Six Nations: 'Forget Wales bogeyman Warren Gatland... this must be Scotland's time'

There tin scarcely beryllium a clip erstwhile Warren Gatland has been much acrophobic astir his cleanable tally against Scotland coming to an end.

Wales are successful Edinburgh for Saturday's Six Nations Test and so, too, is that flaky aged person of Scotland fans - hope.

Hope walks the streets, similar John Travolta successful Saturday Night Fever. Hope says that Scotland with its playmakers and its ruthlessness and its belligerence and its squad extent person turned the country and are acceptable to bring an extremity to this nonsense against Gatland's team. Hope says that Scotland's onslaught and defence are astatine specified a joyously precocious level present that an uncertain Wales volition beryllium enactment away.

We cognize the happening astir hope, though. Hope giveth and anticipation taketh away.

In 2006, Scotland had anticipation of going 2 from 2 successful the title for the archetypal clip ever but Wales (and a Scott Murray reddish card) killed it chromatic dead. They had anticipation of going 2 for 2 again successful 2021, but Wales (and a Zander Fagerson reddish card) removed it. In 2022, they packed up their anticipation and headed for Cardiff for different changeable astatine 2 from two, but Wales (and a wounding Finn Russell yellowish card) delivered different communicative of woe.

• Gatland aims to marque it 12-0 against Scotland
• The crippled that astir killed planetary rugby
• Scotland v Wales: Preview & cardinal stats

That crippled past twelvemonth was rugby's equivalent of a slap crossed the look with a bedewed kipper. According to the movie website Rotten Tomatoes, the scariest happening that has ever appeared connected a tv surface is The Exorcist, which conscionable goes to amusement you that the Rotten Tomatoes radical scare beauteous easily.

In presumption of existent gore, thing - and we mean thing - successful that movie could clasp a candle to Scotland's show against Wales successful Cardiff past year. Even now, a twelvemonth on, it comes with a wellness warning. Scotland look to person moved connected since then, but the representation is inactive there, lurking successful the country of the mind.

Somebody bursting done a doorway with an axe has thing connected the brutality astatine the Principality past year, a title that began, arsenic this title has, with a triumph against England earlier lurching into chaos and the show of Scotland foostering their mode done 20 pointless phases astatine the extremity of different coulda-shoulda day.

Contrast the Scottish plodders past and the Scottish thoroughbreds of past play astatine Twickenham. Four tries connected the backmost of 29% territory. That speaks to the ruthless, astir freakish, ratio of what they did with shot successful hand.

An mean of 4.1 points scored for each sojourn to England's 22 successful a athletics wherever thing implicit 3 points per sojourn is deemed excellent. Last year, Scotland's instrumentality successful their 5 games was 3.4, 1.8, 2.4, 3.7 and 0.6. More than 200 tackles made and yet lone 9 penalties fixed away, 3 beneath their crippled mean from a twelvemonth ago, which besides happened to beryllium the highest successful the tournament.

'If not now, when, for Townsend's men?'

Establishing an aura takes a while. Ireland's is astir a relentless and suffocating onslaught led by Johnny Sexton. France's aura is astir their immense powerfulness and the sniping brilliance of Antoine Dupont. Wales utilized to person 1 typified by the huffy strength of Alun Wyn Jones and an cognition of never-say-die.

Scotland person a spot to spell - and galore much games to triumph - earlier they transportation that beingness with them, but Twickenham was an illustration of what they are susceptible of, adjacent disconnected constricted amounts of ball.

In conscionable a fewer abbreviated months, determination appears to person been seismic alteration successful Gregor Townsend's team. They scored 4 blistering tries past play without the services of Darcy Graham, but had the fantabulous Kyle Steyn to capable in. They were missing 2 stellar opensides successful Hamish Watson and Rory Darge and yet recovered a thumpingly bully replacement successful Luke Crosbie.

Last season's Six Nations finished with Chris Harris and Sam Johnson successful the midfield, present it's the lethal duo of Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu, a beauteous operation of imaginativeness and explosiveness that offers a satellite of promise.

Ali Price was the scrum-half past and is not adjacent successful the 23 now. There's a caller centre partnership, a caller scrum-half, a caller fastener (or newish fixed it's the reborn Richie Gray we're talking about), a caller skipper and a caller open-side. Cohesion is the watchword successful Test rugby these days. You'd expect Townsend to instrumentality to arsenic adjacent to the aforesaid 15 and the aforesaid 23 arsenic helium tin successful the lead-up to the World Cup.

None of Watson, Darge, Scott Cummings, Stuart McInally, Sam Skinner, Rory Sutherland, Zander Fagerson, Cam Redpath, Graham, Price oregon Johnson were successful the 23 that bushed England past Saturday. Fitness allowing, you could prime an wholly antithetic 15 to the squad that started astatine Twickenham and it would beryllium much than decent.

So this is Scotland's time. It has to be. A skilful onslaught that is susceptible of conjuring tries from anyplace connected the pitch, a backline with playmakers, imagination, daring and ferociously unsafe runners.

Scotland's forwards, skilful and thunderous, enactment successful a monumental displacement against England. They were inactive attacking and defending with gusto successful the dying minutes. Matt Fagerson is the comparatively unsung subordinate of that group. Others got the limelight, but Fagerson's show was astonishingly good, arsenic implicit a show from a Scotland fig 8 successful a generation.

There are much reasons to judge this clip than immoderate different clip connected Townsend's watch, but it's inactive lone 1 win. Nobody successful Scotland with immoderate grasp connected 2 decades of past volition beryllium getting carried distant conscionable yet. It volition mean precisely thing if they don't marque it 2 connected Saturday.

The Test volition person had an added relevance for Stuart Hogg. If you number his 2 Tests for the Lions successful the summertime of 2021 - and wherefore wouldn't you - Hogg volition play his 100th planetary lucifer connected Saturday. The information that it's Gatland's Wales he'll beryllium playing it against lone adds to the compelling quality of what's astir to spell down astatine Murrayfield.

He made his debut against Gatland's Wales, had 1 of his worst rugby experiences against Gatland's Wales - a reddish paper and a 50-point horseing successful 2014 - and has mislaid much games to Gatland's Wales than anybody other successful this Scotland squad. In their time, Ross Ford mislaid 8 and John Barclay seven. Hogg doesn't privation to beforehand different measurement towards that peculiar dungeon.

The different week Barclay poised a elemental but pertinent question connected the BBC. Talking of Scotland's myriad strengths helium wondered aloud astir their prospects of achieving thing successful this Six Nations,. "If not now, when?" helium asked.

Yes. Townsend and his players are the lone ones who tin reply that, continuing connected Saturday with the accomplishment of the bogeyman and his beleaguered army.