End of the world for Scotland

IT IS too simplistic to say “here we go again” because this was a different Scottish performance in a different World Cup, with a uniquely disappointing outcome, but the feelings are horribly similar.

A new coaching team in Andy Robinson, Gregor Townsend and Graham Steadman and a changed seeding format that pitched Scotland in with two sides ranked above them at the time of the draw only brought a new way to uncover the bitter agony that now clings to Scottish rugby in World Cups.

Against Romania and Georgia they played to type and made hard work of the minnows, but whereas Scotland made the quarter-finals with last-ditch wins over Fiji and Italy in 2003 and 2007 respectively, this time their luck ran out.

For the first time a Rugby World Cup will enter the knockout phase without Scotland and it will be interesting to see how that motivates the SRU’s new chief executive Mark Dodson and chairman Sir Moir Lockhead.

There were errors in the performances of Al Kellock’s team, but, in truth, this was still a well-disciplined and organised side.

The Scottish players take great credit for shutting down Argentina and England, with great forward efforts and defence. Both opponents made countless mistakes, granted, enduring the kind of off-days that Scotland hoped for as well as contributed to. England missed four kicks and a drop-goal – nothing to do with Scotland – gave away penalties and free-kicks in good attacking positions and only escaped the Scots’ clutches in the last half-hour.

But Argentina and England, and every other opponent of Scotland’s, know that they can bide their time because a) Scotland are unlikely to score tries; and b) they will get at least one or two chances themselves. And that they did.

It is exciting that rugby’s development worldwide is swinging back to the skilful attackers, the players with the sublime skills of Sonny Bill Williams, explosive speed of Chris Ashton, power and pace of Ma’a Nonu or Manu Tuilagi or all-round ball skills of Dan Carter. These are the men we are talking about, not the defenders and kickers of 2007, thankfully.

And this is where Scotland are lagging. They competed in 2007 with the power-cum-kickfest, but it wasn’t a game to suit Scotland’s strengths long-term. Robinson has moved more towards one that does, a quicker, fluid, off-loading game, only this World Cup has underlined that executing this plan to the point of scoring tries against good defences is still beyond the team.

Under Robinson they have scored just eight tries in the last 15 ‘big games’ against nations ranked consistently above Scotland.

It comes down to the ability to execute basic skills under pressure, and there is too great an inconsistency in Scotland’s top players. They have to improve and work daily on the basics; that is a given. Most do, though too few coaches in Scotland work repetitively on the basics.

Here in New Zealand they live by the basics. Even the All Blacks start training sessions by walking through a tackle or passing drill before jogging and then sprinting. Captain Richie McCaw spent half an hour the other day practising grubber kicks, “just in case”. How many backs do that in Scotland?

The current Scotland squad have earned respect among their peers for being more consistent and competitive, and that is credit to the work of the players and coaches, but they are still not viewed as winners, nor try-scorers. They are no worse than the teams of 2007 and 2003 who did reach the quarter-finals and arguably had it easier, but competing on the world stage is becoming tougher.

And yet with a clever game-plan, concentration, good skills and unstinting commitment to putting bodies on the line Scotland came incredibly close to pulling off what would have been a shock result in Auckland last night. That was a Scotland team playing very close to its optimum and the reality is that that is not quite good enough for World Cup quarter-finals any more.