Leader: World Cup exit a wake-up call for Scottish rugby

WHAT is it about Scottish rugby that has made try-scoring as rare as rain in the Sahara? Scotland’s exit from the Rugby World Cup followed four games with the team try-less in three of them. As Tom English points out in his excoriating analysis today, only two teams out of 20 in this World Cup have a worse scoring record.

There were encouraging features on which to build. Scotland controlled most of the games they played. They tackled well and kicked well. Forward scrummaging was a class act. But time and again we were let down by poor quality decisions in the back line; predictable runs at the opposing defence, ending in frustration and failure.

Now the team is on its way home and the real cost of this exit is the loss of inspiration to a new generation of schoolboy players. This is where it really hurts.

The coach Andy Robinson now has some serious thinking to do about coaching and training the three-quarter line. The bigger problem is the state of the game in Scotland. It is losing out. The pro teams are under- financed and under-supported. And what does it say about our priorities when TV coverage is buried on the Gaelic channel?

Let this not be “goodnight and goodbye”, but a wake-up call.