The bedding in process is over, now it’s time to do it for real.  Words like ‘experimental’ and ‘warm up’ are no longer valid.  It’s World Cup time, and it’s do or die.

The August tests were useful, however.  Scotland may have faced a weakened Irish side, but they still came out on top against a team who have been tipped as serious challengers for the trophy. Meanwhile South Africa fielded 15 players who proved their billing as second favourites to feast their hands on the Webb Ellis Trophy in Paris next month.

Although the scoreline against the ‘Boks read somewhat negatively, the contest may be just the reality check Scotland needed before the World Cup.  South African Coach Jake White highlighted reasons for Scotland to be positive in saying: “I can’t underplay the fact that this is a good Scotland team. In the last year they’ve beaten England, France and Ireland, and we can’t brag about doing that.”

The World Cup, however, is not about what Scotland have done; it’s about what they are going to do. Frank Hadden will now begin pencilling in possible starting teams, and the fixture at the forefront of his mind will be the clash with Italy at the end of September, a possible quarter-final decider. In The Winning Zone has underlined the key players to impact upon Scotland’s World Cup performance…

The Backs

Power and strength are the two facets of Scottish play that bullied their way into the summer’s headlines, and rightfully so.  It is certainly clear that the weights room has been home from home for most of the team over the summer.  Mark Bitcon, Scotland’s strength and conditioning coach, has added close to two extra men to the Scottish squad in collective muscle gain.

However, it was still relieving to see that despite packing in the protein, Hadden’s strike runners and finishers have not lost the ability to move at pace.  Bitcon has managed to build his men up without slowing them down.

Up against South Africa, arguably the meanest defence in the world, Scotland faired considerably well.  Mike Blair produced some of his usual flair, taking the play forward for Scotland and running at the South African defence, capitalising on a weakness in their patented ‘rush’ defence technique

Simon Webster was both scything and creative with ball in hand. Hadden obviously fancies him as a back-up to the outside centre position, and he certainly shows shades of O’Driscoll in his evasive running and slick offloading.

This will be all the more useful with the rise to prominence of Rory Lamont.  Dynamic in attack, deadly in defence, and adding a new layer of confidence to his game, Lamont broke the gain-line on a handful of occasions whilst securing a try-saving tackle on rugby’s fastest man, Bryan Habana.

Whether or not he has marked his place in the starting 15 for the World Cup, he definitely gave older brother Sean something to smile about from the stands. Going on recent performances, we may see yet both Rory and Sean Lamont lining up alongside each other when it comes to the crucial match against the Azzuri later this month.

The Forwards

The Scottish pack was strong against the Irish, but the real test came against a world class Springbok bunch. The test was definitely a baptism of fire, with South Africa fielding warriors like former IRB Player of the Year Schalk Burger and bludgeoning captain Victor Matfield to the fray. It was a battle of brawn, and Scotland performed above expectations.

Nathan Hines showed his usual aggression and contended with South African muscle whilst rucking and mauling like a rottweiler.  Euan Murray had possibly his greatest test yet against 20 stone veteran Os Du Randt.  Murray came through alive, and with massive experience gained to take on into France 07.

However, 6 is the magic number.  The talisman’s number.  Burger wears it for South Africa, Betsen wears it for France, White wears it for Scotland.  After recovering from serious injury, there was a cloud of doubt over his availability to play in the World Cup, but after repeated comments of ‘my knee is fine’ and ‘it’s getting stronger every day’, Scotland can breathe a sigh of relief. The number 6 jersey will be on the back of the inspirational flanker and captain.

Throughout the warm-up matches, White has proven that he is still a master in the art of bone-crunching, whiplash inducing tackles. He will certainly place fear in Italian hearts on the September 29th.

So there we have it; a handful of reasons for Scotland to be cheerful ahead of the biggest competition in world rugby.

And that is not to mention Chris Paterson’s continually growing influence from stand-off, the depth of class at scrum-half or the bulk of Dewey and Henderson in the centres.  Nor are we forgetting the great Scott Murray at lock, or possibly the strongest back-row back-up in world rugby.

If we build on the experiences of recent performances, it should be our turn to score three tries against Italy and stride into the knockout stages. It’s the world cup.  Anything can happen.

IC & RO

© Copyright In The Winning Zone, MMVII, All Rights Reserved