Madigan on Monday: Now is not the time to panic

It’s natural after a defeat to look at what went wrong but you have to look at the positives too. It was unlucky the way the game unfolded that the scrum didn’t become more of a factor in the match because it was an area we would havedominated.

Our scrum went really well. Jack and Rory and Tadhg were rock solid and they took the Scots apart. It’s a real strength for the team as we go into the spring and it could also be the undoing of the Scots - they’ll face strong scrums against England and France too.

The scrum is the most tangible positive we can take from the game but there are other positives too: our attitude, for example, coming back from 21-5 down to lead, shows that the system isn’t broken and that there is little need to rip it up after just one match.

On the other side of the ledger, apart from the slow start which put us severely on the back-foot, our lineout let us down badly. There were two or three opportunities from five-metre lineouts to maul over and, ultimately, one of them would have been enough to win the game.

Whatever concerns you would have for the Scottish scrum going forward, you have to give them plenty of credit for what they did on Saturday.

Their defence caught us off-guard and they showed some qualities I haven’t seen from this team before. It’s the first time, for example, that they’ve defended so aggressively and they hit our ball carriers really hard behind the gain line.

Also, the way they set up their attack was something of a surprise: the full-back and wingers standing in the 5m line and setting up with a big space between the number 10 and the full-back. This was done to give Stuart Hogg a one-on-one or even a two-on-two and with his speed and strength he’s going to come out on top. Even if he goes and converts 50% of the chances with that kind of space, it’s going to be telling.

Joe Bloggs | Source: RTE NEWS