Jason O’Halloran: Scotland win over Italy ‘will rid us of some demons’

Jason O’Halloran, the Scotland backs coach, admits that he was worried about his side’s self-belief but hopes they can shake off their mental shackles after finally halting their long Six Nations losing streak.

O’Halloran watched his side stun Italy on Saturday with two early tries before Tommy Seymour’s late score put the seal on a 36-20 victory in Rome. It was the Scots’ first win in the competition for two years and ended fears of a dreaded 10th straight loss.

Scotland had high hopes entering the Championship following their encouraging display at last year’s World Cup, but these evaporated after dispiriting, albeit narrow, defeats to England and Wales. But with that run of misery now behind Vern Cotter’s team, O’Halloran wants to see Scotland march into their game with France at Murrayfield in 13 days’ time with a confident swagger.

The New Zealander said: “Hopefully, a win will liberate us a bit. We can get rid of a few of those mental demons we’ve been carrying around with us. We now have some positive mental images to draw from after Saturday’s win.

“We were under the pump at times but came through with a decent margin of victory in Rome, in front of a big Italian crowd. We will be able to use that experience going forward.”

Flankers John Barclay and John Hardie both dived over for Scotland inside the opening 17 minutes and captain Greig Laidlaw’s near-flawless kicking, with 21 points from a possible 24, ensured the Azzurri were largely held at bay.

There were concerns when Leonardo Ghiraldini and Marco Fuser crossed for the hosts either side of the interval, with the second coming after fly-half Finn Russell had been sent to the sin bin. But Seymour’s late score – at a time when Scotland were again a man light after prop WP Nel’s yellow card – put the result beyond doubt.

“We’re really happy with the win,” said O’Halloran. “The pleasing thing for us is that we still realise we can be better than that. But I thought the character of the team shone through, especially after we suffered two yellow cards but still came through with a good margin of victory.”

O’Halloran insisted the Scots will not get carried away with one result. Scotland’s last Six Nations victory before Saturday was also recorded in the Eternal City but they allowed that confidence boost to slip away. “We can’t allow that to happen again,” said O’Halloran. “It’s good we follow this match up against France. There has always been expectation on the back of a pretty successful World Cup, so it’s something we’ve been having to deal with ever since.”