Iain Morrison laments Scotland terrible luck and unbalanced bench after they were undone by a forward pass in France in The Scotsman.
"There was a strong suspicion that Clancy was blocking Scottish defenders and the official took forever to raise his arm for good reason; replays clearly show that the ball was handed forward to the scorer. Scotland coach Frank Hadden seems not only to have been crossed by a black cat but must have run it over… repeatedly.
"However, not everything boils down to the bounce of the ball. Going into this match without a recognised lock on the bench looked like a high-risk strategy ahead of yesterday's game but it looked positively lunatic after 18 minutes which is when Jim Hamilton retired from the contest clutching his injured shoulder.
"We were disappointed it happened the way that it did," said Hadden, "but you can't cover every position on the bench. Maybe we got better as a result of the changes, it's almost impossible to tell."
"This is spurious nonsense and Hadden has some form in this matter. Last year against Italy the coach took just two substitute backs to Rome only to see Simon Danielli limp off after seven minutes. To take two flankers on the bench and then claim that "you can't cover every position" is the very definition of disingenuous. Thankfully the coach was on much firmer footing when dealing with his players' efforts in the Stade de France, where they went some way towards banishing the memories of their horror show against Wales."
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