Steve Tandy revealed Scotland have held a “hard-hitting” review into Saturday’s damaging Guinness Six Nations defeat by Italy as they bid to summon a response away to title-chasing Ireland this weekend.
The Scots’ championship hopes went up in smoke in Rome as they squandered a 22-10 lead to lose 31-29 against an Azzurri side who, for all their perceived improvement, had not previously won a match in the tournament since 2022.
Defence coach Tandy revealed the players and coaches had a frank debrief on Monday as they attempt to iron out the issues that cost them so dearly at Stadio Olimpico.
“Obviously huge frustration and disappointment, a lot of looking at ourselves and what we did,” he said on Tuesday afternoon as he gave an insight into the mood in the Scottish camp since their collapse in the Eternal City.
“Italy are a good team, but when you look back at it, there are definitely things we could and should have done better so there’s been a lot of looking inwards.
“It was a pretty quiet place after the game and then coming in on Monday, the review was hard-hitting. The boys have reflected, they’ve looked at the footage, they’ve fed back themselves.
“We had a pretty good meeting – as much as it could be good after a loss.”
Tandy felt Scotland were uncharacteristically “soft” defensively in Italy, but he refuted the suggestion they lack the mental strength to deal with periods of adversity.
“We’ve shown moments of regathering ourselves, such as in Wales when we got that momentum back at the back end of the game to get the win,” he pointed out.
“Against England we were 10-0 down after the disappointment of the previous game against France, where everyone said we should have won the game, so getting over that to beat England shows we’ve got the mental capacity to do those things.
“But it’s always a work in progress, there’s always space to learn and grow. These losses hurt and they make us ask questions around certain things, but at the end of the day we’ve got a huge game on Saturday so we can’t dwell on it for too long.
“We’re going to lose momentum in Ireland. No team goes there and dominates. We’re going to be under pressure for a lot of the game and we’ve got to deal with that.
“In a lot of the competition we’ve dealt with it. There are moments when we haven’t dealt with it, but we’re learning all the time to try and deal with those situations more consistently.”
Scotland’s defeat in Italy effectively cost them the chance of a title decider against Ireland in Dublin, but they still have the chance to claim a Triple Crown for the first time since 1990 if they can defeat the side that dismantled them 36-14 at the World Cup in October.
“I forgot about that (the Triple Crown) after Saturday night, to be honest,” said Tandy. “But we’re playing for a trophy – I don’t know how many years it is since we have been playing for a trophy.
“That’s the beauty of sport, the fact you can be down at the lowest of lows, but now we have the potential to be at the highest of highs, which is exciting for us.
“We know we’re going to have to play really well to get what we want, but it’s a game, anything can happen.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here