Leading the charge: Scotland must punish England to complete an encouraging week in rugby.
On Sunday, Edinburgh gave Scottish rugby a much needed boost six days before Saturday's Calcutta Cup match with a comprehensive win over Wales' top regional team, Ospreys. For the first time this year, the weather and underfoot conditions at Murrayfield were conducive to playing open rugby and both teams were keen to oblige. Neither of the teams were at full strength but Edinburgh showed that they have plenty of good young players coming through.
I was particularly interested in the clash between the respective back rows but, on the day, there was only one winner. When you consider the average age of Edinburgh's young guns was around 22 and Ospreys’ was around 35, then it literally was "old" men against boys - and the boys won out of sight. Rob Moffat's decision to play three natural number sevens worked well and could prove a great bonus in the last few league matches as the weather, hopefully, gets even better.
Critics might say that Edinburgh had no big authentic ball carriers in the forwards. But who needs them when your team is playing at a faster pace than the opposition and all of them are running at space, not at bodies, and attempting to keep the ball alive? The two second rowers, Scott MacLeod and Steve Turnbull, were very prominent in the open. This was demonstrated perfectly when both were in close attendance to Mark Robertson when he broke at halfway and scored under the posts - and that was nearly 60 minutes into the game.
Tim Visser deserves special mention for taking the game by the scruff of the neck after he had replaced Simon Webster, scoring three tries within 10 minutes early in the second half. Ben Cairns also had an excellent game at 15 and must be wondering why he is not in the international mix.
Glasgow Warriors kept their hopes of reaching the Magners League play-offs alive with a creditable draw in Galway. Connacht are very difficult to beat at home and, being at full strength, would have expected to win.
For Saturday's Calcutta Cup match with England, Andy Robinson has again gone for continuity with only one change in the starting line-up. But loyalty to players can only last for so long. Nothing short of victory will guarantee the international future for some of them.
Nick De Luca has hinted that he was chosen for his defence but it's more attacking options we need, so I hope that his ability to step-and-go can be used in attack as well. He does make breaks but he has an annoying habit of offloading when it's not on, surrendering possession to the opposition.
England will be hurting after two mediocre displays against Ireland and Italy and they are a team short of confidence. Scotland must make sure they don't regain it this Saturday.
There will be an almighty battle up front but Scotland are well-equipped to deal with anything the English pack throw at them. Robinson has asked the Scots players to be ruthless and I agree with him fully. In all three games, we've created scoring chances but haven’t converted them - so getting over the line on a regular basis is what he is demanding.
