The Rugby Shadow
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- Sep 21, 2011
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http://therugbyshadow.com/2011/09/26/scotland-rugby-in-dire-straits/
The 2011 edition of the Rugby World Cup,so far,has been brilliant.
The fervour,support and excitement generated by the thousands of fans that have flocked to our shores has been matched by the quality of the rugby on the field.
Labelled “Minnows†prior to this tournament,the likes of Tonga,Japan,USA,Samoa,Romania and Georgia have all had their moments in the sun.
Tonga served it up to the All Blacks in the second half on opening night.Japan got to 25-21 against France before succumbing late.The USA belted Ireland before losing 22-10.Samoa very nearly squeaked out a win against Wales.
And Romania and Georgia?Well,they both gave 6 Nations side Scotland a real scare.Romania in the opening game of Pool B went down 24-34 and 4 days later Georgia worked hard in their narrow 6-15 loss.
Yet now,after Argentina defeated the Scots 13-12 in a fantastic contest last night,we could say that Scotland itself,is in the league of “Minnowâ€. Two hardly convincing victories over Romania and Georgia,coupled with the Argentinian loss,means that Scotland face the real risk of going home next week if they can not pull off an increasingly unlikely victory over England.
Therefore making this the first time ever in their World Cup history that they do not progress past pool play.
And what a tragedy that would be.It would rob this World Cup of one of our truly colourful teams and equally colourful loyal supporters.A team that we New Zealanders hold a great deal of affection and respect for.
If bagpipes could play at half mast,we would.
While fellow 6 nations sides Wales,France,England and Ireland have produced some outstanding and ominous results,the Scots have bumbled and fumbled their way through three torturous games,barely igniting a ripple with their attempts at playing an expansive,fast paced game.Even when they decide to try and assert some dominance through their forwards,the traditional strength of Northern Hemisphere sides,their lack of body position,technique and upper body strength is bewildering.
Yet their fellow Triple Crown brothers have been in great form.Wales should have earned a victory over the reigning World Champions in their opening game,and then doused the hopes of Samoa in the next.England produced some real class in their hammerings of Georgia and Romania while Ireland have created the biggest stir,defeating Australia in a classic contest.
Meanwhile Scotland have underachieved.Last nights game was,dare I say it,pathetic.Sure,Argentina came in to this tournament on the back of a 3rd placing at the last World Cup,but since coach Marcelo Loffreda left in 2007,and with the loss of highly influential playmaker Juan MartÃn Hernández , the Argentinians have struggled for consistancy.
The Scots performance was perhaps summed up in the final few minutes when,needing to maintain the ball and get down inside the Pumas half,they failed to gain any ground whatsoever,being repeatedly repelled backwards by the Argentinian defence.The first instinct for the Scots seemed to be to want to kick the ball away aimlessly,and when the need was to retain possession at all costs,they were lateral,with no go forward and devoid of ideas.
If it wasn’t for the adventurous endeavours and high workrate of their two wingers,Max Evans and Sean Lamont,this defeat may well have been even more embarrassing.
Both Evans and Lamont had to go looking for work,as being wingers on the end of the Scottish backline is enough to leave you feeling like being at the end of a long unemployment queue while Centre Nick De Luca seemed intent on tucking the ball with no reason to feed his dangerous outsides.At one stage in a head on Television shot,with Lamont screaming outside him,De Luca simply got tunnel vision and hit in to contact.
When Jim Hamilton,the big Scotland second row,decided to try and belittle Argentine loosehead Rodrigo Roncero by patting him on the head after a particularly good Scottish scrum,one sensed a hint of arrogance.Argentina duly ran over the top of them next scrum up.
And when impressive flyhalf Ruaridh Jackson,who was controlly the game superbly,hit a classical drop goal,the match SHOULD have been sewn up.Yet he was subbed for Dan Parks,who proceeded to go in to lock down mode instead of piling on the pressure.
Parks attempt at a match winning drop goal late in the game was farcical at best.Scotland should have kept rumbling the ball up and sucking in the Argentine defenders before giving Parks a clear shot.Yet it seemed like panic set in and the ball was rushed to Parks as several keen defenders lined up for the kill.Parks had no option but to prop,and kick off his left foot.
Eventually,in the words of coach Andy Robinson, it was “30_seconds_of_madness†which cost them…
So what has gone wrong?
Why,in every World Cup have Scotland reached the 1/4s,but not this one?
Why,have France achieved a Grand Slam as recently as last year,Ireland in 2009,Wales in 2008 and England in 2003…yet Scotland have not achieved a Grand Slam since 1990?
