‘I just left my World Cup medal in the changing room. Why would I take it home?’

The pain of defeat will fade for Scotland but will never be forgotten

EVERYTHING ABOUT Eden Park was attritional; the rugby and the analysis that followed. It was approaching midnight in Auckland when John Barclay left the Scotland dressing room, the flanker stopping awhile to talk about the World Cup dream that had just collapsed around his ears. Some of the Scots, in their desperation, had spoken about looking forward, had tried (and failed) to don an optimistic demeanour while talking about the Six Nations and the challenges ahead, but Barclay wasn’t having any of that. His mind was on the here and now, not on some vague point in this distance. And he had things to say.

“You have to learn from failure and this will be viewed as a failure. I view it as a failure, absolutely,” he said, before mentioning the memento of the tournament that was given to him, and his team-mates, on the pitch after the game. “I just left my World Cup medal in the changing room. I don’t particularly want to remember this so why would I take it home? It’s not got fond memories, has it? I’ll just leave it. Someone can collect it for themselves.”

Barclay wants to forget, but he knows he’ll have a hell of a job. What happened last night – and last week – will take some amount of getting over. Once again, Scotland had the game in their hands and let it slip; once again they had chances to score a try and couldn’t; once again they flattered to deceive, undone in the closing stages by a fine try that had its origins in a Scottish error.

Once again, a case of what might have been.

Eden Park is a stunning setting even in the wind and rain of last night. The teams emerged to a stadium – and a city – in thrall. Scotland knew what they had to do. And England knew, largely, how they were going to do it. Not that it meant they knew how to stop them.

Dan Cole: “Scotland, fair play, they manned up, they came at us.”

James Haskell: “We knew they’d be very disruptive in everything they did. I grew up watching Scottish teams denying English teams Grand Slams. I knew the history.”

Dan Cole: “With Scotland, there is always going to be a certain amount of vocality.”

Allan Jacobsen: “You want to get on top of them, mentally and physically. It’s not a tactic, it just sort of happens.”

Chris Ashton: “Scotland did what they wanted to do. They messed up the game, messed up the breakdown, the scrums were a mess, the whole set piece was a mess.”

Delon Armitage: “They always come up with the tricks against us. When you’re playing knockout rugby, you need to win, you’ll try everything.”

Lewis Moody: “It was chaotic. They got a lot of boots into the breakdown and the ball seemed to be going all over the shop. First half, our urgency wasn’t quite where we wanted it.”

Mike Tindall: “We were struggling, dropping ball, giving away stupid penalties and making it hard for ourselves.”

Lewis Moody: “The very little ball we had we turned it back over to them and we were conceding free kicks and penalties all over the place.”

Mike Tindall: “We were slow and stagnant.”

Even though they lost Ruaridh Jackson after only five minutes, Scotland hardly broke stride. They stole an English lineout after three minutes, won a scrum penalty after four minutes, won another after eight minutes, which Paterson converted.

The pace was frantic and the English errors mounted. More indiscipline and more penalties. Paterson made it 6-0 after 16 minutes, a metronome by comparison to Jonny Wilkinson who missed his first three shots at goal and would later miss a routine drop goal.

Scotland led 9-3 at the break and while Nick De Luca was getting ready to replace the injured Max Evans, the England front-row were getting instructions from their coach, Graham Rowntree. Pinged off the park in the first 40 minutes, they set about the Scots in the early stages of the second 40 with a zeal that shifted the impetus.

Lewis Moody: “We sat down at half-time and addressed some issues. We were frustrated.”

James Haskell: “The front-row were getting a talking-to.”

Dan Cole: “We sorted it. The first two Scottish scrums of the second half, we shoved them right off their own ball.”

Chris Ashton: “Jonny missed a makeable drop goal just after those scrums. It wasn’t like him.”

Forty-eight minutes had elapsed and if you were looking for omens at that point then they looked to be in Scotland’s favour. England had come out strong at the start of the second half, had blasted the Scottish scrum, had gained perfect field position for the three points – and then Wilkinson blew it.

Scotland now regained the momentum and then lost, regained it again and lost it again. Things were getting ever more fractious out there.

Al Kellock: “We created a great chance. Simon [Danielli] chipped and chased up the left wing. He almost got there but Ben Foden stopped him, but Nick [De Luca] followed up and I was right behind Nick and as he reached down to pick up the ball I thought he was in. I was sure we were going to score. Sometimes they go for you and sometimes against.”

