Jason O’Halloran hopes Scotland can shake off their mental shackles after finally halting their RBS Six Nations losing streak.
The backs coach watched his side stun Italy with two early tries before Tommy Seymour’s late score put the seal on a 36-20 victory in Rome. It was the Scots’ first win in the competition for two years and killed off fears of a dreaded 10th straight loss.
Scotland had high hopes entering the championship following their encouraging display at last year’s World Cup, but O’Halloran said he was worried the team’s self-belief had plummeted after losing their opening two games to England and Wales.
But with that run of misery now behind Vern Cotter’s team, O’Halloran wants to see Scotland now march into their next clash with France at Murrayfield in two weeks’ time with a confident swagger.
“Hopefully a win will liberate us a bit. We can get rid of a few of those mental demons we’ve been carrying around with us,” O’Halloran said.
“We were under the pump at times but came through with a decent margin of victory in Rome, in front of a big Italian crowd. We will be able to use that experience.”
Kicking display
Flankers John Barclay and John Hardie dived over for Scotland in the opening 17 minutes and skipper Greig Laidlaw’s near-flawless kicking display with 21 points from 24 ensured the Azzurri were largely held at bay.
There were concerns when Leonardo Ghiraldini and Marco Fuser crossed for the hosts either side of the interval, with the second coming after outhalf Finn Russell had been sent to the bin. But Seymour’s late score – at a time when Scotland were again a man light after prop WP Nel’s yellow card – put the result beyond doubt, allowing Cotter’s group to breath a huge sigh of relief as a repeat of last year’s whitewash was avoided.
“We’re really happy with the win. The pleasing thing for us is that we still realise we can be better than that. But I thought the character of the team shone through, especially after we suffered two yellow cards,” said O’Halloran.
Confidence boost
“It’s something to be really proud of. I think we thought it was going to be easy after the way we scored twice so early.
“But we were then probably guilty of playing a bit too much rugby in the lead-up to their first try. We got a little expansive a little too early. So there is probably a lesson there for us that when you get a lead you need to force the opposition to play out of their own zone.”
And O’Halloran insisted the Scots would not get carried away with one result.
Scotland’s last Six Nations victory before Saturday was also recorded in Rome but they allowed the confidence boost of that result to slip away as the defeats piled up.
“We can’t allow that to happen again. We were really disappointed with how we performed in our last home game against England so there’s an extra motivation to play well,” said O’Halloran.
“There has always been expectation on the back of a pretty successful World Cup, so it’s something we’ve been having to deal with ever since. All we can focus on is trying to get better for the next game against France.”
ITALY: Odiete, L Sarto, Campagnaro, Garcia, Bellini, Haimona, Gori, Lovotti, Ghiraldini, Cittadini, Fuser, Furno, Minto, Zanni, Parisse. Replacements: Pratichetti for Garcia (75), Padovani for Haimona (72), Palazzani for Gori (79), Zanusso for Lovotti (57), Giazzon for Ghiraldini (57), Castrogiovanni for Cittadini (57), Bernabo for Furno (36), van Schalkwyk for Minto (67).
SCOTLAND: Hogg, Seymour, Bennett, Taylor, Visser, Russell, Laidlaw, Dickinson, Ford, Nel, R. Gray, J. Gray, Barclay, Hardie, Wilson. Replacements: Lamont for Visser (72), McInally for Ford (63), Swinson for R. Gray (79), Low for Barclay (79), Strauss for Wilson (67). Not Used: Sutherland, Hidalgo-Clyne, Horne. Sin Bin: Russell (61), Nel (75).
Referee: Jaco Peyper (South Africa).
