'Limp, timid garbage' - abject Scotland save worst game for rugby's biggest occasion
In his post-match media conference, Gregor Townsend spoke with weary frustration about the horrors of what he had just witnessed, the indignity of the pasting that had befallen his Scotland players in Yokohama before the rugby world, a movie he must feel like he has seen a thousand times over.
The coach was dealing with the rubble Ireland had made of his men, but he could just as easily have been addressing any number of occasions where Scotland have been completely dynamited and careered into error-ridden mayhem. Townsend is enduring the most brutal of rugby groundhog days.
When he spoke of errors and energy and aggression, he could have been talking about Scotland’s heinous start to the 2018 Six Nations, when they were blasted to kingdom come with degrading ease by Wales. He could have been fronting up after Ireland put them away by 20 points a month later, after they were trounced in Paris then in Nice this year by French power, or after Wales and Ireland came to Murrayfield in the Six Nations and took the sting out of his team’s high-tempo rugby.
Townsend knew exactly how Ireland would play in Japan and why they would choose to play that way. He had been preparing his team for this very moment for months, even years, and yet he could do nothing to stop it. If the performance was an abomination, the press conference was every bit as damning.
“We didn’t start with the energy, accuracy and aggression required to beat a team like Ireland,” the coach said in the aftermath.
He couldn’t explain why the most experienced Scotland XV ever fielded at a World Cup would behave so passively. As condemnation goes, this was about as scornful as Townsend gets. It was a fierce summation of an opening half in which Scotland shipped three tries, fell off tackles, got monstered in contact and coughed up a dreadful amount of ball.
Supporters can handle their players trying their guts out and losing to a worthy adversary. They can stomach being outclassed or outmanoeuvred, but outfought? Lacking in “energy and aggression”?
Here's the player ratings after a difficult day for Scotland.https://t.co/V38ZeVk9tC
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 22, 2019
That’s a red rag to a bull. This stuff should be the absolute bare minimum, cast-iron non-negotiable every time a player pulls on the jersey. You could walk down Roseburn Street on a match-day, pluck fifteen supporters from the crowd and stick them on the paddock and they’d give you “energy and aggression”.
This isn’t some comatose summer Test outing at the end of a savage season, this is World Cup rugby we’re talking about here. It’s the grandest stage the sport has to offer and the very summit of most of these blokes’ careers. It’s a match Townsend and Scotland have had in the backs of their minds for years. And yet, for whatever reason, the players couldn’t get up for it. They delivered limp, timid garbage. They were devoured by Ireland’s overwhelmingly superior intensity, dismembered like a baby seal tossed into a shark tank. Three tries down inside 25 minutes. Good luck overhauling that deficit against Joe Schmidt and Ireland – never mind trying to do it in a torrential downpour and stifling humidity.
There is a blueprint for beating Townsend’s Scotland and Ireland followed it with ruthless efficiency. Bludgeon their pack, hem them in their own half with an aerial bombardment, watch them wilt in the face of confrontational power, spoil and scrap and deny their play-makers the opportunities to thrive. Suffocate them until the errors flow and the wheels fall off. Feast on their mistakes. Ireland have done it before. So have Wales (twice) and France (twice) and, for a half, at least, England, and still Scotland can’t seem to stop it happening.
We know how good this lot can be given a sniff with ball in hand. We know they have the tempo and the dexterity and the breakneck speed to lacerate any defence in world rugby. We know they can dazzle with Finn Russell at the wheel plotting a course of devastating, orchestrated chaos with an arsenal of rapiers flanking him.
But we know all too well that Scotland have obvious, long-standing flaws. We know that they don’t seem capable of deviating from Townsend’s high-risk, rapid-fire style with any real success.
We know too that they can be conquered by brawn, that they frequently wither in a slugfest and that they are outrageously and unrelentingly inconsistent, within games and between them.
We know they have a maddening habit of starting games in a stupor. Ireland took five minutes to score their first try in Yokohama. France had crossed the line in the first and second minutes in Nice and at Murrayfield last month. During the Six Nations, Ireland scored two unanswered tries inside 16 minutes; Wales got one and England three in less than a dozen. That energy and aggression Townsend was talking about? It doesn’t seem to have gone missing overnight.
We know Scotland are hopeless on the road. They last beat a Tier One team in the World Cup three tournaments ago, a nail-biting grind against Italy. They last won in Dublin in 2010, in Cardiff in 2002, in Paris in 1999 and at Twickenham 36 years ago.
In nine away matches against Tier One opposition during 2018 and 2019, including Sunday’s humiliation in Pool A, Scotland have conceded an average of just under 28 points a game. To put it another way, that’s equivalent to four converted tries – a try bonus point per Test. In the Six Nations, they averaged more missed tackles per game (29) than any other side. A top international team can’t operate on this flimsy basis and hope to be taken seriously as trophy contenders.
By way of comparison, in the same nine-game period against top-tier opponents, Wales and New Zealand average just under 20 points conceded, South Africa, Ireland and England around 21.
When asked about Scotland and their prospects this week, Sir Graham Henry, the great former All Blacks coach, gave an appraisal that was at once flattering, withering and entirely accurate.
“They play some fantastic rugby, which is a pleasure to watch,” he told RugbyPass. “It’s being consistent, isn’t it? They’ve got the attack game beautifully sorted and I’m impressed with Finn Russell, I think he’s a good footballer. They use the ball superbly.
“But it’s trying to get a platform to be able to do that in the big games that they play consistently.
“They’ve got some quality athletes who can play. Whether they’ve got the ability to put together a number of games on the trot at a high level is the challenge for Gregor.”
