Scotland aim to hit new heights, says Matt Banahan

The former England international has been part of Bryan Easson’s backroom staff for the past 12 months. 

In that time, the team has won its first silverware since 2001 with the WXV success in South Africa last year, achieved a new record of seven consecutive Test wins and reached an all-time high in the world pecking order. 

Speaking from South Africa, where Scotland are preparing to kick off their title defence against Italy on Saturday, Banahan said the team must continue to close the gap to the world’s top teams.  

Scotland assistant coach Matt Banahan (Image: SNS Group / SRU) “There's no better way than coming here and getting results and squeezing that gap between fourth and fifth closer, then the next challenge will be the Six Nations and into the World Cup,” the former Bath and England wing said.  

“If you are trending going into a World Cup, you're going to be in a good position to either shock people or get further than you're expected to.” 

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Having won 10 of their last 13 outings and as the highest-ranked team in the WXV2 tournament in South Africa, Banahan knows Scotland have momentum behind them.   

“In sport, when you get momentum you've got to keep going with it,” he added.  

“If we're happy with fifth place, everyone behind us will catch up and we'll concertina into a squash pile.  

“If we can keep trying to propel ourselves forward and get closer to fourth, we could create a gap behind us, and if we play games that don't go our way, you have a buffer zone in there that you will maintain your world ranking.” 

And he believes the current high could be just the beginning of this squad’s achievements.  

“There's no reason that in three, four, five years’ time, we can't be third or second and pushing the top teams but we have to start now.” 

Christine Belisle and Eva Donaldson celebrate Scotland's win over Fiji with Player of the Match Meryl Smith (Image: SNS) Scotland go into their WXV title defence having swept aside Wales and Fiji in impressive fashion in two warm-up games.

After identifying their attack as an area for improvement during the Six Nations, Banahan was pleased with the progress the team made.  

“If we look back at the last 12 months, where we started and where we are now, we're good,” he reflected before stating there were too many missed opportunities across the warm-up matches. 

“If I'm going to be pernickety, we still left stuff out there and that's where if we want to achieve our aim of being here and winning it and pushing closer to fourth in the world, which is my goal that we want to be striving to be better, there are still moments where we can be more clinical.  

“You can't complain about scoring 100 points in two games, it doesn't matter who the opposition are.  

“We're at a tournament now where we're playing against teams we don't always play against so it's about sticking to our guns and going out to express ourselves.” 

And as he reflected on his first year in the job, the 37-year-old said the most effective piece of advice he has given the squad is to stop apologising for mistakes. 

Banahan revealed the Scotland squad have been banned from apologising for mistakes in training (Image: SNS)

“I don’t want to hear players saying sorry,” Banahan asserted.  

“I back them with everything I have and if they believe something is on, I want them to go for it.  

“We will learn from what happens next and we learn through positive or negative outcomes.  

"If it is the wrong decision then we regroup and go again. We live to fight another day always and we move on quickly. The group has bought into that.” 

Banahan confirmed all 30 players are fit and available, which has given the coaching staff a headache ahead of facing Italy on Saturday. But for Banahan, it is a welcome problem.   

"The medics and the S&C staff have done a fantastic job over the period of pre-season and the last two games and it is a nice headache to have going into the first game,” he added.  

One name almost certain to be on the team sheet is captain Rachel Malcolm, who is in line to win her 50th Scotland cap in Cape Town.  

Banahan praised the Scotland captain: “Rachel is one of the players who has come on so much in terms of the attacking platform. 

Rachel Malcolm was among the try scorers in the thrashing of Fiji (Image: SNS) “We all know she is a brilliant defender and a fantastic leader, but she wanted to develop her attack and it was so good last week to see her using footwork and things we have worked on to get that try against Fiji. 

“She deserved that try and she is definitely deserving of getting her 50th cap for leading the team over the years like she has.  

“It is going to be amazing for her to go out first into an amazing stadium. There will be a lot of emotional drivers and it’ll be a big day.”