Scotland reflect on Italy loss after ‘hard-hitting’ review as ‘huge game’ against Ireland awaits
Scotland's dejected players after their loss to Italy in Rome.
Scotland have held a “hard-hitting” review into their humiliating loss to Italy in Rome on Saturday as they aim to finish their 2024 Six Nations campaign on a high against table-toppers Ireland on Saturday.
That was the word from Scotland defence coach Steve Tandy after Gregor Townsend’s troops squandered a 22-10 lead to suffer a 31-29 defeat against the Azzurri.
Tandy revealed that Scotland‘s players and coaches had a forthright discussion on Monday as they tried to sort out the problems which cost them the match against Italy.
‘Huge frustration and disappointment’
“Obviously huge frustration and disappointment, a lot of looking at ourselves and what we did,” he said.
“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 believed that Scotland were uncharacteristically “soft” defensively against the Azzurri, but he dismissed the suggestion they lack the mental strength to deal with periods of misfortune.
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“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 said.
“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.”
Still in the hunt for the Triple Crown
Scotland’s loss to Italy effectively cost them the chance of a title decider against Ireland, but they can still win a Six Nations Triple Crown for the first time since 1990 if they emerge triumphant in Dublin.
“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.”
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