In the extravaganza against France, Scotland’s penalty count was only four, which is staggering. They had 100% ruck efficiency, also staggering.
They only conceded nine turnovers, which is almost beyond belief. Their usual number would be mid to upper teens.
Their points-per-entry to France’s 22 number was off the scale; 5.6 points per entry.
Those numbers won’t be repeated in Dublin, or possibly ever again, but Scotland need a high level of ruthlessness in everything they do.
They’re averaging 3.5 points per entry, which is still excellent. Ireland are 2.9. In full flow they’re lethal – nine tries off first phase compared to Ireland’s one.
The way the Irish attacked in the dismantling of England at Twickenham was reminiscent of their best days but they were predictable against Wales last Friday.
Shane Horgan, the former Ireland wing, made the point on the Second Captains podcast that Ireland going for England’s jugular was “in some ways a product of fear that if we don’t go after this then we could get a hiding here”.
“The ball carrying was back to Ireland’s best – options either side, slipped passes, balls out the back, loop plays, dummy loop plays,” Horgan said.
“They carried very aggressively but they carried in ones and one-out runners and Ireland are less dangerous when they do that.”
Isolated ball carriers will be no good for Ireland. With quick ball and unstructured play, Scotland are a force to be reckoned with.
What they can’t do is return to the old narrative – gifting Ireland soft points with botched lineouts and letting them off the hook by dropping a ball over their try line or failing to execute a simple pass that would have brought a certain score.
Ireland have been way too good for Scotland for the longest time but, boy, Scotland have been their own worst enemy in some of those losses.