Richie Vernon: “There were a few moments where I’d love to wind the clock back. That was one of them. We were so close. We got a penalty out of that passage of play though. Mossie put it over.”

James Haskell: “We knew that if we didn’t get our discipline right and didn’t look after the ball, we’d be in a fight. And at 12-3 down, we were now in a fight.”

Richie Vernon: “England restarted. It was an excellent kick. They put it up the middle, just in behind us.”

Al Kellock: “Restarts are crucial in any game. You’ve got to secure them. The pressure came on and we didn’t communicate and communication is something you’ve got to keep doing. It’s a simple restart to take, but it has to be called for, someone has to claim it, and you go from there. We didn’t do that.”

Richie Vernon: “We didn’t win the restart and a couple of minutes after we take a 12-3 lead, Jonny drops a goal and it’s 12-6. That was a real turning point. To be honest, though, it was a really good restart.”

Nathan Hines: “The boys were talking about a big mistake at a restart. Mate, I was in the toilet. I didn’t know what they were talking about.”

Richie Vernon: “It was a killer. It took away some momentum.”

Simon Danelli: “A key moment.”

Chris Ashton: “I was still chasing around hitting a lot of breakdowns – and I’m not very good at hitting breakdowns. I got my first touch after an hour. My first touch!”

Mike Tindall: “Jonny’s penalty that took it to 12-9 was critical. That’s only a three-point gap now and they needed eight. They needed to score a try, really.”

Al Kellock: Richie [Gray] is two inches from a try. Dan hits a crossfield kick. He didn’t hit the kick very well but it worked out better than if he had. Richie and Tom Croft were chasing after it. It was always going to be a bounce of the ball.”

Richie Gray: “What was I thinking? I was thinking I wish I was a little bit quicker and he wasn’t as quick and the ball would just bounce up a little bit more. It wasn’t to be and I’ll go home and practise my diving technique for next time.”

Al Kellock: “Had we scored from one of them we would have won the match.”

Chris Paterson: “No matter who we play or what we do we struggle to cross that line.”

Allan Jacobsen: “We didn’t put the game away. I don’t know why but it’s something we need to seriously look at because we’re not going to get anywhere with that.”

Scotland were under intense pressure, with the time running out and chances getting spurned. Parks hit a sweet touch-finder to the England 22 and Gray claimed the lineout. When the ball came out to Parks he launched a bomb down England’s throat, hoping they’d spill it, hoping that the breaking ball would fall kindly for Scotland, hoping that the try they needed would come amid the mayhem.

But it backfired. England attacked and the fateful blow was about to be struck.

Chris Ashton: “I’d had maybe two touches in the entire match up to that point. Two kicks.”

Dan Cole: “We found a bit of clinical stuff at last.”

Chris Ashton: “Play was on the far side of the field and I was calling for the ball. There was big space in front of me. I had my arms up wanting the ball.”

Sean Lamont: “They attacked across the field. Was it Toby Flood who threw the big skip pass? It was a kind of lucky, hopeful pass, but they finished it off. It was a good try. England did what England do. They came back and they found a way to win.

Al Kellock: “You don’t have to be flashy. England just got on with it. We have to learn to do that too.”

Dan Cole: “We won. That’s what rugby is about. It’s about winning, it’s not about being nice.”

Mike Tindall: “We’ve won ugly.”

Matt Stevens: “It’s not the way we want to win, but we do what it takes.”

Sean Lamont: “Close but no cigar.”

Allan Jacobsen: “I don’t know if it’s a mental thing with us or … I honestly don’t know how to answer it.”

Al Kellock: “I’ll remember this game for a long time. It was a special occasion but it will haunt me.”

Dan Parks: “We can talk all day about how upset we are, but sadly it’s not going to change the result.”

Sean Lamont: “It feels like the most painful thing ever right now. Again, this was one that was so close and was just taken away from us at the death.”

Allan Jacobsen: “The results kind of blow my mind. I don’t know. Crazy. I felt the whole time against Argentina and England, ‘We’ve got this’ and then a moment of madness or mistakes, or whatever, and it’s killed us.”

Sean Lamont: “It’s a sickener and I’m not sure what else is left to say. It would have been a beautiful fairytale story had it come through, but it was not meant to be.”

Scotland retreated quietly from Eden Park, some of them physically hurting but all of them mentally scarred. They were left to their own thoughts and their own regrets and a lifetime of what might have beens at this World Cup. It’s gone now, but forgotten? Never.