'I'm quite angry' - BBC pundit rips 'absolute shambles' Scotland
Tom English, the chief sports writer for BBC Scotland, was left embittered after Scotland fell to a disappointing 20-17 loss to Wales at the Principality Stadium yesterday.
Scotland beat England by the same deficit last week but extended their 20-year barren run in Wales with a performance that lacked uniformity and bite.
On the BBC Rugby Podcast, English let his thoughts be known on Scotland’s second loss to Wales in as many years.
“Not good enough. Not good enough,” bemoaned English. “It was a litany of mistakes. Every kind of mistake in the book. They conceded eight penalties at the breakdown, 12 or 13 overall.
“Scotland never played. They scored one try, which was a great try, the one time they tried to play. In the second half, they were abject, they never ever tried to put a bit of width and ambition into the game.
“It was all Wales and Wales were pretty average. They were no great shakes but they deserved to win the game.”
Darcy Graham dotted down in the corner early and following a few Finn Russell penalties, Scotland took the lead. However, a Tomas Francis finish from a rolling maul levelled the scores entering half time. A cagy second 40 offered up no tries and was defined by a Dan Biggar drop goal on the 70-minute mark, enough to split the sides come the final whistle.
“Scotland just did not turn up,” English complained. “Whatever game plan they were trying to play is beyond me. I’m quite angry at the performance because the Scotland team is better than that. That was a putrid performance.
“They never threatened, they never put pressure on Wales. They tried these dopey kicks in the second half to try to play the game in Wales’s half, but they didn’t have the accuracy to even do that much.”
What frustrated English the most was the lack of ball fed to Scotland’s talented back line. Finn Russell and Stuart Hogg often opted to kick long, starving the outside backs of ball in hand.
“Wales had more thunder about them,” he said. “Scotland had nothing and we know this team has loads of attacking strengths but they delivered none of that tonight and got absolutely what they deserved. Scotland were just an absolute shambles.
“They [Wales] looked like a team that was desperate for victory. They were prepared to do whatever they could to win the game.”
Minutes before Biggar landed his drop goal, Finn Russell was sent to the bin for committing an intentional knock on. The card dampened Scotland’s attacking verve and helped Wales close out the contest, much to the annoyance of English.
“That was the big turning point,” English admitted. “Finn Russell doesn’t have to do it. He contributed significantly to Scotland losing the game here with that act of absolute stupidity.”
The card meant that Russell has been sent to the bin in three consecutive Six Nations away matches. He previously got a yellow for a trip against England and a red against France for a high tackle.
English’s co-commentator Peter Wright jumped in to further pound the Scottish performance.
“From the first minute Scotland were playing passively, almost conservatively,” Wright said. “That was a poor Welsh team that defended pretty well. I think if they had played the way they did in the first half, with a bit of adventure changing the point of attacking contact, then you put Wales under pressure. All Wales had to do was run straight at them and most quality Welsh professionals will cope with that type of attack.”
“Individually we were really poor. Pierre Schoeman and Sam Skinner played really well but Duhan van der Merwe was embarrassing in the second half. He took the ball into contact twice and lost it twice. That is totally unacceptable.”
Comments on RugbyPass
NZ has such a rich history of quality number nines, and woman beaters.
1 Go to commentsThat’s what happens when you are scared of scrums
2 Go to commentsWhats interesting now is the evolution of rugby. More and more the laws are favouring the team in possession and the ball carrier. Teams can keep the ball for longer periods more than ever before with little risk and wear down defences as long as they don’t knock it on. Set pieces are seen as hindrances and as time wasting annoyances by law makers and they are being depowered as lawmakers strive for higher ball in play time. Perhaps its only natural then that teams will take a more assertive and aggressive approach in defence. An offensive defence as you said Nick. This may force errors and turnovers and help teams to break up attacking plays while providing counterattacking prospects. Perhaps we will see more and more teams adopt the blitz in the next 4 year cycle and beyond much like Gegenpress has met Tiki Taka in football. Instead of Pep and Klopp we will have Farrell and Nienaber.
25 Go to commentsArrogant entitled prick with a huge chip on its shoulder
5 Go to commentsApparently the only ppl Scotland can beat are their spouses…thank you / good night!
6 Go to commentsSo….who is Andy Goode?
43 Go to commentsEngland had to bed in their new defensive system while challenging for the 6N. The schedule allowed them to try and focus on defense for first 3 matches and then target Ireland (the pre tournament target match). A win in France would be a bonus.
1 Go to commentsJust from watching the highlights there was plenty to like and plenty to build on. Some of these boys will be Super players soon and they will benefit from the exposure. Sounds like the coaches have made a good connection with these young men.
