AVOIDING the Wooden Spoon was a mere technicality, one which neither dampened Italian celebrations nor sent Scots heading homewards from Rome with an extra spring in their steps.
Similarly, had Scotland drawn in the Stadio Flaminio, or even sneaked a win rather than going down 23-20, it would have meant little in itself.
If the pack had got on top, if the backs had cut loose, if together they had constructed a resounding,
multiple-try victory, then we might at least be tempted to conclude the squad has made some kind of consistent if modest progress over the course of the championship.
But they didn't. The forwards conceded a penalty try, and the backs, despite the best efforts of Mike Blair, failed to spark into life.
Jason White and Nathan Hines, among other Scotland players, had said after the Calcutta Cup match that beating England would count for nothing unless they went on to beat Italy. That's not entirely true – beating England counted for two points, and showed that at least in certain conditions the team are still capable of raising their game. But White and Hines were correct in the sense that the win at Murrayfield has been revealed as a false dawn given no real progress came from it.
Frank Hadden seems to see things differently, however. Despite not being the most ebullient and optimistic of individuals, the Scotland coach still succeeds in interpreting events in a positive light.
Supporters might think the team has staggered around aimlessly for the past 15 months. Hadden wants us to believe that tangible improvement is just around the corner.
Last Six Nations, when Scotland did get the Wooden Spoon, the coach asked us to look forward to the World Cup. Then, when Scotland just fell short in the quarter-final, we were told we would see the benefit in the next Six Nations. Now, presumably, it's the summer tour we've got to look forward to.
"We are not far away from making a serious impact and punching well above our weight in future competitions," Hadden said after Saturday's defeat. He is right to suggest that sooner or later Scotland will get better, for history shows that even the longest of poor runs ends sometime. But he has done nothing to show that he can himself turn the team round.
On the contrary, the coach is standing in the way of progress, hobbling the team with his selections and tactics alike, with the shunting around of Chris Paterson being only the most glaring example.
We have not suddenly been landed with a generation of sub-standard players: they can and do play far better than they have done for Scotland over the past couple of months. What we have been landed with is a coach who cannot inspire men to excel themselves.
And, no matter Hadden's mealy-mouthed mutterings, it does not take years and years to get the best out of players. Look at Wales: demoralised after the World Cup (in which they at least died on their feet against Fiji), they bounced back in months to win the Grand Slam.
"It's probably down to the fact that everyone is scared senseless of Shaun (Edwards, the assistant coach]," the Wales wing Shane Williams said when asked to explain this rapid improvement. Are any of our players scared senseless of Hadden?
To be fair, striking fear into the hearts of a squad is just one way of provoking improvement: positive encouragement and inspiration can also help. It was Hadden's belief in his players which helped them recover from the Matt Williams era, but since then he has added nothing positive of his own.
Not being Matt Williams may be a virtue, but it is one which only takes you so far. Indeed, for all that he rails at the "negativity" of others, Hadden exudes that very characteristic himself. Far from growing into the job, the coach has simply become more defensive and small-minded. Instead of facing up to problems, he tries to redefine them.
Remember the France match, when bad luck and the strange shape of rugby balls were supposedly to blame for defeat? By Saturday, Hadden was talking down Scotland's performance in that game in an attempt to prove that progress had been made over the tournament.
"Considering the start of this competition and how far we appear to have regressed from the World Cup . . . we had to work incredibly hard to make the progress that I feel we have in this championship," he said.
Regressed from the World Cup? On whose watch? Hadden blamed external factors such as injuries and adverse weather conditions, but injuries happen to every team, and adverse weather is an annual occurrence this far north.
So even Hadden's attempted justifications after the fact do not stand up to scrutiny. Nor, more importantly, does his record in the 30 months since he became Scotland coach. There will be brighter times ahead for this generation of players, but a brighter coach is needed to help them get there.
The full article contains 855 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
