Angry Williams pledges Scots will ‘put up a performance’

MATT WILLIAMS last night lashed out at a number of former Scottish greats and promised his side would “put up a performance” against Ireland at Lansdowne Road this afternoon.

The former Leinster coach who took over the reins at Murrayfield at the start of this season, claimed his detractors were "ignorant and impatient" and described some of the vitriol that has been fired in his direction as "humiliating". However, he accepted: "This kind of stuff comes with the territory and the only way to answer it is with a performance and now we've got an opportunity to produce that."

The articulate Australian doesn't appear to be one of the most popular personalities on either side of the Irish Sea. There are those in Leinster who feel he let them down badly when leaving for Scotland, blissfully overlooking how far he had brought them after inheriting a ragbag of an outfit three years earlier.

In Scotland, everybody is taking a potshot at Williams and his players. David Sole, their victorious grand slam captain in 1990, agrees publicly with the many fans who felt that the players did not deserve to be wearing the Scotland jersey against France last Sunday. "Their performance lacked pride, passion and intelligence", he stated.

Colin Deans, a great hooker and wonderful servant of Scotland for a decade and more, has taken issue angrily with Williams for showing the door to Gregor Townsend and that redoubtable flanker Finlay Calder suggested "there is no guarantee we will ever pull out of this nosedive".

Very few have had the courage to point out to these gentlemen that they once played in a Scottish side that lost eleven matches on the trot! Even though Grafton St and Stephen's Green was full of kilted Scotsmen yesterday, the fans' patience is wearing thin. Being close to that kind of atmosphere isn't easy nor is the fact that they can have few qualms with the bookies for installing Ireland as 1/16 on favourites. It's just as well for the coach's welfare that he has a thick skin and has been down this road before.

"It's not easy to take, especially when a lot of it is totally ignorant", he insisted. "I'm relaxed, I've no problem with what's going on. I told the Scottish Union that it would take months to put things right. If you remove the coach, the problems still remain. The only way forward is long term and Ireland are a living example of that. When you consider the dog's abuse we've had to endure, it's very humiliating. It's something I don't want and I know the players feel the same way.

"Some of the abuse is there because I'm not a Scot. I feel we had this kind of conversation about Leinster a few years ago. We should have won the European Cup last year but we didn't although ultimately we produced a very good team."

Deep down, you sense that Williams doesn't dismiss the possibility of a huge shock this afternoon. He pointed out: "All 31 points against France came from us making mistakes when in possession. That's a frightening statistic but it's also uplifting because we can control those things."

He's also keeping his fingers crossed that his players will at last react to all the stick they are taking and improve radically on their four outings so far this season. As a realist, Williams accepts it won't be easy, something he readily recognises because he knows so many of the Irish players extremely well.

"Ireland have a lot of brilliant individuals who are playing very well", he commented before adding with a knowing and rueful smile: "I take great pleasure from seeing Gordon D'Arcy emerge as one of the Irish stars, he's an overnight success that took five years. Brian O'Driscoll, Gordon D'Arcy, Geordan Murphy coming back, Shane Horgan is a fantastic player, Ronan O'Gara can do anything. Paul O'Connell has developed into a world-class lock, Shane Byrne has probably been the outstanding hooker in the tournament.

We can't match any of that on our current form so what we're certainly going to try to do today is to put up a performance that we can be proud of."

Injury worries about tight head John Hayes and substitute prop Marcus Horan were dispelled yesterday and there are no fitness worries in the home camp as opposed to the Scots who yesterday replaced back-row forward Colin Mather with Alister Hogg. Ireland are hell bent on their seventh Triple Crown with O'Sullivan stressing: "It's a great opportunity to win something tangible. There is both a sense of expectation and a little apprehension as favourites."

Whether the Triple Crown carries the same cachet as it used to in the past is a moot point. But you just can't imagine the present Scotland side coping with Ireland's expansive game and it won't be a surprise if the celebrations of a seventh Triple Crown are already under way by the half time interval. The gap between the sides appears to be that wide.