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'I was cheering for Australia. I did not know any better'
Scotland centre Sam Johnson insists he is a different person from four years ago – for a start he no longer supports Australia.
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The Queensland-born Glasgow centre is looking forward to his first taste of World Cup action on Sunday when his side kicks-off their Pool A campaign against Ireland.
Back in 2015, however, he was celebrating the Dark Blues’ controversial exit at the hands of the Wallabies as referee Craig Joubert’s blunder robbed the Scots of a place in the semi-finals.
But Johnson – who qualifies for Gregor Townsend’s team having spent four years at Scotstoun with the Warriors – says his days of cheering on the Aussies are over as he looks to go all the way with this new countrymen.
“I had just arrived in Scotland,” he said as he cast his mind back to that fateful evening at Twickenham. “I was living in a little club flat in Earl Street in Scotstoun. I remember watching that game.
“But I am a different person to the one I was four years ago.
“I was just this kid who had come from Australia so I was cheering for Australia. I did not know any better.
“I had no idea what was going on. I am a completely different person now. I was watching it on my own. I didn’t know anybody back then.
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“To be honest I was not taking as much notice (with what happened on Joubert’s mistaken offside call that handed Australia the winning penalty). It happened at the line-out so I had no idea what was going on. I just saw a penalty.”
But Johnson is certain about what he believes Scotland should aim for in the weeks ahead.
“I think you’ve got to look to the top,” he said. “We’re aware of the challenge that’s going to be awaiting us against Ireland this weekend and we’re focusing on that game.
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“They are number one in the world but we’re confident. We’ve just got to put as much pressure on their half-back pairing of Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton as we can.
With just under 4 days to go until the #RWC2019 kicks off in Japan, England great @NeilBack sits down with RugbyPass' @jimhamilton4 to recount his Rugby World Cup Memories https://t.co/Mc0QXJ9IuH
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 16, 2019
“They’re world-class players but we’ll deal with the threats that are in front of us and have a crack.”
Johnson and the rest of the Scotland delegation have been soaking up as much of the Japanese culture as they can since touching down at their training camp in Nagasaki last week, with an evening at the sumo wrestling next on the agenda.
But it will be soon time to turn attention firmly to Ireland and having faced this weekend’s opponents already this year in the Six Nations – when his first Test try was not enough to prevent a 22-13 defeat – he knows the 2018 Grand Slam winners will be no pushovers.
Watch out Ireland – Finn Russell reckons there is an 80-minute performance due in Scotland https://t.co/kB8uePOaxi
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 17, 2019
He said: “I went to the atomic bomb museum in Nagasaki. It was a sobering experience but an interesting one too.
“We’ve had a game of golf and today we’re off to the Sumo wrestling.
“It’s important to enjoy your down time. It’s a long tournament, one which hasn’t even begun for us yet.
“The hospitality in Nagasaki when we had the welcoming ceremony and the lengths the Japanese people went to was really great. You could say over the top but in a good way. It was really cool.
“The Welsh had 15,000 fans turn up at their training. We haven’t really experienced those numbers as yet but we’ll have 74,000 fans inside the stadium in Yokohama on Sunday so it’ll feel pretty special.
“We’ll know we’re in a contest. The thing I took from game when we played Ireland earlier this year is they are such a physical team. A lot of their work comes off Conor Murray with Johnny Sexton orchestrating from in behind.
“So we’re expecting a hugely physical encounter – but that doesn’t mean they don’t have the flair our wide break you on the edges.
“The weather might dictate the terms of play but definitely we’re expecting them to bring their physicality this weekend.”
Comments on RugbyPass
It’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
6 Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
14 Go to commentsWho got the benefits out of Schmidt, Lowe, Aki, and Gibson Park?
14 Go to commentsWhat’s new its a common occurrence, just the journos out there expecting a negative spin. The outcome will be beneficial to jordie and Leinster. The home grown lads hav got some experience to step up to and be more competitive, that or spend the 6 months keeping the bench warm.
