The Principality Stadium with the roof closed is unique in world rugby, believes Hamish Watson, but the Scots have to go there tomorrow for the inaugural Doddie Weir Cup game prepared for it.
There are other domed rugby stadia in the world, in Melbourne and Dunedin, and a few other venues have been used, but none have as many seats as the Principality, and none of them has the crowd almost hanging over the pitch the way it is in Cardiff.
Whereas in the 6 Nations visiting teams get to decide whether the roof of the cauldron is open or closed – and visiting teams generally like it open to dull the atmosphere of 70,000 often well-fuelled Welsh people – in Autumn Tests it’s entirely Warren Gatland’s call, and the Lions coach would have it permanently shut if he could.
Watson was one of the Scots who played in that atmosphere in February – when the Scots agreed to the roof being closed because of forecast rain – and was one of the few to do himself justice in the dispiriting 34-7 defeat that day.
The dynamic open-side says the team have talked about that game and also the what’s required to deal with the different conditions.
“It’s going to be an amazing atmosphere and Wales is always a tough place to go,” he said. “They like the roof shut for the atmosphere and we’ve got to be ready for it.
“It’s slightly different in that it’s just that bit louder, so we have to be much clearer with our calls when they’re getting fed in, making sure everyone understands.
But every away game is tough these days, you saw that in the 6 Nations. Every team seems to struggle away from home, teams really want to perform for their home crowd, so that’s the challenge we need to overcome, but we’re looking forward to it.”
February’s game has been discussed, but the Scots are not entirely focused on revenge for that game.
“There has been a bit of a mention about what happened in the Six Nations, and we obviously need a much better performance than that this week.
“But the year before, we beat them. So it’s not as if they’ve beaten us loads of games consecutively; that might play a tiny factor, if that was the case. But it’s not.
“So while we’ve spoken about last year, we’re not dwelling on it, not letting it get in our heads too much.”
The familiarity between the Scots and the Welsh is another factor that plays in, adds Watson – this extra test means the Scots will play Wales three times in 13 months, in addition to all the times the players see each other in the PRO14.
“Yeah, a lot of the players we face in this game, you play against them every other week. It’s the same for us, we don’t have our boys playing club rugby outside Scotland here, so they know all of us.
“We know what their players like to do and I’m sure they know what we like to do.
“The difference is here, you’ve got a full international XV, so the intensity is completely different, the tempo is a lot higher.
“They are a lot tougher than the club games – but they’re test matches, they should be.”
Watson missed the summer tour through injury but is clearly back to his best in an Edinburgh shirt, and is looking forward to the first international of a busy year for Scotland, where they will play 14 games even before the World Cup in Japan.
“This is a massive year for Scottish rugby, with so many test matches before the start of the actual World Cup, so it’s important that we start well and have a really good autumn series.
“The tournament is still a way away, we’ve got to concentrate on the here and now; that’s these four autumn games, it’s the Six Nations – and after that our attention can turn to the World Cup.”
He personally likes having a fourth game – Scotland are doing it for the first time – in the Autumn.
“We had a week-long camp last week, so by the end of it all this Autumn we’ll really know our game plan.
“We’ve don’t have that much time together so getting four games back-to-back, being in camp for five weeks, that’s great. It’s good to help build momentum.”
