series if we can’t consistently “compete”. Some people may have already carried the can for last season’s inconsistent results (There is no mention of an offer to last season’s captain, Scott Riddell) but Shiel gets a second tilt at the Series.

On top of this there is the unavoidable marketability of sevens. Now gaining popularity in the States and heading for an Olympic debut in Brazil people will be keen to make as much money out of the shortened game. Scotland won’t want to miss out. We can ill afford to miss out on the sponsorship prospects, let alone losing revenue if we lose our flagship Edinburgh event due to having too low profile a team.

We need to be in the marketplace.

Which brings us to the product: the players. Our raw materials, regardless of place of origin will all be more professionally dealt with, as primacy is given to sevens and the full-time sevens coaches. I truly applaud this move. Contracts tie players down and make them focus purely on sevens in the first instance, even if Stevie Gemmell tells me most players will have the option to leave after a year following a review (Turnbull and the juniors all have this built in to contracts, I am assured).

These contracts are an issue that is tensely skirted around, though.

Rumours abound that any competent sevens players that were released during this summer’s contract cull were offered greatly reduced contracts with the SRU to be ‘sevens players’. Some opted to decline and go abroad. Putting 2 and 2 together I assume Eddie, Gregor, Horne and Turnbull didn’t.

This plays with my conscience. The players may be on less than before, and their XVs careers possibly undermined, but if this is true it would be a great cost-cutting coup for the Union. Edinburgh and Glasgow have, on paper, smaller squads than before, but with getting these guys between tournaments the squads swell back up again.

The SRU have played a blinder in this respect. I do also feel that these contracts will strengthen our Sevens side. My only questions will be answered when we find out if Eddie, Gregor, Horne and Turnbull, players I think are a credit to this country, stick around for a second year.

Either way, I’m hoping Andrew Turnbull scores his 100th try for Scotland…