Why,since the inception of the 6 Nations in 2000,has Scotland achieved the measly record of just 16 wins in 60 games?
And why,after the disastrous appointment of a foreign coach (Australian Matt Williams in 2003) do a proud Nation such as Scotland,go and appoint a failed ex England coach who achieved a paltry 40% winning record with them,compared to Clive Woodward (71%) and Jack Rowell(72%) before him and Brian Ashton (54%) immediately after him?
We should go back to the early years of professionalism when Jim Telfer ran the Scottish RU. Any resources were put towards the importing of overseas players (not all eligible to play for Scotland). For many years the importance of grass roots rugby was all but ignored meaning that Scotland were (and remain) way behind most of the senior rugby nations.
Scotland will improve as I understand this has now been addressed but Telfers short-termism is his regrettable legacy.
Also , the lack of leadership on the pitch is lamentable. It should be remembered that for many years Scotland, with very limited playing numbers punched above it’s weight due to a golden spell where they were fortunate to produce a succession of leaders on the pitch who could have been selected in most International test sides.
Finlay Calder, John Jeffrey, Colin Deans, Jim Renwick, John Rutherford, Gary Armstrong, David Sole, Gavin Hastings and Andy Irvine to name just a few.
The memories of those players and their deeds,and the famous draws with the All Blacks in 1964 and 1983 linger on.
Scotland will arise again.But there is a lot of water to pass under the bridge until then.In the meantime,we can only hope that they get their house in order,implement some good coaching systems and structures,foster the game at schoolboy level and forge ahead in their own rights.
The rugby world awaits the return of Scotland the Brave.
The 2011 edition of the Rugby World Cup,so far,has been brilliant.
The fervour,support and excitement generated by the thousands of fans that have flocked to our shores has been matched by the quality of the rugby on the field.
Labelled “Minnows†prior to this tournament,the likes of Tonga,Japan,USA,Samoa,Romania and Georgia have all had their moments in the sun.
Tonga served it up to the All Blacks in the second half on opening night.Japan got to 25-21 against France before succumbing late.The USA belted Ireland before losing 22-10.Samoa very nearly squeaked out a win against Wales.
And Romania and Georgia?Well,they both gave 6 Nations side Scotland a real scare.Romania in the opening game of Pool B went down 24-34 and 4 days later Georgia worked hard in their narrow 6-15 loss.
Yet now,after Argentina defeated the Scots 13-12 in a fantastic contest last night,we could say that Scotland itself,is in the league of “Minnowâ€. Two hardly convincing victories over Romania and Georgia,coupled with the Argentinian loss,means that Scotland face the real risk of going home next week if they can not pull off an increasingly unlikely victory over England.
Therefore making this the first time ever in their World Cup history that they do not progress past pool play.
And what a tragedy that would be.It would rob this World Cup of one of our truly colourful teams and equally colourful loyal supporters.A team that we New Zealanders hold a great deal of affection and respect for.
If bagpipes could play at half mast,we would.
While fellow 6 nations sides Wales,France,England and Ireland have produced some outstanding and ominous results,the Scots have bumbled and fumbled their way through three torturous games,barely igniting a ripple with their attempts at playing an expansive,fast paced game.Even when they decide to try and assert some dominance through their forwards,the traditional strength of Northern Hemisphere sides,their lack of body position,technique and upper body strength is bewildering.
Yet their fellow Triple Crown brothers have been in great form.Wales should have earned a victory over the reigning World Champions in their opening game,and then doused the hopes of Samoa in the next.England produced some real class in their hammerings of Georgia and Romania while Ireland have created the biggest stir,defeating Australia in a classic contest.
Meanwhile Scotland have underachieved.Last nights game was,dare I say it,pathetic.Sure,Argentina came in to this tournament on the back of a 3rd placing at the last World Cup,but since coach Marcelo Loffreda left in 2007,and with the loss of highly influential playmaker Juan MartÃn Hernández , the Argentinians have struggled for consistancy.
The Scots performance was perhaps summed up in the final few minutes when,needing to maintain the ball and get down inside the Pumas half,they failed to gain any ground whatsoever,being repeatedly repelled backwards by the Argentinian defence.The first instinct for the Scots seemed to be to want to kick the ball away aimlessly,and when the need was to retain possession at all costs,they were lateral,with no go forward and devoid of ideas.
If it wasn’t for the adventurous endeavours and high workrate of their two wingers,Max Evans and Sean Lamont,this defeat may well have been even more embarrassing.
Both Evans and Lamont had to go looking for work,as being wingers on the end of the Scottish backline is enough to leave you feeling like being at the end of a long unemployment queue while Centre Nick De Luca seemed intent on tucking the ball with no reason to feed his dangerous outsides.At one stage in a head on Television shot,with Lamont screaming outside him,De Luca simply got tunnel vision and hit in to contact.
