:00:31. > :00:36.Hello, welcome to export nation. 2012 was a tough year for the
:00:36. > :00:40.Scottish rugby team and the fans. Three wins in the southern
:00:40. > :00:47.hemisphere but it was out of sight and then there were three losses at
:00:47. > :00:54.home, the last one to Tonga and the National coach left. Where are we
:00:54. > :00:59.on the eve of the Six Nations? Are I have been talking to the new
:00:59. > :01:03.coach about how teams will play against us and can we beat them and
:01:03. > :01:13.his confidence and issue? Are we cannot get much lower than we are
:01:13. > :01:17.
:01:17. > :01:26.at the moment do we have a team that can complete Naish --
:01:26. > :01:28.regularly? Yes we do. It all starts with the small matter of England at
:01:28. > :01:35.Twickenham. We have come heartbreakingly close but the
:01:35. > :01:44.reality is we have not won at Twickenham for 30 years. That was
:01:44. > :01:49.when I was still playing. Smith gets it and he has got it on the
:01:49. > :01:55.line and the cry is given. The bigger man, in his first cap for
:01:55. > :02:01.Scotland, has scored the try that surely wins the Cup for the Scots.
:02:01. > :02:08.Just how do the English play the game? How do we beat them? A key
:02:08. > :02:11.part of England's game is their smash up pattern. I went to Fife
:02:11. > :02:14.for a demonstration of how what is done.
:02:14. > :02:19.If you look at this line, if England are playing that way,
:02:19. > :02:23.because of the way the rugby ball travels it, if you pass the ball
:02:23. > :02:30.backwards, the wide you go there further behind the gain you laugh.
:02:30. > :02:34.What England did when Lancaster took over was keep it simple, one
:02:34. > :02:38.pass. If we demonstrate very briefly, if we are trying to get
:02:38. > :02:48.across the gain-line are the best try is a shot flat past. If he
:02:48. > :02:53.
:02:53. > :03:02.slipped the ball behind his hands there we go back. One a pass/shop.
:03:02. > :03:12.-- one pass/up. Well done. Scrum-half in. Give him
:03:12. > :03:14.
:03:14. > :03:19.the ball. Stay up. I am an old man but the key was always how long you
:03:19. > :03:25.could stay on your feet. If you hit an Go to deck, the poor thing
:03:25. > :03:29.finishes. If you hit and take four strides, just watch England against
:03:29. > :03:34.the All Blacks, they would hit and pump. Do not go down early, just
:03:34. > :03:38.try and get up the pitch. Always make territory.
:03:38. > :03:48.England have a very good side and the last time Scotland beat them
:03:48. > :03:50.
:03:50. > :03:55.was 30 years ago. We are part of that team? It is a long time ago.
:03:55. > :04:01.Rearm going to turn up, we are not going to cancel the fixture. A good
:04:01. > :04:05.you cancel? Are I have no intention of cancelling. I am determined to
:04:06. > :04:12.go there and make sure we represent Scotland, both from a rugby point
:04:12. > :04:16.of view and from a community point of view, to represent something we
:04:16. > :04:20.will be proud of which is an integral part of what we want to do.
:04:20. > :04:23.It Scott Johnson is to win the first match in charge his team
:04:23. > :04:27.needs a little luck, a direct approach and players at the top of
:04:27. > :04:37.their game. Scotland will have to make something out of this
:04:37. > :04:38.
:04:38. > :04:44.situation here. Laidlaw is going clear, can he make the line? A
:04:44. > :04:48.brilliant try by the Scottish scrum-half. That really was one of
:04:48. > :04:55.the great Calcutta Cup tries. you are looking for omens, Roy
:04:55. > :05:02.Laidlaw's nephew is one of our key men. Laidlaw, wide it goes. Out to
:05:02. > :05:06.the wing and here comes told again, does he have it this time? Great
:05:06. > :05:16.defence. He scored this column's first try in five matches,
:05:16. > :05:17.
:05:17. > :05:23.moonlighting at scrum-half. He plays there this Saturday. He just
:05:23. > :05:28.sneak in their solo. Could Labour will be one of the answers to
:05:28. > :05:33.Scotland's problems? He has become a point scoring machine. His uncle
:05:33. > :05:43.was an electrician but Greig Laidlaw provides the spot on the
:05:43. > :05:55.
