Progress? Scotland had a dismal Six Nations

Progress is a buzzword in all walks of life, but it is particularly prevalent in the world of sport. When new managers come into a team, they are expected to give their teams a boost and fans talk of seeing progress.

The Scotland rugby team is a perfect case in point. After a disastrous Six Nations in 2014, in which a wooden spoon was only avoided by a drop goal against Italy, Scottish rugby fans couldn't wait to see what Vern Cotter could bring to the table. Cotter arrived in Scotland with an impressive CV having led French side Clermont Auvergne to the league title in 2009-10 and also to the Heineken Cup final in 2013, although they lost to Toulon.

Cotter certainly made a good initial impact on the team during the summer and autumn of 2014, winning three out of four tests in June, including a 21-19 victory away to Argentina and that fine form continued with a 41-31 win at Murrayfield in November against the Argentinians, which showcased the Scots potential for attacking flair under Cotter. A narrow 24-16 loss to New Zealand followed, before a dominant 37-12 win over Tonga was secured in Kilmarnock, to avenge a loss the Scots had suffered to the Tongans in 2012.

Confidence was high going into the Six Nations in February. Few truly believed the Scots could win the championship, but with young attacking talent and a desire to avenge the 2014 performance, it was hoped the Scots could make a significant impact on the tournament. How wrong were fans and the media to be.

After a dismal 40-10 loss at Murrayfield against Ireland on Saturday, Scottish rugby is once again at a low ebb. That defeat confirmed the Scots worst nightmare scenario; the wooden spoon as they lost five games out of five. Yet, we still here that progress was made during this Six Nations campaign. 

I say, pull the other one. Sports is a results business and losing five games out of five, despite being close in many of them is not progress. Instead, Scotland have taken many steps backwards over the last couple of months, after showing genuine progress in the latter half of 2014. 

Here are five things that Vern Cotter and Scotland must improve on if they are to even get out of the group stages at the World Cup later this year.

1. Start playing for 80 minutes

Scotland's second half performances in the Six Nations were absolutely diabolical right from the opening game to the last. They only trailed France 9-8 at the break in Paris, with Dougie Fyfe having crossed the try line, but in the second half they added nothing to the score board to let the game be won by France 15-8. 

It was a similar story against Italy, in what was surely one of the worst 40 minutes of rugby Scotland have ever played as despite leading 16-15 at the interval, they only added three points in the second half and somehow conspired to let the Italians win 22-19.

After being railroaded by the English in the opening 20 minutes at Twickenham, the Scots produced some fine attacking rugby to lead 13-10 after 40 minutes. However, they couldn't sustain it and lost 23-10. The same was true against Ireland when they lost 23 points without reply in Saturday's second half.

That is a mindset that must be changed and it's got to be wondered what Vern Cotter is saying to his players at half time. He must ensure that they are full of positive belief when they emerge for the second half or the Scots will continue to let games slip from their grasp.

2. Install a natural leader on the pitch

For all his solid play and great kicking during the Six Nations, Greig Laidlaw doesn't come across as a natural leader on a rugby pitch. Whilst he is certainly still worthy of a pick by Cotter at scrum half (though Sam Hidalgo-Clyne is certainly pushing him hard in that regard), Scotland need someone on the pitch who can truly drive the team forward at crucial moments.

Despite only being 21, I believe the man who should get the captain's armband handed to him by Cotter is Jonny Gray. Following the injury to his brother Richie, Jonny led the Scotland line out superbly well and has a great presence on the field. Lock is a natural leadership position- you only have to think of Ireland's Paul O'Connell's and England's Martin Johnson for great examples of that and Gray has the mindset of someone who would thrive off the added responsibility.

It's time for Cotter to be bold and appointing Gray would be a great start.

3. Utilise Scotland's attacking talent better

Those who say Scotland did progress during the Six Nations this year highlight the attacking ability of youngsters such as Stuart Hogg, Mark Bennett, Tommy Seymour and Finn Russell who on occasions showed us what they are capable of.

Now Cotter needs to ensure that they attack on a more consistent basis. Scotland only managed six tries in the whole of the Six Nations and when they approached towards the try line, they still looked like Scotland teams of old who were nervous and made mistakes in handling the ball.

Cotter's system must be structured in a way which allows Hogg, Bennett, Seymour and others including David Denton and Alex Dunbar to express themselves and be confident of hurting any team in world rugby.

4. Improve the discipline

This is an area in which responsibility must be shared between Cotter and the players. The coach can only drum in so much during his time with the players in the dressing room that they should avoid giving away needless penalties during the match.