3 Go to commentsDont know if the Irish players said it or not, but lets all be honest with ourselves, and hopefully both the Irish and French have healed by now, the Media did jump the gun, be realistic, according to 90% of the media it was a France and Ireland final, and the media had 1 of them winning the world cup, not even mentioning the All blacks? Just remember world cups are different, Australia was not the most in form cricket tean in the last cricket world cup, but they have a nack of winning when it matters. I wont go into whether what Etzabeth is saying is true, all I am saying is that its very easy for a team to get ahead of themselves due to the media. Nothing wrong with it, the media got the springboks over confident against England and we nearly lost that one.
43 Go to commentsHey Finn, Well done to the Junior Wallabies…a win is a win but it was a wet and scrappy game. Would be interesting to hear your opinion on two things from watching the game at the Not So Sunny Coast Stadium. Firstly, what is your opinion on the rule change of being able to call The Mark from a kick off and what is the reason for the change? Secondly, your thoughts on the lack of action for the high tackle on the SA fullback. I understand the TMO ruled that he had fallen into the tackle and the tackler didn’t have time to adjust but it was clearly shoulder on head and the Aussie 11 had not made any attempt to adjust his tackle height leading into the tackle. In my opinion he was never going to get his tackle technique correct to complete a safe tackle. If that tackle was made at a more senior and more scrutinised level would we have seen the same result?
2 Go to commentsI don’t think this has been ventilated enough. Discuss. Perhaps the lessons in all of this is that, in the game of life, one should do all the talking on the field of play. And in the game of rugby, what’s said on the field - stays on the field. Take care of yourselves. And each other.
43 Go to commentsLow skills compared to the Junior ABs. The ball handling and ball retention of the SAns in particular was utterly woeful. The latter will be better on home turf.
2 Go to comments1. Heard this so often over the yrs. One Warriors CEO even claimed future kids wouldnt know which came first, the ABs or the Warriors. Always keen to talk themselves up. 2. That fella Barakat who says he will drop HBHS sponsorship because HBHS quite rightly wants its players to focus on rugby is an odd fit as a sponsor in the first place. As a recruitment official for the Warriors he seems to regard his sponsorship as a paid licence to help to select players from HBHS for the league side. Maybe he should find a league school to fund.
2 Go to commentsNZ U20s are the team to beat this year for sure. And how nice after so long that NZRFU is actually taking this seriously. For far too long they have been sending woefully coached and woefully underprepared teams to the U20 WCs. That Wrampling boy is a star in the making.
3 Go to commentsI agree ..come on keyboard warriors and journalists looking for a cheap win ….. only 2 mins to go 12 points down …this DID NOT decide the game and beside JM was hit after the whistle and in response it was a pat on the back of the head …harmless ….watch soccer if this is your issue
4 Go to commentsRest is for namby pamby sissies, I see. True men should overcome their trifling injuries by playing week in, week out. Bidwell’s stance reminds me of a Jon Gadsby character from the 70s, a rugby captain giving an after-match speech: “It was a very physical contest. One of our players caught a boot on the back of his head in a ruck, and he died, actually. But to his credit, he played on.”
1 Go to commentsI still see nothing in Sotutus play that hes changed his upright running style that failed so many times against decent international defences like the french. Other than that… Iose? Well you have covered his limitations well. If Sititi had been playing the the season… Jacobson? Grace?…Neither shout pick me. So Ardie it is.
1 Go to commentsThere isn’t one element you mentioned there that every top class or successful team gets up to. The great All blacks sides used to play on the ‘fringes or edge’ but it was essentially saying they were doing something illegal or borderline to gain dominance. The fine margins at the top are minute between the top sides. La Rochelle, the crusaders, Saracens, Toulon etc etc…..have all been accused. Get over it, the comment comes across as salty and naive. Northampton as well as they played to get back into the match were thoroughly beaten and controlled for 60 minutes and Leinster have only themselves to blame for kicking it away and hence losing control of the match and being nearly the architects of their own downfall.
2 Go to commentsThere is some talent coming thru thats for sure. The 10 looks special to me. Rico Simpson is a name to look for in the future.
3 Go to commentsI think this quiet honestly is just an innocent misunderstanding by someone who is pig sh*t stupid. Eben is a fine player but by christ, if he can’t understand or get what the Irish players were trying to say to him after the match…..well i hope he has someone looking after his finances, career and is reading the fine print for him, cause life after rugby may be quite difficult for the vacuous echo chamber.
43 Go to comments