:05:55. > :06:00.Confidence is a big part of rugby. I am a confident rugby player. I
:06:00. > :06:04.have confidence in my ability and I believe all players Stuart. Some
:06:04. > :06:08.players get slagged for doing this or that but don't worry about what
:06:08. > :06:13.anybody else says but if you are happy within yourself and you are
:06:13. > :06:17.training hard then there is no reason why you should not be out
:06:17. > :06:23.there. Do you think it is a confident Scottish rugby team?
:06:23. > :06:26.think there is confidence in the team, yes, definitely. We have good
:06:26. > :06:30.players. Why do people keep saying they are not confident and they are
:06:30. > :06:35.not scoring tries because of lack of confidence? I do not know. That
:06:35. > :06:40.is their opinion. We go to train and we put a game plan together and
:06:40. > :06:44.we are 100% confident we are going out there to win. Going forward, we
:06:44. > :06:49.really need to buy into that and change some results. I feel very
:06:49. > :06:59.privileged to play rugby as a job. It is something I love and I do not
:06:59. > :06:59.
:07:00. > :07:09.take it for granted. I ask if it was OK to use it... You need to try
:07:10. > :07:10.
:07:10. > :07:16.and have fun as well, that is a big part of it. Could you be pointing
:07:16. > :07:23.at one of your forwards and sewing, I need this performance! It has to
:07:23. > :07:27.come from in here. That is part of the job and it is about promoting
:07:27. > :07:30.it and encouraging the next generation to come through.
:07:30. > :07:35.interested to know how you were taught to deal with pressure and
:07:35. > :07:39.the things that go wrong. You have a psychologist that says, what
:07:39. > :07:45.happens is, if you miss a kick you do this in your brain and you move
:07:45. > :07:48.on? How does it work? I do not use a psychologist. I think a lot of it,
:07:48. > :07:53.especially goal-kicking, it is about honing your technique through
:07:53. > :07:59.training. As long as you do it in training then it is no different.
:07:59. > :08:03.People ask about the crowd and when they do but when the ball is on the
:08:03. > :08:05.tee then nobody can touch it or touch you if you going to your
:08:05. > :08:10.little place and hold your technique and concentrate then
:08:10. > :08:15.everything should be fine. Where is your little place? I have a few
:08:15. > :08:19.things that I say to myself in my head. What do you say? I like to
:08:19. > :08:22.keep that to myself, I do not know why but I like to keep it to myself.
:08:22. > :08:26.There is nothing better than running out here in front of all
:08:26. > :08:30.these people who were cheering on Scotland, it gives you a great
:08:30. > :08:34.feeling. Hopefully come the Six Nations we can turn a few results
:08:34. > :08:40.around and give the fans what they want. One of the icons of the
:08:40. > :08:44.current team is Richie Gray. As identifiable as a lighthouse in the
:08:44. > :08:51.open sea, and nearly as tall. He now plays in England are so who
:08:51. > :08:55.better to give us an insight into how the English play? Richie Gray
:08:55. > :09:05.left Glasgow for Manchester. He hears, this is where he lives. Have
:09:05. > :09:07.
:09:07. > :09:12.his life? Let us go. He is out of breath! What have you learnt about
:09:12. > :09:19.rugby now you are in the Premiership? There is a big
:09:20. > :09:25.emphasis in the Premiership on its set-piece. And on forward play. The
:09:25. > :09:30.likes of scrums, line-outs, that is a big part of the game and we
:09:30. > :09:35.believe that is how we can win games so we focus on that. In terms
:09:35. > :09:43.of the English national team, it is similar, it is a bash up, smash up
:09:43. > :09:47.a simple game of -- simple game. They got a cracking win against New
:09:47. > :09:54.Zealand in the last Test. They have been playing some good rugby.
:09:54. > :09:57.since I was a kid I looked at the Six Nations as a reason to live and
:09:57. > :10:02.summoned to be excited about. As a young boy growing up you must have
:10:02. > :10:06.dreamt of being part of it, do you still have that sense? Yes, it is
:10:06. > :10:11.as big as ever. As a kid you go home on a Saturday after playing
:10:11. > :10:14.rugby for your school or and you turn it on and watch it all day. It
:10:15. > :10:23.was brilliant. I absolutely loved it and always dreamed about taking
:10:23. > :10:27.part in it. As you get older the desire is still there, I cannot
:10:27. > :10:34.wait to get up the road and see all the guys again, it is a great bunch
:10:34. > :10:38.of guys. I want to take the stage for the Six Nations. Laidlaw again,
:10:38. > :10:43.Richie Gray, that is better in terms of hitting the line and the
:10:43. > :10:48.pace. He is the big second row that is a terrific individual try.
