2022 was not the year it could have – should have – been for Scottish rugby.
After a highly encouraging 2021, highlighted by wins – at last – in London and Paris, it should have been a kick-on year for Scotland. Some forward momentum for 2023, a pivotal year.
2023 is important not just because it’s Rugby World Cup year, but because it represents possibly the last shout for some of our foundation, generational players. Five wins and seven defeats in 12 games in 2022 was hardly an ideal way in.
Scotland bookended the season with their two best performances. The opener in February against England was a stirring victory, but the Scots were good for just the first half-hour and the last ten minutes.
Argentina to close the season was a much more rounded performance. But a game punctuated by multiple yellow cards and an understandably fatigued Puma team makes it hard to make an unequivocal judgement.
Why didn’t Scotland kick on? Regular readers of these columns will know I don’t believe the team was prepared as well in tactics and in motivation as they could have been.
The atmosphere in camp didn’t feel #AsOne. You struggled to see an obvious structure from Scotland. There were a few unnecessary cul-de-sacs, the primary one being a puzzling decision to marginalise one of our two most creative players.
But whether you think the team were actually able to ‘put the best version of themselves’ on the pitch – their relentless mantra for the first half of the year – there’s an obvious truth.
Scotland’s top players were either missing injured, or didn’t play very well.
Injury, and a gruelling 18 months
Congratulations to @Jamie_T_Ritchie on the captaincy, he’s been a stand-out player for us and will have my full support.
I’m naturally disappointed about not being Captain for the Series – it’s been a huge honour leading my country and an integral part of my life. pic.twitter.com/ZiISoKmRQ8
— Stuart W Hogg (@StuartWHOGG_) October 20, 2022
Jamie Ritchie’s absence for eight months with injury was a huge blow, and we quickly learned how pivotal he is to the team these days.
But none of Scotland’s three biggest stars played consistently well.
Stuart Hogg’s form had edged with the demands on him – no player had more minutes afield in European rugby in 2021 and 22. The captaincy became a burden, and he was trying too many “hero” moments in the Six Nations.
Finn Russell wasn’t poor enough to deserve being dropped for a coach’s pet project, but he didn’t exactly play well either in the first half of the year.
The vintage display against the Pumas shouldn’t mask how poorly he played in Cardiff, for example.
For the first time in his Scotland career, Hamish Watson struggled for consistency. His absence against France with Covid was sorely felt, but there were fewer of those gangbusting displays we’d become accustomed to.
It’s undoubtedly no coincidence that these three players were all on the Lions Tour and played without a serious break since the Covid lockdown. Ali Price comes into this category as well.
Watson is worryingly absent at present with head injury issues. But after a restive summer break we’ve already seen Hogg and Russell back close to their best.
The wings are the thing
43 – No players beat more defenders in Tier 1 Test rugby in 2022 than @Scotlandteam wingers Darcy Graham (43) and Duhan van der Merwe (36), while Graham also made the most line breaks (13) and the third-most metres (713m) of any player this year. Lightning. pic.twitter.com/kuPGOlmHXT
— OptaJonny (@OptaJonny) December 28, 2022
So with Scotland’s top names marking time, who was our best player in 2022? I don’t think there’s any question.
With Hogg, Russell, Ritchie and Watson, Scotland have a batch of superstar players as good as any in the last 30 years. I think we added two players to that in 2022.
Duhan van der Merwe was probably already there after his 2021 season. But Darcy Graham has moved into the top echelon.
From a player who initially looked a like a luxury at times, the diminutive wing has become crucial to the team – a defence breaker and finisher all in one, and as dynamic a player as we’ve had in some time.
Six tries in 2022 have Graham up to 16 tries in just 33 tests – van der Merwe has 14 in 23. Having two wings scoring at better than a try every other game has transformed Scotland as an attacking threat.
As long as we get the ball to them. I think the stat of the year for Scotland was the two wings getting eight touches and no tries between them in the Australia loss to start the autumn, but 23 and four tries against Argentina.
The lesson’s clear from that. Get the ball to Darcy and Duhan, by any means necessary.
New ‘laws’ for 2023 don’t really address the most pressing issue
World Rugby has announced a series of new law directives designed to speed up the game from the beginning of 2023.https://t.co/ut6BvrmdDQ
— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) December 22, 2022
Just a few days after we flagged it, World Rugby last week announced some rule changes for 2023. That’s next week, folks.
The Countdown Clock on kickers, which has been in use in France’s Top 14 for a couple of seasons, is being applied across all pro rugby.
Typical they introduce this as Jonny Sexton has only nine months left on his career. But then, the only player I‘ve ever seen go over the 90 seconds allotted time in a T14 game was…Finn Russell, earlier this season.
There are other new rules to stop the general faffing about that had become endemic in the game. No more strolling to lineouts, no stalling at scrums. Fewer TMO checks, water breaks after tries only. I think we can all get behind this, if it’s policed stringently.
Intentional knock-ons are getting attention. Referees should “use good judgement” when deciding whether a genuine attempt is made to get the ball. Er, don’t they do this already?
There’s always something about the breakdown. This time it’s stringent application penalising players with their hands on the ground. Again, this is stringently applied already, I thought.
Just ban the jackal. It would solve multiple issues and make the game much safer at a stroke.
Which is what should be the primary objective to any rule changes in rugby these days.
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