When Jim Hamilton,the big Scotland second row,decided to try and belittle Argentine loosehead Rodrigo Roncero by patting him on the head after a particularly good Scottish scrum,one sensed a hint of arrogance.Argentina duly ran over the top of them next scrum up.
And when impressive flyhalf Ruaridh Jackson,who was controlly the game superbly,hit a classical drop goal,the match SHOULD have been sewn up.Yet he was subbed for Dan Parks,who proceeded to go in to lock down mode instead of piling on the pressure.
Parks attempt at a match winning drop goal late in the game was farcical at best.Scotland should have kept rumbling the ball up and sucking in the Argentine defenders before giving Parks a clear shot.Yet it seemed like panic set in and the ball was rushed to Parks as several keen defenders lined up for the kill.Parks had no option but to prop,and kick off his left foot.
Eventually,in the words of coach Andy Robinson, it was “30_seconds_of_madness†which cost them…
Paterson was among those
culpable in the build-up to Lucas Amorosino’s crucial try for Argentina,
described by the Scotland head coach Andy Robinson as “30 seconds of madnessâ€.
The score came in the 73rd minute, immediately after Dan Parks had squirted over
a dropped goal from a position deep in the 22 created by the replacement
Scotland fly-half’s superb penalty kick to touch.
Scotland were unable to
catch the restart, they committed a penalty offence at a ruck and Argentina used
the advantage to run to the right. A couple of Scots flew out of the defensive
line, allowing Felipe Contepomi and Marcelo Bosch to feed the replacement wing
Amorosino, and he stepped twice off his right foot in a thrilling, weaving run
past Paterson’s missed tackle and the flailing lunges of Mike Blair, Jim
Hamilton and Max Evans.
A gut wrenching loss and a probable exit from this World Cup.But the writing had been on the wall for quite some time for the Celtics.culpable in the build-up to Lucas Amorosino’s crucial try for Argentina,
described by the Scotland head coach Andy Robinson as “30 seconds of madnessâ€.
The score came in the 73rd minute, immediately after Dan Parks had squirted over
a dropped goal from a position deep in the 22 created by the replacement
Scotland fly-half’s superb penalty kick to touch.
Scotland were unable to
catch the restart, they committed a penalty offence at a ruck and Argentina used
the advantage to run to the right. A couple of Scots flew out of the defensive
line, allowing Felipe Contepomi and Marcelo Bosch to feed the replacement wing
Amorosino, and he stepped twice off his right foot in a thrilling, weaving run
past Paterson’s missed tackle and the flailing lunges of Mike Blair, Jim
Hamilton and Max Evans.
So what has gone wrong?
Why,in every World Cup have Scotland reached the 1/4s,but not this one?
Why,have France achieved a Grand Slam as recently as last year,Ireland in 2009,Wales in 2008 and England in 2003…yet Scotland have not achieved a Grand Slam since 1990?
Why,since the inception of the 6 Nations in 2000,has Scotland achieved the measly record of just 16 wins in 60 games?
And why,after the disastrous appointment of a foreign coach (Australian Matt Williams in 2003) do a proud Nation such as Scotland,go and appoint a failed ex England coach who achieved a paltry 40% winning record with them,compared to Clive Woodward (71%) and Jack Rowell(72%) before him and Brian Ashton (54%) immediately after him?
We should go back to the early years of professionalism when Jim Telfer ran the Scottish RU. Any resources were put towards the importing of overseas players (not all eligible to play for Scotland). For many years the importance of grass roots rugby was all but ignored meaning that Scotland were (and remain) way behind most of the senior rugby nations.
Scotland will improve as I understand this has now been addressed but Telfers short-termism is his regrettable legacy.
Also , the lack of leadership on the pitch is lamentable. It should be remembered that for many years Scotland, with very limited playing numbers punched above it’s weight due to a golden spell where they were fortunate to produce a succession of leaders on the pitch who could have been selected in most International test sides.
Finlay Calder, John Jeffrey, Colin Deans, Jim Renwick, John Rutherford, Gary Armstrong, David Sole, Gavin Hastings and Andy Irvine to name just a few.
The memories of those players and their deeds,and the famous draws with the All Blacks in 1964 and 1983 linger on.
Scotland will arise again.But there is a lot of water to pass under the bridge until then.In the meantime,we can only hope that they get their house in order,implement some good coaching systems and structures,foster the game at schoolboy level and forge ahead in their own rights.
The rugby world awaits the return of Scotland the Brave.
