Ford calls for Scottish set-piece revival

Ross Ford knows Scotland’s set-piece play must improve dramatically if they are to avoid the RBS 6 Nations wooden spoon – but he may not get the chance to help them remedy it.

Ford’s place in the side appeared under serious pressure after the opening three games of the championship, but Andy Robinson kept faith with the Edinburgh hooker for Sunday’s Calcutta Cup defeat to England.

With the set piece going awry too often at Twickenham, head coach Robinson may now decide to replace Ford with Scott Lawson for Saturday’s wooden spoon decider against Italy.

The dynamic Ford has been virtually undroppable since the last World Cup, starting every one of his country’s Test matches bar one – for which he was injured – during the last three years.

The softly-spoken 26-year-old was typically honest about what went wrong on Sunday.

Insisting captain and lock Alastair Kellock made all the right calls at lineout time, he said: “The drill really let us down.”

The scrum was also a major problem and Ford added: “Winning ball at set pieces was difficult for us and it led to us defending for large periods of the game.

“It’s just one of those things we’ve got to keep working at.”

Fly-half Ruaridh Jackson also went into Sunday’s game under all sorts of pressure after an error-strewn first Test start against Ireland two weeks earlier, but the 23-year-old took full advantage of his second chance.

He competently executed the expansive game plan Robinson is trying to develop, an approach that was criticised in some quarters following the Ireland defeat.

Jackson now looks certain to start on Saturday and he insists he is up to the challenge of marshalling his country’s latest wooden spoon decider at Murrayfield.

“I definitely feel pretty comfortable in there now,” he said.

“The other guys have got a lot of trust in me and hopefully I can keep building on that.

“The ethos Andy’s bringing in and the way we want to play, I think it’s starting to build and we’re starting to get that rhythm.”

Having now lost all four of their Six Nations games, Scotland must win on Saturday to avoid the wooden spoon following Italy’s sensational victory over France.

Jackson said: “You never know, they might’ve taken their celebrations a bit too far and might be a wee bit tired for next week.

“They’ll be on a high, they’ll be coming over to win.

“There’s obviously a lot of pressure on us but I’m sure we’ll be all right.

“If we just stick to our guns, I think we’ll be able to get the win.”