He can't be blamed for them not following out basic instructions when they cross the white line. Some of the penalties Scotland conceded were amateurish and in five matches, they conceded an astonishing 58 to the opposition. With an average of almost 12 penalties conceded in 80 minutes, Scotland are going to struggle to win any match, let alone the Six Nations.

Players need to take responsibility for giving away daft fouls and too many players (Johnny Beattie, Ben Toolis, Geoff Cross and Hamish Watson) spent unnecessary time in the sin-bin, though I stand by the fact that Finn Russell's yellow card (later upgraded to a red) against Wales was a harsh decision.

Scotland need to get their penalty against count significantly down ahead of the World Cup as that could even allow a nation like Japan a chance of winning against Cotter's side.

5. Bring some experience back into the fold

As mentioned in relation to the lack of leaders on the park, Vern Cotter could also do with bringing some experienced players back into the Scotland team.

For all of the young talent that looks more than capable of delivering in years to come, too many experienced players have been shown the door by Cotter. Former captain Kelly Brown is still playing well for Saracens and would have been a good option for coach Cotter to have at flanker. Scrum-half Chris Cusiter is another who can feel hard done by not to be included in the original squad, considering his good displays for Sale Sharks alongside England No 10 Danny Cipriani.

The addition of more experience even if just for the World Cup and next Six Nations would allow the young players to be guided more and give a better balance to the team.

Cotter came with a big reputation and started well but this Six Nations campaign has not seen Scotland progress, far from it. Big results are needed in World Cup warm up matches against Ireland, Italy and France and then at the World Cup itself, a group stage exit for the man designed to progress Scottish rugby is unthinkable.

It's time for Cotter and this Scotland team to cut out the excuses and win rugby matches.

The England Cricket team need to rip it up and start again

The title of this blog references a song by the band Orange Juice ('Rip it up'). If you were an England cricket fan watching the teams performances at the World Cup, you would probably have needed more than an orange juice to watch them.

Yet another shocking and pitiful World Cup tournament ended for England on Monday when they failed to beat Bangladesh. They will fly home after Friday's match against Afghanistan, who on current form you honestly wouldn't back England to beat.

England's 2015 World Cup to date has seen them only beat Scotland and be soundly beaten by Australia, New Zealand and Sri Lanka. Big changes need to be made in English cricket as quite frankly they are going nowhere at the moment.

So who should shoulder the blame? There is no one definitive answer to that question. All of the people at the top of English cricket are to blame for causing the team to be the laughing stock of world cricket, particularly in the one day format.

Take coach Peter Moores. His response of 'We'll need to look at the data' after the defeat to Bangladesh was astonishing. Moores seems a nice enough bloke but he is obsessed with data and burying his head in page after page of stats. Quite frankly, being that intense does not endear you to the dressing room and isn't a winning formula to try and win cricket matches. Here's some data for Moores; Ireland have won three games in the tournament and England have won one. With all due respect to Ireland, who have provided some of the greatest ever cricket world cup moments, that's a total embarrassment for England and Moores.

Quite frankly Moores should never have been appointed as coach again. His first spell was hardly a resounding success. Across all formats of the game, he won 27 games out of 68 and led England to only three test series victories out of seven. His second spell has seen him oversee defeats to Sri Lanka in all formats of the game since summer 2014. He just isn't good enough.

However, Moores can't be the sole guilty party in this charade. Managing director Paul Downton looks like a rabbit caught in the headlights most of the time and you have to question whether a man with a test batting average of under 20 is qualified to be managing English cricket. Along with Moores, the pair dithered for far too long to remove Alastair Cook as the one day captain when his confidence was shattered and he was starting to look like a player who had just broken into his local club side.

By taking so long to sack Cook, new captain Eoin Morgan had little to no time to prepare for the World Cup. Morgan has been a disappointment as captain and batsman this tournament but he was hardly given the rightful support from those above him.

Colin Graves takes over as the chairman of the England and Wales cricket board in May from Giles Clarke, who has long outstayed his welcome. Clarke of course made Kevin Pietersen the scapegoat for the Ashes whitewash in 2013-14, banishing from the team. Pietersen has his faults, significant ones to be honest but there is no doubting that he has been shoddily treated by the ECB who needed someone to take the attention off them when they were failing.

