Hadden: Be brave, be bold, be confident

Frank Hadden believes Scotland will feed off the pain caused by their shock defeat to Italy when they take on Triple Crown hopefuls Ireland this weekend.

Head coach Hadden has had to lift the spirits of his players since their 37-17 defeat to the Italians, who secured their maiden Six Nations Championship away win at Murrayfield 11 days ago.

“It’s up to the side to be brave and bold and confident,” said Hadden.

“I would imagine that when players go into any game there is always nervousness, but I would imagine there is determination as well, and I would be very surprised if we didn’t get a reaction to that game [against Italy] in Scotland’s performance this weekend.

“Obviously we weren’t happy with that performance against Italy, but we feel we can solve that problem with the personnel we’ve got.

“That group will be more determined than ever as a result of what happened against Italy to prove that they’ve got what it takes to be very, very competitive and to give something special to the fans this weekend.

“We’re obviously delighted at this opportunity to make amends against a side as strong as Ireland.

“I think everybody would agree that this is the best Irish side in living memory.

“They bring a lot of qualities to the game and they’ll be very tough opposition, but our players are very familiar with them and they are certainly not afraid of them.

“We know from matches against Irish provinces that we can beat them, so we won’t be turning up in awe of the opposition.

“We’ll be respectful, but we’ll know that if we bring our best game to the table then they are going to find it very difficult to cope with that.

“A lot of Irish fans have got their hands on tickets for this opportunity to see their team win the Triple Crown, but our squad is in a very determined mood and are really looking forward to this opportunity to spoil their party.”

Hadden has made only one change to the team that started against Italy for Saturday’s encounter with Ireland, with Dan Parks coming in at stand-off as a direct replacement for Phil Godman, who drops out the squad completely.

Meanwhile, Rory Lamont has been handed Nikki Walker’s spot on the Scotland bench.

“We believe that Dan Parks has the right qualities to start at stand-off this weekend and Rory Lamont comes onto the bench due to his being a little bit more flexible in terms of his coverage,” Hadden explained.

Hadden tried to play down the suggestion that Godman was being punished for the charged-down kick that handed Italy the first of the three tries they scored within seven minutes of kick-off in that last match.

“Phil obviously hasn’t got anything like the experience that Dan has, or Gordon Ross for that matter, but we knew we needed to give him an opportunity at this stage prior to the World Cup,” said Hadden.

“We think the experience he has been given is absolutely invaluable, but we feel at this stage and on this particular occasion that Dan is the right guy for the role.”