Former fly-half John Rutherford believes 'high tempo' key for Scotland to end 18-year wait for win in Wales

If anyone knows how Scotland feel going to Wales this weekend having not won there for 18 years, it is John Rutherford. Back in 1982, the doyen of Scotland fly-halves was part of a team who travelled south to face a Wales side who had not been beaten at the Arms Park in a Five Nations game for 14 years.

Although Scotland had beaten Wales 15-6 the previous year at Murrayfield, no one gave them a prayer of ending Welsh domination on home soil. After all, the last time Scotland had won in Cardiff was in 1962, when Harold Macmillan was Prime Minister.

Scotland were a pretty mediocre side – Rutherford had won just five times in 18 attempts while wearing the dark blue of Scotland – while Wales were in their pomp.

“When we won there in 1982 it was our first away win for ages, in fact we didn’t win many games at home back then either,” laughs Rutherford. “Jim Renwick had won almost 50 caps and that was his first win away from Murrayfield. But what a win it was! We scored five tries to one with some great counter-attacking rugby. We were under a huge amount of pressure at the beginning, when they were all over us, but we got two breakaway tries, grew in confidence and never looked back.

“Wales hadn’t lost a Five Nations match at home for 14 years, but they were incredibly gracious in defeat. At the post-match dinner something happened which I’ve never seen before or since. Their captain Gareth Davies stood up and made a speech in which he said that they had been well beaten by the better team on the day, and then he asked the Wales players to stand up. They then proceeded to sing Flower of Scotland – they were so tuneful, so heartfelt. It was magnificent.”

That was a win in defiance of history, form and circumstance. But even a late withdrawal, wing Keith Robertson pulling out injured shortly before the match to be replaced by debutant Jim Pollock, couldn’t deny Scotland.

“Jim turned up at the hotel the day before the match and there was this red-haired guy standing at reception, none of us had a clue who he was because he played for Newcastle Gosforth,” Rutherford says. “We were so amateur back then that, with our coach Jim Telfer watching, we ran through a few moves in the rose garden at the hotel and just did our best on the day. It obviously wasn’t that bad because Jim scored a try the next day.” Wales were ever-presents in Rutherford’s career. He made his Scotland debut against a side captained by JPR Williams at Murrayfield in 1979, a fearsome Welsh pack built around the famous “Viet Gwent” front row of Charlie Faulkner, Bobby Windsor and Graham Price squeezing the life out of a mobile but outmuscled home pack.

He would play them a further six times – his final Five Nations game was a 21-15 win playing opposite a young Jonathan Davies at Murrayfield in 1987 – during which the defining battle was between Welsh muscle and Scots mobility.

It was a contrast that was never more obvious than in the first game of Scotland’s unexpectedly triumphant year, 1984. “The win in Cardiff that year was our first game of that tournament and sent us on the way to the Grand Slam,” he says. “It was a really tough game, brutal at times, but we had a really mobile pack and ran them ragged.

“We had some great players back then, including Lions such as the Bear [Iain Milne] and Colin Deans, but the best of them all was David Leslie. He was an amazing player, probably the best I ever played with and definitely the hardest. Why he never became a Lion always mystified me. We should have won in 1986, too. Derrick Grant was the coach by then, and we played four No 8s [Iain Paxton, John Jeffrey, Finlay Calder and John Beattie, with Derek White on the bench]. That was the start of the new team which would win the Grand Slam in 1990, with Gavin and Scott Hastings playing, plus David Sole, JJ and Fin.

“That wasn’t to be our day though – David Sole scored a perfectly good try but everyone piled on and in those days there were no action replays so the referee wouldn’t give it. We outscored them three tries to one, but you still need a bit of luck and it was on their side, with Paul Thorburn kicking everything, including that amazing 60-yard penalty from his own half. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Rutherford says that the lesson of his four wins in sevens Tests against Wales – that if Scotland play with a high enough tempo they can prevail – still holds true. In fact, he believes that the Scotland side travelling to Llanelli this week can run Wayne Pivac’s dispirited side off their feet.

“Scotland’s strength in depth is by far the best in the professional era,” said Rutherford, “and I think that will be reflected in the Lions squad that gets chosen at the end of the season. At least six Scots will make it, with several others in contention, while Wales are the weakest of the four Home Unions just now.

“That said, beating Georgia is one thing but the acid test for Scotland will come this weekend because there were times when Wales looked good against France. But before the lockdown Scotland were going really well and were rightly favourites to beat Wales before the match got cancelled. I hope that momentum is still there. It feels like we’re on the cusp of something big.”