Lawson says early scare has sharpened Scots’ focus

HAVING recovered from the scarier moments of Saturday’s opening World Cup match against Romania, there is now a sense that the depths Scotland plumbed in that performance can bring an edge to preparation for tomorrow’s clash with Georgia.

After staring an embarrassing defeat squarely in the eyes, the players acknowledged that there can be no excuses now for complacency, under-estimation and slackness going in against Richie Dixon’s side at Rugby Park Stadium. Why there was at the weekend remains a good question, but having now viewed in detail the most alarming sequences of the game from a Scotland point of view, players’ minds have certainly been sharpened over the past two days.

Had Scotland lost the opening match to Romania they would likely have needed to beat Georgia, Argentina and England to qualify for the quarter-finals. A team can afford one defeat and qualify for the last eight as runners-up, but to win the pool and avoid the likelihood of meeting hosts New Zealand in the knockout stages an unbeaten run is required, preferably with bonus points.

Andy Robinson’s side currently top Pool A after claiming a four-try bonus at the death against Romania and they go into the match with Georgia (7.30pm in New Zealand, 8.30am in UK) bidding to secure another five points in the knowledge that it could prove crucial in the battle with main rivals for the quarter-final berths England and Argentina.

Rory Lawson, who takes over from Mike Blair at scrum-half and returns as captain in place of Alastair Kellock, believes that the acute anxiety the squad shared on Saturday, and felt intensely by those like him who were sitting in the stand, has only heightened motivation and crystalised the areas in which the team cannot afford to slip off again.

Asked how bad he felt watching the team during the opening game, Lawson said: “It would definitely be in my top three worst rugby experiences. There were spells where we didn’t have much control in the game, and you’ve got even less sat in the stand. The guys on the pitch I’m sure were feeling exactly the same, but there was a real chance that our World Cup could have been over before it had begun.

“We actually had to go and do fitness sessions which we do with the guys who didn’t get much time off the bench afterwards to regulate the heartbeat a bit. Normally it’s about getting your heart-rate up, but it was a running joke that we had to do 50x100m to get our heart-rates down.

“We’ve looked at the game closely now and a key area was the penalties we gave away. They play a huge part in the momentum of the game because for a team like Romania each time we scored we then gave them penalty opportunities. You build momentum by scoring and then scoring again, but we gave away penalties and gave them the momentum to get out of their half and build pressure.

“There are a few things that we’ve looked at closely and we know we have to be much better in. But I also felt, from not being involved, it was also important to lift the guys. In the dressing room the guys’ heads were down as if it was a loss. So, I wanted to remind them that we came out of it with five points.

“Yes, for 55 minutes we didn’t perform anywhere near what we are capable of, but we’ve come out with five points and now we have the opportunity to rectify it over the next couple of weeks of pool games.”

Scotland have played Georgia before, but never in a full Test match. In 2008, a Georgian side was entertained at Firhill by Scotland ‘A’ and a strong Scottish reserve team posted a 69-3 victory. Georgia coach Richie Dixon insisted that that was a second-string Georgian side, but he has named seven of them for this week’s Test match, including the captain Irakli Abuseridze, who suffered at Firhill at the hands of an ‘A’ team captained by Al Kellock and featuring Max Evans, Ruaridh Jackson, Geoff Cross, Richie Vernon and Kelly Brown from tomorrow’s squad.

In 2010, nine of tomorrow’s Georgian 22 beat a Scotland team in the IRB Nations Cup 22-21, but 30 Scotland players were busy in Argentina with the full side and others injured, and the Scotland coach that day, Sean Lineen, described his side’s display as shocking.

That tells us little, but Evans still draws confidence from the 2008 encounter. He said: “I see it as a huge compliment to be involved again and I guess I take a lot of confidence from that, but yes I also take confidence from that game in 2008.

“I enjoyed a big win, probably the biggest win I’ve had in the game, and I scored a good try from inside our own half. That was our ‘A’ team against a strong Georgian side, but at the same time it was four years ago and we know they have improved.

“This is their first game of the World Cup and they’re going to be firing on all cylinders now, but we have got to front up a bit more, be more accurate and keep hold of the ball, and not let them get in the game the way we let Romania into the game. If we do so we should win.”

Evans has been given a licence to roam for Scotland, his shift from the centre to the wing designed to allow him freedom to get on the end of moves but also create in a bit more space. He is growing into that role and his quick feet were among the most potent weapons in unlocking a strong Romanian defence at the weekend.

“What I found pleasing though was that when we did score tries it wasn’t really individual efforts,” he said. “It was the whole team playing together. Even though they were in phase play, they were things we practise in training, like Joe Ansbro’s try, which was a great individual finish, but came from a decoy play with me going in behind that we do week in week out at training. So it was good to see those coming off and we have to take them into the Georgia game.

“I did feel on Saturday that I was always a threat when I got the ball, but I slipped off a couple of tackles which I’m not happy about. Now, you look back and feel that’s happened at a good time because it’s given me a key focus for this game, so I have to do what I’m doing in attack and tighten up in defence and hope that that helps the team get a good win.”

It is that blend of learning from the errors and drawing inspiration from the positive aspects of Scotland’s performance that is crucial – focusing too much on either can lead to trouble – even if it is something of a standard with Scotland.

As hard and succinct lessons go, Saturday’s was pretty good and it is now up to the reshuffled Scotland team to prove they are better than that and can not only learn quickly from the lesson Romania dished out, but react strongly to it in what is shaping up to be one of the most physical battles they will have experienced in some time.