Ex-England scrum-half Ben Youngs believes it is ‘now or never’ for Scotland to win the Six Nations as the 2025 Championship nears its kick off.
Gregor Townsend’s team finished fourth overall last year after winning just two of their five matches, with the star-studded squad failing to live up to its billing.
The Scots head into this year’s tournament off the back of a solid November where they defeated Fiji, Portugal and Australia but fell to a defeat at the hands of the Springboks.
Now or never for Scotland
With quality players littered through their squad list, Youngs believes that Townsend’s side are more than capable of winning the Six Nations and have the best opportunity to do so now, but feels if they don’t it will never happen.
“I feel like for Scotland, it’s now or never,” the Leicester Tigers’ nine said on his podcast For the Love of Rugby.
“I think they actually played some really good rugby in the autumn and they’ve been playing great rugby for a long time. Gregor Townsend does a fantastic job there, Steve Tandy – the defence coach – they’re well organised, they’re hard to break down and they have game-breakers.
“Genuinely, I feel that for Scotland this year, it’s a bit like now or never if they don’t do it now then the chance has gone.”
Youngs adds that much of the team’s success will centre around the performances of key players, with Finn Russell being a vital cog in the squad.
“With the player pool they have, the sort of playmakers and you start thinking about Russell and his ability to distribute,” he continued.
“Scotland are also really effective around the ruck and the speed of ball they get – actually, they’re better than most teams – and Russell’s ability to throw long passes, and create opportunities with his kick pass that he does so often to these wider channels, his ability to be incredibly efficient out of his half, he doesn’t waste any energy coming out of his end – he is very efficient.
“He actually kicks the ball more out of hand than anyone else.”
Importance of Finn Russell
Russell will share the captaincy duties with Rory Darge after Sione Tuipulotu sustained a ‘freakish injury’ in training which will sideline him for the entire tournament.
The news of Tuipulotu’s injury was announced after the recording of the show with Youngs going into detail on how important the Scotland captain is to their cause.
“The axis between Finn and Sione Tuipulotu is absolutely pivotal. When you look at Tuipulotu on average he’s doing like 11 carries but he’s also passing the ball 11 times and I don’t see another 12 close to him that has the ability to win collisions on the gain line and equally play-make and distribute,” he said.
“He is so pivotal along with Finn so how those two go will have a big say in it.”
The ex-England back did raise concerns over Scotland’s ability to fill the voids of key players if they aren’t available which is particularly telling considering the news of Tuipulotu’s injury.
With the Scotland skipper now sidelined, the likes of Fergus Burke, Stafford McDowall, Rory Hutchinson, Matt Currie, and Tom Jordan are in the running to partner the dangerous Huw Jones for the tournament.
Townsend has also been dealt a significant blow in his pack with lock Scott Cummings sustaining an arm fracture while on duty for Glasgow Warriors.
Questions marks
Replacing these stars is not the only concern with Scotland in Youngs’ opinion but also backing up performances, with the Scots often failing to produce back-to-back positive results.
“The argument or I suppose the question marks over Scotland is their ability to back up performances and if they lose some of their front-line players in certain positions – they’ve got depth in some – but in certain positions, if they lose them, I’m not sure the calibre behind them is at that level to then go and win the tournament,” he added.
“Where you look at France for instance they could lose a number of guys but I just feel like the next one comes in and slots in. England have got depth as well but that’s the question mark for Scotland.
“For me it’s a bit now on ever – they haven’t won a Six Nations title ever. The last time they won was the Five Nations 26 years ago, wow, so for me it really is now or never.
“With Finn Russell his distribution, his ability to sit behind pods of forwards and wait for something to unfold and just go for it. His ability to just go to space with his kick passes, Tuipulotu as I said his carry game his distribution game and then of course Duhan van der Merwe, you got Darcy Graham and Blair Kinghorn.
“Ben White brings a lot of tempo to the way they play and you start rolling ping out these names and you start thinking it is intriguing. So often they’ve kind of just faded.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/england-great-believes-its-now-or-never-for-scotland-to-win-the-six-nations-but-questions-the-calibre-of-depth