:10:48. > :10:54.Richie Gray gets his first in to bat shall -- International Drive.
:10:54. > :11:00.You are an iconic figure, what is it like? Not as exciting as you may
:11:00. > :11:04.think! A quiet life. I finished training and go and have a sandwich
:11:04. > :11:11.and play the ex-boxer and don't socialise later, it is nothing to
:11:11. > :11:17.thrilling. Apart from being on the pitch for Scotland! That is very
:11:17. > :11:20.exciting. Off the field, nothing special. Richie Gray might face his
:11:20. > :11:26.toughest test in our second game of our Six Nations campaign when we
:11:26. > :11:32.take on the might of the Italian pack. Help is on hand. In the
:11:32. > :11:37.modern game everything is studied and calculated. It is all laptops
:11:37. > :11:45.and line breaks. We are at the business end. When it comes to the
:11:45. > :11:51.Italians, what do you analyse? we will do is build up a bank of
:11:51. > :11:56.data over may be five games and we will sit and watch every single
:11:56. > :11:59.line-out. We will mark-down all the different plays they are using and
:11:59. > :12:04.if there is something they tend to use quite often then it is
:12:04. > :12:12.something we will use in our training sessions. We will look to
:12:12. > :12:19.where they make their line breaks. We obviously want to keep our bases
:12:20. > :12:25.so we try to dominate teams in scrum and take penalties from the
:12:25. > :12:34.scrum if we can. At the same time we cannot play just every time in
:12:34. > :12:39.the same way, teams obviously know our strengths are forward so they
:12:39. > :12:48.talk about us and our scrum and they talk about that we are a
:12:48. > :12:54.physical team. People want to see our team as a team who can play
:12:54. > :12:57.good rugby and that is what we want to do. Teams change and everything
:12:57. > :13:02.is like the past but the idea is that we going to the game thinking
:13:02. > :13:10.and hoping that this is exactly what they are going to do and as
:13:10. > :13:13.the game is playing we can watch the quality of the line-out and
:13:13. > :13:17.where there are heading off and it breaks it down into a time line for
:13:17. > :13:21.us so after the game finishes the coaches can do this and live as
:13:21. > :13:27.well so even after the first play all the first two minutes they can
:13:27. > :13:31.click on any instance so they can watch the line-outs.
:13:31. > :13:35.Scotland have had a poor 40 minutes and now they have an important 10
:13:35. > :13:39.minutes to get things sorted. have to be clear at half-time that
:13:39. > :13:44.players are at the heart of a battle and that they need to be
:13:44. > :13:47.given one or two clear messages to take to the second half. We cannot
:13:47. > :13:50.afford them withstand some loads of information at half-time because
:13:50. > :13:54.they will not take it on. If you have to be clear about what you
:13:54. > :13:59.give them and what you show them. Some were brought someone is
:13:59. > :14:09.analysing Scotland. Yes, we analyse ourselves as well to look at what
:14:09. > :14:16.the opposition might think we would do. That helps us also with our
:14:16. > :14:21.training. There is a slight change in 30 years, I tell you that! After
:14:21. > :14:27.Italy we take on the Irish. Grand- slam winners in 2009 but their team
:14:27. > :14:31.is now ageing. They beat sides with their work on the ground and, as
:14:31. > :14:36.former internationalist and coach, Peter Wright demonstrates, with
:14:36. > :14:42.something called a joke tackle. The joke tackle, come up slightly
:14:42. > :14:47.in front as a defender and you come in as a ball-carrier. The two
:14:47. > :14:51.defenders will target the ball- carrier. You will try and help him.
:14:51. > :15:01.Warren, cumin and if the player up and keep him off the ground. Don't
:15:01. > :15:09.let him create a ruck. Let us go. Keep him high, keep him high. Don't
:15:09. > :15:18.let him get to the ground. Good, well done. You try to make the
:15:18. > :15:25.tackle that is the whole idea. of this means Scotland must win the
:15:25. > :15:28.battle at the break down to beat the Irish. Is our coach divided?
:15:28. > :15:34.heritages Irish and Scottish. I have heritage from both sides of
:15:34. > :15:38.the family, my mum is Irish and my it did is Scottish. I got on line
:15:38. > :15:42.and looked at the tartan for the Johnsons which was quite
:15:42. > :15:46.interesting and it is a nice tartan so why am happy with that. I will
:15:46. > :15:50.take some of that back when I go. For Ryan Grant is one of the
:15:50. > :16:00.cornerstones of the Scottish pack. He is not especially did at over 6
:16:00. > :16:12.
