AWS Game Notes

Analysis: Scotland defence comes up big

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France had made a habit in the Guinness Six Nations of starting fast and then playing with a lead but on Sunday, Scotland were able to turn the tables.

France had made a habit in the Guinness Six Nations of starting fast and then playing with a lead but on Sunday, Scotland were able to turn the tables.

Virtually from the off, Scotland were able to slow down the French ball carriers and deny them quick ball with Hamish Watson and Jamie Ritchie then able to scavenge at the breakdown.

Shaun Edwards has been lauded for his influence with France this year but it was another new defence coach, Scotland’s Steve Tandy, who took all the plaudits in the 28-17 Round 4 victory.

Tandy, the former Ospreys head coach, arrived after spending time with the Waratahs in Super Rugby, and has made an immediate impact with Scotland.

Through four games, they have conceded just four tries and at BT Murrayfield they were particularly aggressive in defence.

Where Les Bleus had been able to rack up the dominant tackles in previous matches, it was Scotland who did so yesterday as shown by the MatchStats Powered by AWS.

They made 24 dominant tackles in all, including five alone from Grant Gilchrist, while France managed just seven in total.

That defence was able to negate the likes of Paul Willemse and Grégory Alldritt, who had been so influential up to this point.

They finished with a 93 percent tackle success rate, making double the amount of tackles that France managed.

Limiting France to just four line breaks in all meant that the visitors could only manage two tries in total, the least they have managed in a game to date.

Of course Tandy was not the only specialist coach to enjoy the performance of his charges. Former France tighthead Pieter de Villiers (below) has also joined the Scotland set-up as scrum coach.

As has been the case for much of the Championship, the Scottish set-piece was very solid, earning two penalties and two free-kicks on their own ball.

While they were helped by going up against seven forwards in the second half, that dominance had already begun before Mohamed Haouas was sent off.

De Villiers is clearly having success with Rory Sutherland and Zander Fagerson, who were similarly dominant in Rome.

Those two little additions to Gregor Townsend’s coaching staff appear to be having a big impact through the first four rounds of the Championship.