Having immersed himself in French culture for 17 years and now determined to bring the Scottish version to the fore, head coach Vern Cotter represents a potential advantage to Scotland in this week’s Six Nations opener in Paris, believes assistant Matt Taylor.
The Australian-born defence specialist backs his boss’ philosophy to immerse the national team in the traditional values of great Scottish XVs of the past, and hopes that his inside knowledge of much of the French team will help in the Stade de France on Saturday evening.
“One of the great things about this week is that Vern knows their players very well, knows their traits, their psyche,” said Taylor. “There’s a number of the squad that were with him at Clermont and he’s got the knowledge of 16 to 17 years as player and coach there.
“Like any team, the style of play is reflected in their culture and that’s especially true of France. One of the things that stands out for me with Vern is that cultural side of things with us.
“He’s got the style he wants the team to play based on the really good Scottish teams of the past, and we’ve been working hard on applying that. But he’s also paid attention to the culture, Scottish life and stars from other sports as well.”
The head coach is an imposing figure to start with, adds Taylor.
“He’s making a huge difference on lots of levels,” he continued. “He’s straight-shooting in what he wants individuals and the group to do, and he has a presence about him, just because he’s a big guy and is direct I suppose.
“I think he’s been excellent for players and staff and you can see that in the results we’ve had.”
France’s less structured style of play makes them more difficult to handle than most, but in a lot of ways they’re the same as anyone, Taylor added.
“Teddy Thomas, the way he played for them in the autumn, produced a third or half of their tackle breaks,” he pointed out. “They’ve got a world class back three, Bastereau in the centre.
“They’ll be hard to defend against, but they’re like anyone else, get in their faces, have good line speed and create chaos at the breakdown, it’s a lot easier to shut down teams.
“Argentina winning in Paris in the autumn defended well and executed their tackles, as well as taking their scoring opportunities, even if it was a few drop goals. Australia when they lost to France kept the ball in hand all the time and I think you have to have more of a balance in test rugby.”
Scotland will kick more than the Wallabies did, but it has to be at the right time, added Taylor.
“It has to be when you’ve got lots of guys on their feet and the chase is good; France will rip you apart if the kick is poor or the chase isn’t good enough,” he said.
“We had that problem two years ago in Paris, a couple of loose kicks that gave them momentum in the game when we’d had long spells doing really well.”
Last year’s game was “ a real missed opportunity” but Taylor doesn’t pinpoint Yoann Huget’s length of the field interception try as the key.
“You can look at that and say, yes, it was a 14-point turnaround because we were probably going to score,” he said.
“But I think it was our discipline. The penalty count was 13-6 against us, on a day when their lineout didn’t function at all.
“We’ve talked about that, our discipline has to be right. We have to be really accurate with that.”