:16:12. > :16:22.ft tall but when it comes to The big wins worse southern-
:16:22. > :16:28.
:16:28. > :16:32.hemisphere. Where his confidence? This is a good group of players, a
:16:33. > :16:41.young group of players who all hungry. There are great players and
:16:41. > :16:47.the Scotland team. Along way to go for this group of boys. We saw
:16:47. > :16:57.glimpses of that in the southern hemisphere against Australia. It is
:16:57. > :16:59.
:16:59. > :17:07.probably about time we got oh words When you go on the pitch, what is
:17:07. > :17:13.in your head? I don't particularly have a set group of things I think
:17:13. > :17:19.about. Depends on the occasion. Often, and I think about my
:17:19. > :17:25.opposite number, and one of the first things I do is I would try to
:17:25. > :17:31.find that the number three, size and up, see what he is like. It
:17:31. > :17:40.depends. When we ran out against the All Blacks, it was so
:17:40. > :17:47.overwhelming. In Glasgow, a Lion familiar with the surroundings.
:17:47. > :17:53.you have new coaches at - new folds coach, new general coach. Yes,
:17:53. > :18:01.Scott Johnson was with us and Australia in the world and test. I
:18:01. > :18:06.do not have much investment with him on a rugby level. But he seems
:18:06. > :18:16.likely really switched on Guy. He knows his rugby inside out, and has
:18:16. > :18:21.
:18:21. > :18:26.Do you have the players? I have got the players. Good enough at that
:18:26. > :18:36.you want to do what they want to do? Yes. They are part of the
:18:36. > :18:47.
:18:47. > :18:52.solution. We have got a coal group Wales won a Grand Slam last year,
:18:52. > :18:56.but since the summer, things have not been good. One of the snags
:18:56. > :19:06.have been successful is your game is analysed and analysed, and you
:19:06. > :19:17.
:19:17. > :19:24.But they do have a specific style of play. They keep going across the
:19:24. > :19:28.pitch at the same way and it use its spare all that. When they get
:19:28. > :19:33.to one touchline, they come back the other way. It is a lot of
:19:33. > :19:38.running, hence the Welsh emphasis on fitness. But eventually, the
:19:38. > :19:48.defence runs out of numbers, whether it is the All Blacks were
:19:48. > :19:54.
:19:54. > :19:59.And our new interim head coach came here from a coaching job in Wales.
:19:59. > :20:05.I have been here with Wales before. If you start at the end, you would
:20:05. > :20:10.never get there. What we have to worry about is going up part right.
:20:10. > :20:15.The women will come at the back-end of a result of that. If we start
:20:15. > :20:23.worrying about the end, we will never get there. Our last game is
:20:23. > :20:28.against France, a country with the sunshine and cafe society. I want
:20:28. > :20:38.to catch up with one of our spies on the ground. And this is his
:20:38. > :20:43.
:20:43. > :20:50.Karate black belt has settled here with his wife. He is a favourite
:20:50. > :20:57.with the fans. How or Yue Lin joined France? I absolutely love it.
:20:57. > :21:07.Beautiful country. 20 minutes from Spain. A very easy place to enjoy
:21:07. > :21:14.living. How have you found learning the language? Language is coming on
:21:14. > :21:21.OK. I have enough to get by. I can go to the restaurants and hold a
:21:21. > :21:26.bit of a conversation. I understand more than I can speak. Everyone is
:21:26. > :21:34.really welcoming. A real tight-knit group. It is the difference in
:21:34. > :21:39.rugby here? It is a bigger deal over here than it is in the UK. In
:21:39. > :21:48.France, football is the number one sport, but then, not by a huge
:21:48. > :21:56.margin, rugby is a big deal. You get encouraged to play and do what
:21:56. > :22:02.comes naturally. And that is the key to the French. Flashes of
:22:02. > :22:10.genius but the Polish and restructured game. How have you
:22:10. > :22:16.changed as a person and a player? have not changed too much as a
:22:16. > :22:25.player. I used to tackle a little bit more, get my hands on the ball
:22:25. > :22:30.a bit more. As we speak, you have a hamstring strain. Everything OK?
