Rugby World Cup - 24th September 2007
By the looks on the faces of the respective coaches, it would appear that Scotland are the happier team after yesterday's World Cup match at Murrayfield.
This might be hard to believe when the home side lost 40-0, but the All Blacks will have much more work to do on the training field next week. Wayne Smith, the New Zealand assistant coach, said after his team's performance against Italy that his players were like "15 cans of coke all fizzed up and opened at the same time", and it was an apt description of how his forward pack, particularly, also started against the Scots.
With an early score, it looked like the All Blacks' dynamic rugby was going to overwhelm the home team. There was so much variety with Dan Carter, the stand-off, and his inside centre Luke McAlister threading deft kicks in behind the Scottish defence and Byron Kelleher combining with his back row to take the ball up around the fringes. The collective speed of thought was breathtaking at times and only uncharacteristically poor finishing let them down.
On the other hand, Scotland looked a little shell-shocked in the opening exchanges and were continually under pressure. Their tactics seemed to be to keep the ball tight and through pick-and-go strategy they probably believed this would limit their chances of giving the All Blacks easy turnover ball. However, they were often driven back in the tackle and began to play the game further behind the advantage line.
And yet, Scotland's defence held firm and they restricted the All Blacks to two tries in over 30 minutes of play. In the second quarter, they played their best rugby of the match. With new cap John Barclay leading the charge and taking the game to New Zealand, they created two scoring chances, which, on another day, they might easily have taken.
The All Blacks tried to turn the screw in the second half and controlled possession and territory.
There were so many scrums, some perilously close to the Scottish try-line, but New Zealand failed a number of times to take some try-scoring opportunities. Credit must go to the Scottish pack who were brave and clever in the scrums, especially debutant Ally Dickinson who should be mightily proud of his performance against Carl Hayman, the best tighthead prop in the world. Dave Callam also put in a courageous display in having to tidy up so much bad ball at the back of the scrum.
Although the Scots fronted up well, I do not think there will be many selection headaches for Frank Hadden and his coaches this week. One area of debate will be in the back line where it will be interesting to see whether the coaches opt for Simon Webster, Rob Dewey or Marcus Di Rollo at outside centre. It would look more than likely that Dan Parks will start at stand-off, which suggests that Simon is the favourite to start, with Chris Paterson joining the Lamont brothers in the back three.
Yesterday's game probably produced more lessons for the coaches for next year than it did for this tournament.
The exposure of young players such as Barclay, Dickinson and Fergus Thomson to such world-class operators will undoubtedly give them priceless experience not available in the Magners League and Heineken Cup. As with most sides that play against New Zealand, players end up leaving the field knowing that they have not played against supermen, but will have to put in so much work on technical areas to get to their level.
This should be an aspiration for all the Scotland players who were given the privilege of facing the mighty All Blacks. Despite the dominance of territory and possession by New Zealand in the second half, the floodgates never opened and there seemed to be no injuries, with Chris Paterson being passed fit afterwards after taking a knock to the eye that forced him off the field early in the game.
For that, the Scotland coaches will be both relieved and pleased as they enter a hugely important week for Scottish rugby.
Saturday's game in Saint Etienne will be as much a battle of nerves as a tactical contest.
Both sides know only one side can make the knock-out stages and it will surely be a close game.
I hope Scotland play without inhibition on Saturday and try to dictate the tempo of the game. Italy have proved difficult opponents to Scottish sides over the years, but they often struggle against Ireland, who have tended to put pace on the ball and continually challenge the Italians in attack. Their 51-24 win in Rome last season should be a good video for Jason White and the boys to watch this week on how to play against Italy.
Scotland certainly have the ability to progress and have looked much sharper and cohesive than the Italians so far in this tournament. Let's hope they play to their potential and set up what could be a very winnable quarter-final against Argentina.
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