Vern Cotter’s plan for Scotland involved consulting three of the country’s rugby legends and re-introducing the element of surprise, revealed defence coach Matt Taylor.
The Australian-born former Scottish A cap, now the longest-serving member of the Scotland coaching set-up, admitted to extra excitement and motivation as the new head coach’s philosophy starts to take effect in the build-up to the Autumn tests, starting at BT Murrayfield on Saturday against Argentina.
And he revealed that Cotter had sought out former coaches and players, specifically Andy Irvine, Jim Telfer and Sir Ian McGeechan, in an attempt to try and restore the Scotland’s team’s unique identity.
“We had some really good meetings in the camp in Newcastle last week and Vern had done a lot of background, talking to a lot of former coaches and players about a “Scotland Way” of playing,” said Taylor.
“That really means plenty off-loads, scoring tries, enjoying your rugby, taking opportunities. We watched tape of some of the great Scottish teams of the past this morning and there was also that thing of taking teams by surprise, using fancy moves or things that other teams weren’t used to.”
That style of play chimes with Cotter’s own thoughts on the game, continued Taylor.
“He’s simplified things really well for us,” he continued. “A lot of things the past coaches and players came up with were very similar to what Vern wanted to play anyway.
“He wants the guys to be excited about playing rugby and he wants to score tries because that what you play for. Also being able to adapt, the great Scottish teams of the past were able to do that and be innovative, and that’s what Scots people do as a nation so we want that in our style.”
There is a balance between eulogising the past and concentrating on the present, agreed Taylor.
“What I’ve been excited about is the understand of who we represent,” he said. “We know that this is the time in the sun for this group of players, but they understand the link to the past, we’re representing the greta palyers who have gone before us, we’re representing the country now and also the grioup that comes after us, the young children in the crowd on Saturday.
“It’s exciting that it’s our time in the sun and we have to do our best to improve the legacy and continue it on.”
The surprise elements will remain that way until Saturday at the least, but Scotland start with Argentina knowing pretty much how the Pumas will approach the game.
“History shows most games between Scotland and Argentina are really tight test matches, so I don’t doubt it’ll be the same on the weekend,” he continued.
“We’ve seen a great deal of them from their games in the Rugby Championship. Their scrum is very good and we have to deal with that, their lineout drive is also strong. What they have done since the last time we played them (in June) is expand their game, using more width.
“At our attack presentation today, (attack coach) Duncan Hodge had some really good views on where we could attack them, statistically there’s certain areas they are weaker than others and we’ll go hard at them in those areas.
“We feel we’ve got a pretty good plan. They’ll be stronger as a group than when we played them last time but so will we.”
Scotland called in British Lions prop Ryan Grant to train with the squad after his successful return from shoulder surgery with a man of the match performance for Glasgow against Benetton Treviso on Friday.
It’s not expected Grant will go straight into the starting team but he should have a chance of involvement as the Autumn Test series continues.
There was further good news for Scotland with both exprienced scrum-halves Chris Cusiter and Greig Laidlaw taking part in training in Monday after managing just one session between them during all of last week.