This team has a well-developed and debilitating trend of falling asleep in games. They didn’t score in the last 33 minutes on Saturday.
A fortnight ago they went an hour without scoring against England, against Ireland they didn’t score for 41 minutes and then 26 minutes. Against Italy, they went 33 minutes without a point.
This is repeat behaviour from Scotland. Last season threw up similar numbers and so did the season before.
It didn’t cost them this time, but it remains a puzzler as to why this keeps happening. Are they always going to have the propensity for napping during games?
It’s why we can admire many of the things this team does, but it’s very hard to trust them. We can marvel at their creativity, but elan alone is not cutting it at the sharp end of the championship.
And so to Paris against the mighty French. Scotland at their very, very best are unpredictable enough, and mad enough, to make it a scary day for Fabien Galthie.
Scotland are not a conventional team. They have players that could hurt France. They have a mindset that could cut them open and give them much to think about.
They don’t have a hang-up about the French the way they do against the Irish. Psychology won’t be a problem.
France will surely win – and maybe very comfortably – because on top of the flair in the backline they have monsters up front. Many, many monsters.
They have eight starters and possibly another seven on the bench. To hell, Fabien, go 8-0 and be done with it. Bring out every brute, from Perpignan to Picardy.
France won a seismic victory in Dublin and will feel invincible now. Scotland won a shaky one in Edinburgh and Lord only knows how they’ll be feeling.
They won, though. That’s kinda the point. But does it always have to be so dramatic?
