Hype and expectation: How Scotland came up short in France
Scotland suffered a demoralising pool-stage exit from the World Cup after being unable to get the big win they needed against Ireland.
Here, the PA news agency looks back at how the tournament unfolded for Gregor Townsend’s side.
Hype and expectation
Everything seemed possible for the Scots when they first touched down in sun-drenched Nice just over five weeks ago, fresh from an encouraging summer in which they had produced two rousing displays against France and beaten Italy and Georgia to cement their status as the fifth-ranked team in the world. At their welcome ceremony their former player John Jeffrey – in his guise as World Rugby’s vice-chair – told everyone in attendance “this is without doubt the best ever Scotland team to take the field”.
False start against the Springboks
After all the anticipation and pre-tournament optimism, Scotland fell flat in their opener in Marseille, failing to land a meaningful blow as defending champions South Africa stifled the life out of them. Losing 18-3, it was the Scots’ lowest-scoring outing since the opening game of the previous World Cup.
The long, idle fortnight
The Scots had a full two weeks to lick their wounds following their demoralising start. With no game on the second weekend of the tournament, the players were given a few days’ downtime with family immediately after the South Africa loss. Even when not in action, however, the Scots’ qualification hopes suffered a further blow as Ireland defeated the Springboks.
Cherry bows out
One of the most notable stories of that week was hooker Dave Cherry’s withdrawal from the squad after suffering concussion when falling on stairs on the way to his bedroom following a team day off. Cherry, 32, had made his World Cup debut as a substitute against South Africa the previous day. The Edinburgh forward at least had the consolation of going home to welcome his baby daughter into the world later in the month.
McInally’s emotional roller-coaster
Stuart McInally became one of the big stories of Scotland’s World Cup without actually getting to see a minute’s action. The 33-year-old hooker announced in April he would be retiring after the tournament. He was named in the provisional 41-man squad in May, then cut from the final 33 in August, called out to France as cover when Ewan Ashman suffered concussion before the Boks game and then flew home when his fellow hooker recovered. It looked like the fairytale career swansong was on when McInally – on 49 caps – got the call to officially join the squad after Cherry’s withdrawal, but cruelly he had to pull out himself just over a week later after suffering a neck injury.
Back on track
Scotland needed bonus-point wins over Tonga and Romania to keep their slim qualification hopes alive and they duly obliged with comfortable 45-17 and 84-0 victories. The two wins featured 19 tries for the Scots, with five of them scored by Darcy Graham, who climbed to joint second on the national team’s all-time try-scoring list with 24, just three shy of record-holder Stuart Hogg.
Matthews’ big moment
After the misfortune of his fellow hookers Cherry and McInally, 30-year-old Johnny Matthews – effectively the sixth-choice in his position – was called up after the Tonga game, having never previously won a full cap. Just over 10 minutes after entering the fray for his debut against Romania in Lille, the Glasgow forward bolted over to mark his unlikely international bow by scoring the Scots’ 10th try of the match.
Outclassed by Ireland
Those triumphs over Tonga and Romania helped revive Scottish morale and sparked hope of pulling off a shock win over Ireland to qualify for the quarter-finals. The Scots needed to beat the world’s number one team – whom they had not defeated since 2017 – either with a bonus point or by denying their opponents a losing bonus. All the pre-match talk of permutations was rendered pointless, however, as the Irish raced into a 36-0 lead. Scotland rallied to make the scoreline a more respectable 36-14, but the damage was done.
Killed in the group of death
Ultimately – as a result of the pool draw being made almost three years ago – Scotland were undone by sharing a group with the two nations who began this tournament as the top-ranked pair in the world, Ireland and South Africa. Over the past year the Scots have beaten each of the four sides who reached the quarter-finals in the opposite side of a lop-sided draw – England, Fiji, Wales and Argentina – but, despite the undoubted progress they have made in recent years, they remain a considerable way short of the level of the game’s four current heavyweights.
Comments on RugbyPass
“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
1 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to comments