Ryan Wilson: Glasgow are on ‘another level’ which is all the more reason to believe it has to be Scotland’s year
Ryan Wilson duirng a Premier Sports broadcast. Credit: www.inpho.ie
Gregor Townsend’s Scotland have been told this has to be the year they finally unlock their potential and pick up some Six Nations silverware.
The Scots have not won a Triple Crown, let alone a championship or Grand Slam in the quarter of a century since the tournament expanded to six teams.
They have lost 84 of their 130 matches, only five times finished higher than fourth, never placed in the top two and never recorded four wins in a single campaign.
This squad should be the one to put that right. It is so full of quality that Duhan van der Merwe and Darcy Graham, the two top try scorers in Scottish history, cannot get in the side to face Italy in Rome on Saturday.
Blair Kinghorn, who plays for six-time European champions Toulouse and was one of a record 13 Scottish Lions in Australia last summer, cannot even make the bench.
The bookmakers think they have seen this movie before. Despite Kinghorn, Finn Russell, Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu all starting Tests for the British and Irish Lions in Australia, they are rated 14/1 also-rans.
‘Those Glasgow boys at the moment are on another level’
Despite England and France having to come to Murrayfield, the Scots are priced above only hapless Wales for the Triple Crown.
Despite Glasgow’s unbeaten start to the Champions Cup, so impressive that none of powerhouses Sale, Toulouse, Clermont and Saracens could live with them, Townsend’s team is not considered close to matching the sum of its parts.
They would appear to be a rugby nation grievously disrespected were it not for the fact that there is no body of evidence, save for notable one-off wins, to counter the argument.
So yes, they have lost only twice in eight games to arch rivals England. But in only four of those eight campaigns did they emerge with more Six Nations wins than losses.
Ryan Wilson knows all about that history, having lived much of it during a 50-cap Scotland career between 2013 and 2020. He understands the reluctance to talk up the chances of his old team.
That the sight of this squad coughing up a 21-0 lead after half-time to lose at home to Argentina in November merely confirmed, in the eyes of many, that this is what Scotland does.
Yet so impressed has he been with Glasgow’s form, recognised by Townsend with nine Warriors in Saturday’s starting 15, that he genuinely believes it will galvanise the national team.
“What Glasgow is doing has transformed the mood of Scottish rugby,” says the Premier Sports pundit. “Those Glasgow boys at the moment are on another level.
“I think every Scotsman and Scotswoman talking about Scotland are so reluctant to say, ‘look at the team we’ve got, this has to be our year’. Because it is something we have said over the last three or four years.
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“But you genuinely feel the way Glasgow have gone about their business and are doing what they’re doing, is all the more reason it has to be.”
Wilson adds: “Look, this first match is a huge one. Scotland are odds-on in Rome, but Italy are no mugs. They won the fixture last time it was played there.
“There’s a lot of pressure on Scotland to perform. Never mind, it COULD be a banana skin, it IS a very tough game. I think Scotland will be happy to get a win of any shape or form.
“We saw Glasgow go over to Zebre three weeks ago. Franco Smith put out a pretty stacked team and they stuttered through that. It just shows it’s not an easy place to go and play.”
‘It’s huge to have him back’
If the Scots are to shine in a campaign which sees England in Edinburgh on Saturday week, followed by Wales away, France home and Ireland away, Wilson points to the return of Jones as crucial.
“He’s a big game player, Huw [Jone], a big moment player,” says the 36-year-old of a midfielder who only returned from five months injury absence in January.
“Huw will touch the ball five times, and four times something special happens. Four big things. He’s someone you can just rely on. He reads the game so well.
“It’s huge to have him back. He came back firing for Glasgow at Clermont; it was like he hadn’t missed a beat. It was incredible.
“That partnership between him and Sione we’ve seen deliver in some very big games for club, country and Lions.
“Then there’s the sense Huw and Finn [Russell] are on a similar wavelength. They’re both pretty relaxed, don’t get too stressed, see things maybe others don’t.”
From Pierre Schoeman at one to Tom Jordan, who has played beautifully this season for Bristol, at 15, Scotland has a starting team that can do damage. They also have a bench blessed with power and speed.
Mix in Glasgow’s winning mindset, and the ghosts of the Argentina defeat should be quickly banished.
Should. Because with Scotland, you never quite know for sure.
Ryan Wilson will join Duncan Weir and Sebastian Negri for Premier Sports’ live coverage of Italy v Scotland this Saturday starting at 1.30pm on Premier Sports 1. For the first time, in a new partnership with Six Nations Rugby, Premier Sports will broadcast five live matches from the Guinness Men’s Six Nations Championship across the UK – further strengthening its position as the home of elite rugby for rugby fans which includes EPCR rugby, Top 14 and URC.
In addition, Premier Sports 2 will offer continuous ‘suspended spider cam’ footage of the game from the skies to give what the broadcaster describe as an immersive audience experience (no commentary, just ref mic and crowd). To join, visit www.premiersports.com from £11.99 a month.