We have not lost sight of reality after big win, says Southwell
The Scottish squad have spent a lot of time this week talking about their desire to show greater attacking flair in their final RBS 6 Nations game of the season against Italy today after only managing one try in their previous four matches. However, full-back Southwell insists the players must be able to walk before they can run.
“I don’t think there was ever any danger of us getting carried away with ourselves,” said the 27-year-old Edinburgh star ahead of the wooden spoon decider in Rome.
“To put it in perspective, all we have to do is look at the 6 Nations table.
“We have won one out of four games, we’ve been disappointing in three matches in a row, and although we have put in one performance that has given us all a bit of a lift, we are still near the bottom of the table, despite starting the tournament believing that we could end up somewhere near the top.
“We’ll hopefully get some nice weather so we can play some good rugby and score a few tries against Italy, but we’re not going to get over-excited.
“As we have already seen in this tournament, the Italians are a pretty handy outfit —– especially at home —– so we’ve got to stick to our game plan. We’ve got to get our structure right and get our basics right.
“We need to play with an integrated game plan. You want to be able to entertain the supporters, but if you look at any team in the world that which has a reputation for playing both successful and attractive rugby, you will see that they only start throwing the ball about once they have broken the gain line.
“That’s what we’ll be looking to do this weekend. It is about getting the balance right, and that’s why we are lucky we have two great players like Mike (Blair) and Mossy (Chris Paterson) at scrum-half and stand-off. They’ll be able to weigh up the situation and make the right decisions for the team.”
Southwell’s feet might be firmly on the ground, but that does not mean he did not take a great deal of pleasure from last weekend’s remarkable win.
However, his joy had more to do with the boost to team morale rather than any deep-rooted resentment towards Scotland’s oldest rivals.
“Everyone in Scotland wants to see us beat England, there are a whole lot of historical and cultural reasons for that,” said the London-born full-back.
“But from the players’ point of view, the real bonus was that we got the better of a team that reached the World Cup final last year and has achieved an enormous amount of success in recent years.”
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