Glasgow Warriors ace Thom Evans has high hopes for Six Nations

Dec 3 2009 By Matthew Leslie

Thom Evans

QUALITY passing is the key for Scotland to succeed in the Six Nations claims Glasgow wing ace Thom Evans.

The Scots last week were denied a hat-trick of Autumn Test victories in losing to Argentina with the lack of good ball being a major talking point.

Passes to the back line were being thrown at head height which slowed the Scots down and left them little room to attack the South Americans.

And Evans claims that no matter how well they pass on the training pitch, they need to do the business come match-day.

He said: "The passing is something that needs to be worked on because all three tests have seen high balls thrown to the backs.

"If they go at just above waist height then the momentum of the play is maintained and gives us a better chance to accelerate the flow of the game.

"Higher balls make you check your momentum and play inevitably slows and allows the opposition that extra bit of time to regroup and put up a more organised line of defence.

"We've certainly trained well in getting our passes right but the execution on match day is not reflecting it and we must transfer this on for the Six Nations.

"Perhaps we were also guilty of waiting for a gap to open up but you've got to attack teams and create space on your own.

"Teams who defend well like Argentina are not likely to help you so to onus is on us to make the breaks."

Argentina deservedly won this game by being able to slow the ball down and frustrating the Scots in the process.

For Evans, it reminded him of playing a certain Welsh team.

He added: "It did feel like a Glasgow v Newport game as Argentina didn't really threaten in attack but they frustrated us and added to the scoreboard when they got a chance.

"They kept kicking it to us in the first half and I was absolutely loving it because it seemed they were knackered and not offering much.

"But they came out a new side in the second half, disrupted our breakdown and we, like Glasgow have done with Newport, allowed ourselves to get dragged into their style of play."