Scotland have lost element of surprise in lineout, says Jonathan Humphreys
Tuesday 7 February 2017 18:30, UK
Scotland assistant coach Jonathan Humphreys admits they have surrendered their set-piece surprise factor after their cheeky lineout move paid off in the 27-22 victory over Ireland.
The move caught Joe Schmidt's side on the hop on Saturday when Alex Dunbar snuck into a first-half lineout before diving over for his side's third try.
While the Glasgow centre celebrated, the Irish were left bemused but forwards coach Humphreys, who was credited with coming up the cheeky move by Cotter, fears France will not be so easily fooled on Sunday.
"People haven't realised we tried that move against Tonga two years ago and Alex dropped the ball. They know it now though," he said.
"We identified the possibility that it could work against Ireland. We came to the team run on Friday and Jonny Gray said, 'Shall we go through that move?'. But I said, 'Nah'.
"So in reality Jonny should be taking the credit for persevering and saying 'I want to do that move on Saturday'. I'll give it to him.
"Do we expect teams to pay a bit more attention to what we're doing at lineouts now? Yeah.
"These are moments in the game that either make you look great or they don't. But I don't think your game can be based just around that.
"It's got to be based around a lot more than that. We've got a lot of pace in our side and move the ball well, so that's probably got more basis in what we're trying to do right now."
