SCOTLAND'S traumatic Six Nations campaign came to a merciful conclusion on Saturday, with a rampant Irish side making light work of Vern Cotter's men to be crowned Six Nations champions. 


After the game, Celtic cousins were united in a desire to see England come a cropper at Twickenham, with scenes around the periphery of Murrayfield more reminiscent of a music festival. In glorious summer-like conditions, good natured supporters from both sides moved from tent to tent, shared a beer (or ten) and stayed behind to watch the action unfold in London on big screens.


On the pitch, good vibes were in short supply for the home side.  This is depressingly familiar territory for Scotland.


Post match, Coach Vern Cotter once again spoke of the need to address the issue of unenforced errors. But Scotland’s problems run deeper than that.


“We can’t exert pressure from our own half,” admitted captain Greig Laidlaw. “In competitions like this, if you can’t so that, you are going to be in trouble. We have seen that again today.”


The Jedburgh native has come in for criticism in some quarters, with his role as captain coming under increasing scrutiny.


True, this wasn’t his best game. But the supporting cast hardly helped. The visitors raced into a ten point lead unchecked, before the introduction of London Irish Tighthead Prop Geoff Cross and Edinburgh's Tim Visser on 11 minutes stemmed the tide somewhat.


There was even a brief rally, of sorts, with Laidlaw opening the account for the hosts on 18 minutes with a penalty and Finn Russell darting through for a well worked try just past the half hour mark.


The home support were starting to believe. Perhaps this could be the breakthrough performance. Had Stuart Hogg’s try stood on 37 minutes, it would have raised the roof, but referee Jerome Garces correctly called play back.


For Scotland to cash on this swing in momentum, it was imperative they started brightly in the second half. But in keeping with recent performances, they were sluggish. And the chance evaporated.



“There have been periods of the game where we have dominated, against England, against France and again today,” rued Cotter after the game.


“Those are things we need to understand and bed in, and to find on a more consistent basis, so we can build pressure. And not just be content with two or three phases of it. That’s a mindset change we have to move to.”


After five crushing defeats back to back, naturally there will be talk of wholesale changes. That was not an area Cotter was too keen to explore: “We don’t have a large number of players,” he countered.


"But there are things we can improve on. We know that we can’t get a lot of injuries, we don’t have a lot of depth in a number of positions. I knew it would be tough. But these are good guys to work with.”


Throughout Saturday’s encounter Scotland struggled to deal with the Irish triumvirate of Paul O’Connell, Tommy Bowe and Sean O’Brien. But the continued good form of Stuart Hogg offers some hope ahead of the World Cup this autumn.


The Hawick man was head and shoulders above any other player wearing the thistle on Saturday, and gave the new Six Nations champions and a side currently ranked 2nd in the world no respite.



“We’ve seen things that we can improve and we know that we need to do that quite quickly,” said Cotter. “ Players and coaches will have to go away and look at how we can develop skillsets, change mindsets and come back stronger.”