Stuart Hogg was very honest as he reflected on a difficult day for Scotland.https://t.co/xGi48ywwug
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) September 22, 2019
Townsend is flanked by successful coaches. He has leaders and undeniably fine players in his team, but none of them have come up with the answers to solve these gnawing sores. In his 27 months in charge they’ve been by turns majestic and miserable.
Samoa are next, an immensely athletic team who can play some fantastic rugby. They have taken Scotland to the wire in their previous two meetings, both try-laden shoot-outs decided by a single score.
All those questions about Scotland’s resolve in the battle, their staying power in a physical brawl and the stinginess of their defending are still there, looming larger now than ever before. They follow this squad around like dark clouds. The challenge for Townsend is to find a path to light and escape this cycle of woe.
Comments on RugbyPass
Not sure exactly what went wrong for him at Glasgow but it’s pretty clear he ain’t Franco’s cup of tea. Suspect he would have been better served heading out of Scotland around the same time as Finn, Hoggy and Jonny!
1 Go to commentsBulls disrespected the Northampton supporters and the competition. Decide quickly, fully in or out.
24 Go to commentsI wonder if Parling was ever on England’s radar as a coach? Obviously Borthwick is a great lineout coach, but I do worry he might be taking on too much as both head coach and forwards coach.
1 Go to commentsJason Jenkins has one cap. When Etzebeth was his age he had over 80 caps. Experience matters. He will never amount to what Etzebeth has because he hasn’t been developed as an international player.
1 Go to commentsSays much about the player picking this gig over the easier and bigger rewards offered to him in Japan. Also says a lot about the state sanctioned tax benefits the Irish Revenue offers pro rugby players, with their ten highest earning years subject to an additional 40% tax relief and paid as a lump sum, in cash, at retirement. Certainly helps Leinster line up the financial ducks in a row to fund marquee signings like this!!! No other union anywhere in world rugby benefits from this kind of lucrative financial sponsorship from their government…
5 Go to commentsTrue Jordie could earn a lot more in Japan. But by choosing Leinster he’ll be playing with 1 of the best clubs in the world and can win a champions cup and URC…..
6 Go to commentsThanks for that Marshy, noticed you didn't say who is gonna win it. We know who ain't gonna win it - your Crusaders outfit. They've gone from having arguably the best Super Rugby first five ever, to having a clutch of rookies. Hurricanes all the way!
1 Go to commentsGeez you really have to question the NRLs ability to produce players of quality. Its pathetic. Dont the 25mil in Aus produce enough quality womens players. Sad.
1 Go to commentsBulls fan here, and agree 100% with the conclusion (and little else) of this article. SA sides should absolutely f-off from the champs cup until we get fair scheduling, equal support for travel arrangements and home semis. You know, like all the european teams get.
24 Go to commentsI’m yet to see why Grace would be an ABs contender. He’s pedestrian and lacks the dominance required of a top flight 8.
11 Go to commentsGee my Highlanders were terrible. They have gone backwards since the start of the season. The trouble began when we left Millar behind to prep as the 10 against the Brumbies and he was disconnected from the team that came back from Aussie. We rested Patchell for that game and we blew an avalanche of ball in good attacking positions in the 1st half. Against the Rebels we seem to of gone into a pod system with forwards hanging off from the breakdown leaving Fakatava to secure our ball!
80 Go to commentsPot Kettle, the English and French teams have done it for years.
24 Go to commentsHas virtually played every minute of previous games. Back row of Li Lo Willie , Grace and Blackadder would be the 1. Crusaders issue is a very average 1st 5 who cannot run. Kicking in general play is also below par They need to put Yong Kemara in. He must have so.e talent for them to bring him down from Waikato. Hoehepa would struggle to play in so.e club sided
11 Go to commentsI hope this a good thing making all these changes!
3 Go to commentsThe Hurricanes are good, especially with a decent coach now. However, let’s be real, the Crusaders and Chiefs are clearly a good degree weaker without the players they’ve lost overseas now. The Canes lost one player. It’s also why the aussie teams ‘seem’ to be stronger.
9 Go to commentsOr you could develop your own players instead of constantly taking from the SH competition and weakening it in the process? With all the player and financial resources these unions have compared to SH countries you’d think they could manage that, or is weakening the SH comps and their national sides an added bonus? Probably.
3 Go to commentsNot so fast Aaron, we might need you in black yet lol. God knows he’d be a lot less nerve-racking than hot and (very) cold players like Perofeta. It’s really a shame Reuben Love isn’t playing 10, we’ve got enough 15 options.
4 Go to commentsAnd those from the NH still seem to be puzzled (and delighted) why NZ’s depth isn’t what it once was. Over 600 NZ players overseas, that’s insane. This sort of deal is why Super Rugby coaches have admitted they struggle now to find enough quality to fill out their squads.
6 Go to commentsArticle intéressant ! La question devrait régulièrement se poser pour les jeunes français originaires de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Wallis-et-Futuna et de Polynésie entre la Nouvelle-Zélande et la Métropole… Difficile pour la fédération française de rugby de se positionner : soit le choix est fait de dénicher les jeunes talents et de les faire venir très tôt en Métropole, au risque de les déraciner, soit on prend le risque de se les faire “piller” par les All Blacks qui, telle une araignée, essaye de récupérer tous les talents des îles du Pacifique… À la France de se défendre en développant l’aura du XV de France et des clubs français dans ses collectivités d’Outre-mer !
3 Go to commentsWrong bay. He needs to come to the REAL BAY which is Bay Of Plenty and have a crack at making the Chiefs.
3 Go to comments