Six Nations: Ross Ford warns Scotland over discipline
Tuesday 10 February 2015 14:13, UK
Ross Ford admits Scotland need to improve their discipline in the remainder of their Six Nations games.
The Scots were beaten 15-8 by France in their opening match in Paris last weekend as France fly-half Camille Lopez booted over five of the six penalties handed to him, while the visitors scored the only try of the match through Dougie Fife.
Wales are next up at Murrayfield on Sunday for Vern Cotter's men and Ford knows Scotland must be on their best behaviour.
The Edinburgh hooker said: "It is frustrating but no-one actively looks to go in and give away stupid penalties.
"At times when you are really under the pump there is a professional way of looking at it, when giving away penalties can be useful. But that's not what Saturday was about at all.
"It was just boys trying their best. It's not a closed skill, there are so many outside factors like boys coming in from different angles and the physicality of it all. It's hard to be squeaky clean all the time.
"You are put under a lot of pressure and sometimes you end up in the wrong position. You try your best to get out of the way and not to give away an infringement but for all the will in the world, it is going to happen at times.
"That sort of thing let France into the game and we will need to be a lot sharper this weekend.
"How do we stop that indiscipline? That's a tough yin. You don't want to be standing back, you want to effect the game. But you have to have a certain degree of discipline in how hard you go at it.
"We know if we do give anything away, they have Leigh Halfpenny ready to punish us. He's a good kicker who hits high percentages.
"They are all like that at international level and we found out the hard way on Saturday what can happen if you give them chances to put points on the board."