:22:30. > :22:39.Fine. I came into training on Tuesday and slipped it during a
:22:39. > :22:45.line-out. I was thinking that if you think of your story, when you
:22:45. > :22:50.left Edinburgh, took a gamble, for old dual career might be over. And
:22:50. > :23:00.now, you are playing for one of the biggest clubs in Europe. Yes, it
:23:00. > :23:05.has always been... At times, I have not been selected for this, that
:23:06. > :23:12.all the other, and when you get written off, you learn to ignore it.
:23:12. > :23:18.Him you do it your way. Where do you think Scotland are, in terms of
:23:18. > :23:28.confidence? To be honest, we can't get more than where we are at the
:23:28. > :23:29.
:23:29. > :23:34.moment. We are getting better. After the autumn, and am having to
:23:34. > :23:40.leave, it was a godsend coming back am getting away from a or.
:23:40. > :23:50.Completely different focus. By the time the Six Nations come along,
:23:50. > :23:58.
:23:58. > :24:04.Is that one of the beauties of playing over here - that you can
:24:04. > :24:08.absorb the pressure up when you are here, which is different? When your
:24:08. > :24:14.father at home, there is this whole thing, oh, we are not winning
:24:14. > :24:18.internationals? It is brilliant. I first noticed it when I went to
:24:18. > :24:24.England because it is a similar place to hear. As soon as you are
:24:24. > :24:31.back, what you did in Scotland is irrelevant. Coming back is a good
:24:31. > :24:35.way to escape from what is a bit of a goldfish bowl and Scotland.
:24:35. > :24:43.do you think Scotland can beat a team like France? We have a lot of
:24:43. > :24:49.good players. A lot of good coaches. It is a mental thing that has let
:24:49. > :24:57.us down. We are not used to winning, perhaps. If I knew the answer, we
:24:57. > :25:02.would not have lost! And therein lies the French problem ask - our
:25:02. > :25:10.lack of confidence against and unpredictability in their play. And
:25:10. > :25:13.a touch of class added to the brutality. It is a difficult
:25:13. > :25:23.question to answer, but you talked about needing to sort out a couple
:25:23. > :25:25.
:25:25. > :25:32.of things on the pitch. What are they? In the game, the most common
:25:32. > :25:37.aspect is the contact area. It is no coincidence that the best teams
:25:37. > :25:42.in the world a great in that area. You look at New Zealand and their
:25:42. > :25:47.potency, the reality is, of their contact skills are the best in the
:25:47. > :25:52.world. We are way behind that and we know that. That is where we let
:25:52. > :25:57.ourselves down. If we had to do this right, we need to compete in
:25:57. > :26:00.all aspects of the game, and the contact area is one of them.
:26:00. > :26:06.contact area is one of them. have to away games and three home
:26:06. > :26:14.matches. We have not beaten England in 30 years at Twickenham. We lost
:26:15. > :26:20.to Italy last year. We have not beaten Ireland since 2010 in Dublin.
:26:20. > :26:23.The Welsh have lost their Grand Slam winning coach - he is off to
:26:23. > :26:27.coach the Lions. And our last game coach the Lions. And our last game
:26:27. > :26:34.is against the World Cup finalists, France. But that is enough about
:26:34. > :26:40.asked. What is a run us thinking? It is exciting right now. The Six
:26:40. > :26:49.Nations is what everyone was always done. It is an exciting tournament,
:26:49. > :26:59.and the coverage the media give to it, the supplier to us, France, it
:26:59. > :27:08.is really good Hyde Park. It is a great situation to be in. I would
:27:08. > :27:14.rather be like this. That but have added pressure is quite nice.
:27:14. > :27:20.need to be fresh, physically, and mentally, and you need to organise
:27:20. > :27:26.your game plan and system well. It will be a waste to be ready for the
:27:26. > :27:36.first game. The in this Six Nations, it we will play against teams like
:27:36. > :27:42.France and England, a step up from the team. Against the other teams,
:27:42. > :27:46.we can play it well and getting good result. We are in a good place.
:27:46. > :27:51.It is a tournament where you need to hit the game running from the
:27:51. > :27:56.first game. Twickenham is massive gasp - do have a the 1,000 people
:27:57. > :28:03.cheering us on and singing Greek National Anthem. So that is the
:28:03. > :28:07.consensus. The Italians, set-piece team, Irish, good on the ground,
:28:07. > :28:16.the Welsh, the same way, and the French attack from anywhere. The
:28:16. > :28:21.truth is that nobody gives us Scots a chance. Here is a final thought.
:28:21. > :28:25.When we played at Twickenham 30 years ago, perhaps there was only