Has Italy loss made Scotland stronger?
· Yahoo Sports
BBC Scotland's chief sportswriter Tom English has been answering some of your Scottish rugby questions.
Lyall asked: Given how unbeatable France are looking, if Scotland can win in Ireland and get that monkey off their back, is this a successful championship regardless of final position?
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Tom answered: If Scotland beat Wales, give an incredible France team a proper game and then beat Ireland then that, for me, is a successful season for sure. The Italy game is gone and nothing can be done about it now. Your scenario would be give Scotland a Triple Crown (old school concept, I know, but it's still valuable in my view). A win over Ireland would be a significant step forward, if it happens.
Stuart asked: Can we hope for some of the younger players to get a chance during the remaining games in the Six Nations?
Tom answered: Well, Liam McConnell is injured. Freddy Douglas? That's difficult with Rory Darge playing the way he did against England. Would you have a specialist seven on the bench? Probably not. Gregor Hiddleston? Don't think so. He appears to be fourth in the pecking order, which is unfair I think.
There are young ones in there already, of course. Max Williamson is only 23, Jamie Dobie and Gregor Brown are 24. Is 24 still considered young?
Roddy asked: What a response from this team. Wondering if the Italy loss may make Scotland a stronger team moving forward?
Tom answered: They have to use it as a positive, for sure. A positive in the sense that they never want to feel like that again. If this is the catalyst, then it was a price worth paying. We've been here before, of course. It has to be different this time.
Adam asked: Saturday's result was about as typical as a Scotland performance you can get and was because the players did it for Gregor Townsend. But why can't Scotland find that same spark in games outside of the Calcutta Cup?
Tom answered: Spark, accuracy, self-belief, ruthlessness - call it what you will - they have it against England and they don't have nearly enough of it in other games. I don't think it's a passion thing. Scotland always have passion for the fight. It's just their psychology is weak sometimes. Also, England would want to look themselves in the mirror and ask why do they keep losing this game. Maybe it says more about England than it says about Scotland. Whatever the truth of all of this, a line has to be drawn in the sand now. Scotland cannot go back to what they were in Rome - an awful lineout, butchered try-scoring chances, damaging ill-discipline. They're better than that and they need to show it consistently, not just for 40 or 50 minutes. Or no minutes.