14 Go to commentsI’m all for speeding up the game. But can we be certain that the slowness of the game contributed to fans walking out? I’m not so sure. Super rugby largely suffered from most fans only being able to, really, follow the games played in their own time zone. So at least a third of the fan base wasn’t engaged at any point in time. As a Saffer following SA teams in the URC - I now watch virtually every European game played on the weekend. In SR, I wouldn’t be bothered to follow the games being played on the other side of the world, at weird hours, if my team wasn’t playing. I now follow the whole tournament and not just the games in my time zone. Second, with New Zealand teams always winning. It’s like formula one. When one team dominates, people lose interest. After COVID, with SA leaving and Australia dipping in form, SR became an even greater one horse race. Thats why I think Japan’s league needs to get in the mix. The international flavor of those teams could make for a great spectacle. But surely if we believe that shaving seconds off lost time events in rugby is going to draw fans back, we should be shown some figures that supports this idea before we draw any major conclusions. Where are the stats that shows these changes have made that sort of impact? We’ve measured down to the average no. Of seconds per game. Where the measurement of the impact on the fanbase? Does a rugby “fan” who lost interest because of ball in play time suddenly have a revived interest because we’ve saved or brought back into play a matter of seconds or a few minutes each game? I doubt it. I don’t thinks it’s even a noticeable difference to be impactful. The 20 min red card idea. Agreed. Let’s give it a go. But I think it’s fairer that the player sent off is substituted and plays no further part in the game as a consequence.
2 Go to commentsThose are pretty good draws for the two top Aussie teams. I certainly wouldn't want my Chiefs to have a quarter final in Brisbane. None of the top teams will want the Crusaders.
1 Go to commentsHonestly, I am a bit lost here …. Ireland - RSA was (at least in my opinion) perhaps (from a purely technical / rugby-skills-show point of view) the pinnacle of the RWC2023 - almost flawless playing (putting aside the kicking of RSA which was the difference between the two teams), rugby at it’s very best …. if I were a Bok and after the game some Irish lads came around saying “see you in 5 weeks same place”, I definitely wouldn’t have thought of it as being in any way “arrogant”, rather a sort of jolly “if we both continue to play like this, no one could stop us” - besides, few of us fans would have, at that time, been surprised to see the same teams playing on 23 september and 28 october 2023 ….. well, we all know Ireland chose to hit a slump to keep the QF curse alive …..
135 Go to commentsThere’s value gleaned from having an All Black star running and training with your team. How many games he starts (or even where he plays in the backline) will be decided on a week by week basis based on the needs for that week. But the overall learning and growth for all concerned, I’d think, is massively beneficial. Especially for Irish players.
14 Go to commentsSon, whith just " raw athlete “ , you are able to beat “ better rugby players “ by 74 points…. May be England should recruit in athletics….
1 Go to commentsPffft. It’s not a one-way street bud and Irish teams don’t seem to have had an issue taking kiwi players previously.
14 Go to commentsParticularly great to have captain Scott Barrett back after going off last week for the Crusaders. Codie Taylor a real leader and mighty Tamaiti Williams join Fletcher Newell in the front row. Those 2 will make a big difference. Great bench with the likes of Tom Christie, Jamie Hannah etc who are playing well. Should be a great derby.
1 Go to commentsDoes a blitz defence not have a weekness against a well-placed grubber kick, perhaps angled cleverly. All the defence is up and the full-back can only cover so much ground. Thoughts?
28 Go to commentsWhile Iose is destructive in the Canes set-up, he is not big for an international 8 and could struggle against the top teams. With his speed, he could be developed into a seven but, as Ben points out, he doesn’t show a scavenging game with the Canes or make dominating tackles. Sotutu has shown a step up this year and attitude plus motivation seems to be the big areas of growth. Deserves another AB shot imo.
3 Go to commentsNaholo is my only question mark for this side. He wasn’t the only one who had a forgettable game against the Brumbies but he was passive, defensively poor and generally lacked energy. Needs to get a whole lot busier for me. I would have liked to see Sullivan on that wing with Higgins on the bench (if staying with a 6-2 as BeegMike points out on here!)
3 Go to commentsWell, I am sure that Eben said exactly what he meant to say, exactly how he meant to say it. Does he strike you as a man that doesn't know arrogance when he sees it. He should know it because he has shaken the arrogance out of many foes before.
135 Go to commentsPls get it into your thick arrogant heads that the final was played by two Southern Hemisphere teams. The best against the best and that Argentina was just unlucky otherwise non of the Northetn Hemisphere teams would have seen the light of day.
135 Go to commentsAs long as New Zealand youth are involved in sport they are passionate for, and are well supported, it’s all good. I love league as well as rugby. NRL clubs have long since scouted the First 15 competitions, the NH and Japan scout super rugby and NPC. It’s a miracle there’s any players left for the all blacks to pick from.
6 Go to commentsI'm a Bok fan, so I don't say this lightly, but he is one of my all time favourite players. I am really going to miss watching him play. Thanks for many great memories. You are a true legend of the game.
3 Go to commentsBest way to deal with all of this is to play another game.
135 Go to commentsIt’s 12-15 games Luke. Ringrose has barely played in 2024 and Henshaw and Keenan have also been out for spells in the same time period. There are always injuries and for younger players to play with the likes of Barrett will be great for them. It’s just looking for negatives where there are none.
14 Go to comments