Later in 2014, Clarke told England fans to move on from Pietersen's departure. Clearly he wanted to stick to his guns, but couldn't he see that it was and still is hard for fans to accept they will never see a man who helped win them Ashes series, a T20 world cup and countless big games in an England shirt ever again if Clarke had his way. 

Pietersen isn't a miracle worker, but he was recently the second highest run scorer in Australia's T20 tournament and it's hard to believe this England team are better off leaving him at home. 

National selector James Whitaker should be packing his bags too. Leaving Pietersen aside, Ben Stokes would have provided all round skill for the team and surely Whitaker and Moores can see Jos Butler is batting way too low down at number seven. England are still in the mindset of thinking 300 is a good score in one day cricket.

That stems from Moores, Downtown and Whitaker who were all decent but never great cricketers. They haven't evolved as their sport has evolved and with them in charge England will never win anything.

Graves needs to bin Moores, Downtown and Whitaker upon entering in May, or sooner if he really wants to lay down a marker. Only by wiping the slate clean with new management can the England cricket team even begin to think about prospering again.

It's time Britain talked up the Davis Cup

Despite being a worldwide event, the Davis Cup has consistently failed to capture the imagination of the wider public. Perhaps it is the convoluted format which involves many different "zones" in promotion and relegation groups or perhaps it is because many of the top players have shunned it over the years.

Compare it to golf's Ryder Cup. That's a tournament players will fight tooth and nail to get into a qualifying spot for and fans are glued to the action over the weekend.

Great Britain's 3-2 win over the United States in Glasgow which was completed yesterday could be a potential turning point for interest in the Davis Cup in this country. Tickets for the Emirates Arena sold out within ten minutes of going in sale last November whilst the crowds roared on their hero Andy Murray (and his teammates) to victory in a stunning atmosphere. Now this needs to be capitalised on ahead of the quarter final tie (at a venue TBC) against France in July.

Remarkably Great Britain have a one in eight chance of winning this trophy despite only having one male tennis player in the top 100 of the world rankings in the shape of Andy Murray. 

Since taking over the Davis Cup captaincy in 2010, Leon Smith has performed nothing short of a miracle. His first task was to ensure Great Britain didn't plummet into the lowest depths of the Davis Cup group format, by beating Turkey, which the GB team duly did 5-0.

Since then, Smith has ensured that the country's Davis Cup team has once again become respected with two wins over the USA in the last two years confirming that.

The fact that James Ward, a player who has never been inside the top 100 in the world has managed to beat Americans Sam Querrey (career high ranking of 17) and John Isner (career high ranking of 9) is astonishing. His win over Isner on Friday in Glasgow was even more remarkable considering he came from two sets down against one of the best servers in the game. The nerve and fitness Ward showed in the final set to win 15-13 was something every British tennis fan should have been proud of.

And although they didn't win on Saturday, equally inspiring was Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot's performance against the Bryan brothers Bob and Mike coming from two sets to love down to draw level before losing the doubles tie 9-7 in the fifth.

Whilst there is clearly a massive burden on Andy Murray to win both his singles matches in any tie, captain Smith now has a reliable and hugely spirited team to call upon. Ward has now easily done enough to be considered a Davis Cup stalwart while Murray and Inglot are both in the top 40 of the doubles rankings and had infact beaten the 16 time slam champions, the Bryan brothers twice this year.

Smith's miracle work even extended to a team which didn't feature Andy Murray in it back in April 2013 when Great Britain somehow beat Russia 3-2 after being 2-0 behind after the opening day.

A doubles win on the Saturday from Jonny Marray and Colin Fleming gave the team hope, before Ward then ranked 214 in the world stunned Dmitry Tursunov, a former top 20 player in five sets before Dan Evans, then ranked at 325, beat Evegny Donskoy, who was ranked 245 places above him to complete the comeback.

Now two years on Britain stand a genuine, if still unlikely chance of winning the trophy for the first time since 1936. Andy Murray may well break another long standing record that has unfortunately stood since the heyday of Fred Perry, just like he did when he became the first British male to win Wimbledon for 77 years in 2013.

A 2015 Davis Cup win might not carry the same celebrations and it probably wouldn't even register in large parts of the country but the crowds in Glasgow were fantastic and helped to defeat the Americans. Now more people are needed to turn up the volume for the match against France, which will be tough considering they have Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet on board.

Much has been said of the country not capitalising on Murray's Wimbledon success and much of what has been said is true. If Britain were to win the Davis Cup or even reach the final, that would be a magnificent team achievement against all the odds.

It's time to spread the word about Leon Smith's British team and make them household names.