Victory in Cardiff, a Millar-Mills turnover to secure the Calcutta Cup, but heartbreak against France and Italy.

Scotland promised one of its strongest teams heading into this year’s Six Nations, but another fourth-place finish has cast some doubt on their future in the 2027 World Cup cycle.

Boasting an electric backline, a deadly kicking game, and one of the best 10s in world rugby – there is a lot to be excited about in this Scotland team. But for all the highlight reel tries and victories over England, this is a side with impressive potential that has, so far, failed to capture any silverware.

Scotland’s ‘underdog’ mindset is often highlighted as a weakness, placing such an emphasis on the few fixtures that hurt their consistency and overall performance against top sides like Ireland and South Africa. This is similar to their Premiership counterparts, Northampton, who would string together brilliant attacks through a ‘you score, we score higher’ approach, but sacrifice consistency. However, Northampton’s rise to the top of the Premiership table and European success exposes the current problems within Scottish Rugby.

Firstly, Northampton’s exceptionally physical defence – especially around the five-meter line – has become one of their main strengths. This is a recent change which followed Lee Radford’s appointment as defence coach in 2023. The employment created a hugely physical defence tasked with scoring turnovers and allowed opportunities for their deadly attack to excel in open play.

For Scotland to perform consistently against top sides, the defence coach, Steve Tandy, must create a heavier back row capable of dominating defensively. The ‘7’ shirt is held by captain, Rory Darge, but ‘8’ is unsettled and Scotland is lacking the ‘big 6’ (like Shannon Frizell of New Zealand or Courtney Lawes of England and Northampton) that are so popular amongst the strongest modern back rows. This may be the simplest fix, bringing in the likes of Matt Fagerson or Ben Muncaster onto the blindside to bulk up the defence.

Scotland Rugby’s largest issue, however, is its academy system. Coming last in the U20s Six Nations and with only two top-flight clubs, they have arguably the weakest academy system of the tier-one nations. This heavily impacts the developmental pathway of young players, creating a dependence on older, international talent.

Teams with recent success like Ireland, France, and New Zealand have all pumped massive resources into academy systems and young talents. This is a trend Scotland has been late to as, all too often, the results in the U20s reflect the results of the first XV.

It is not all bleak in Scotland, however, as there are some exciting names who may break through into the first team. Ben Muncaster is a powerful ball-carrier but is currently held out of the Edinburgh squad by Fijian powerhouse Vilaime Mata. Should Mata move on, he may develop into the physical presence Scotland misses on the Blindside. 24-year-old Fergus Burke is another international talent who has recently signed for Premiership club Saracens next season. The fly-half also qualifies for Scotland.

Moreover, in the u20s Scotland v England fixture, Amena Caqusau looked deadly when given the ball. With three years more experience, he may even be challenging Van der Merwe for the ’11’ shirt.

The media attention before the Six Nations predominantly surrounded dual-captaincy and potential, but unfortunately it has since become soured with disillusionment. This may change, however, as Scotland has many winnable fixtures in the Summer Series. This leads to a promising match-up against Australia in the Autumn Internationals.