FINN RUSSELL says that Scotland must be more clinical if they are to achieve one of the greatest Houdini acts in rugby history by escaping into the quarter-finals from a World Cup pool containing both the number one ranked side on the planet (Ireland) and the reigning global champions/number two side on the planet (South Africa).
The talismanic stand-off returned to somewhere close to his imperious best as his side ran in seven tries to kick-start their World Cup campaign against Tonga in Nice last [Sunday] night, but their 28 point margin of victory fell some way short of the 59-16 margin (43-points) achieved by Ireland against the same opposition in Nantes eight days earlier.
Scotland now have a points differential of +13 after two games, compared to +122 for Ireland and +86 for South Africa after three games each. They should make some in-roads into that with their match in hand against pool minnows Romania (who have already lost 82-8 to Ireland and 76-0 to South Africa) in Lille next Saturday, but it is an awful lot of ground to make up on the off chance that Scotland manage to beat Ireland and all three of those teams finish up on the same number of match points.*
* In that scenario, head-to-head results – the second criteria behind pool points for deciding final rankings – would be thrown out the window because all three teams would have won a match and lost a match against each other, so it will come down to points difference to select the pool winner, then revert back to head to head between the two other sides to decide the pool runner up.
RWC23: Scotland v Tonga: Scotland player ratings
RWC23: Stuart McInally to fly home less than a fortnight after call-up
RWC23: Scotland v Tonga report: Scots get the job done
Of course, that assumes that Scotland have a snowball’s chance in hell of beating Ireland – who they have not managed to better them in their last eight meetings (average losing margin of 14), and who are flying high after Saturday night’s remarkable win over South Africa in Paris which was their 16th straight win on the bounce. If they are to do that, then Scotland will need to be razor sharp in attack for 80 minutes, which wasn’t the case against Tonga.
“We’re happy with the result, we got the bonus-point we needed to keep us alive but there were a lot of missed chances out there and we’re going to have to be a lot better in the next two games if we’re going to progress in the tournament,” agreed Russell, standing in on media duties for concussed captain Jamie Ritchie straight after the Tonga match. “There are a lot of work-ons there. We’re happy but I think when we watch it back we’ll be a bit frustrated with the chances we left out there.
“Seven different try-scorers is great but I think we left five or six chances out there potentially,” he added. “It’s great we’re getting balls out wide, the backs scored a few tries, we got a driving maul try which is really pleasing as well but there were times when we got to five metres from the line and we’ve got to do a lot better there.
“I think we need to be a lot harder on ourselves in training and in games. If we want to progress in this tournament we need to be a lot better than that. It doesn’t matter if there’s one guy that scores seven tries or seven individuals, it’s a team effort. We need to up it.”
Scotland will move from their camp for the last month just outside Valbonne (30km from Nice on France’s Cote d’Azur) to Lille in the north of the country on Thursday morning, ahead of playing Romania on Saturday.
“Ideally for us, South Africa would have won [against Ireland] but we know what we need to do now,” said Russell. “The game being last night [Saturday] meant we knew what we had to do today and going into the Romania game what we needed to get to have that final game against Ireland in Paris.
“I don’t think it’s changed too much for us because after South Africa, we were always going to have to go and beat Ireland. We knew at the start this was potentially a situation we could be in.
“It’s always going to be tough against Tonga, they’re big boys who want to put good shots in,” added Russell. “Thankfully they didn’t put as much pressure on me as I thought they would so it allowed me a bit more time on the ball, which was nice. It’s always a physical game, but maybe more so for the forwards and centres than it was for me.
“I wouldn’t say I needed it. The South Africa game was always going to be like that because they’re so physical and strong and their defence is slightly different to most teams. The week after South Africa was very frustrating because we should have been better but I think we were all waiting for this game to get back into it because having a two-week break during a competition is quite long.
“The boys were really pleased to get out there again. I wouldn’t say we needed space on the ball but different teams have different defences and show you different pictures. You just have to adapt to playing different teams.”
Tonan No 8 Vaea Fifita was red-carded at the end of the match for a dangerous clear-out on Russell, but the Scots playmaker was happy to let his coach, Gregor Townsend, take centre stage in express frustration at the inconsistency in the way such incidents are being referees.
“I was part of the maul, it’s not often I find myself in there! That’s not my job to look at whether it’s a yellow or red card. I leave that to the officials. We’re not going to play Tonga again at this tournament so it’s nothing for us to worry about.”
RWC23: Scotland v Tonga reaction: Gregor Townsend questions ‘Bunker’ system
Really impressed by Gregor Townsend in his post match interview. He clearly expressed his disappointment in the bunker system and referees reluctance to take ownership of discipline on the field during the eighty minutes. Refs need to be as accountable as players for their errors during that time. I suppose there’s a letter from World Rugby on its way to Murrayfield as I write.
Refs cannot be accountable when they have been told by WR not to directly issue red cards, refer to bunker. It’s poor IMHO
Its very unlikely we will beat Ireland never mind by 8 points. Its the best Irish team ever, they are in imperious form and look relentless right now. As a proud Scot living on the Emerald Isle I hope we do turn them over, our recent record against them is abysmal and the usual well meaning pats on the back in the pub after a game against them- well ive had my fill of that to be honest. The QF already seems to be confirmed by the media and many of the fans over here as Ireland v New Zealand…
I think Townsend had a duty to really play on this and put some real fire in the belly of our players for that match on 7th October. The proverbial newspaper clippings on the changing room wall kinda stuff. Lets go out there and really shock Ireland!
I think the Tonga game confirmed my thoughts, we are clearly the third best team in our group.
Do we have enough to sneak second spot? If all the stars align and we manage an 80 minutes performance and Ireland are significantly below par, yes we can make it out of this group of death
So, it’s possible but not very likely.
Van Der Merve’ s inability to stay wide on opposition attacks allied to Kinghorn’s lack of desire and ability to make a tackle makes an 80 minute performance even more of an ask.
Stranger things have happened in sport, just not very often.
I agree about Kinghorn. To put him in a role where defensive skills are paramount doesn’t make sense. Instead an attacking 2nd 5/8th where a flanker is detailed to shadow him would make best use of his undoubted threat.
imo Kinghorn is a winger …not a FB. He has great pace runs good lines and has a sizable frame. His defense is not test level.
Id be more comfortable with Ollie Smith at FB. He looks a far more assured FB with an all around game that can play attack and defense at test level.
I forget how many tries he got at no. 10 but it was a lot. I’m suggesting he and Finn adopt a Ford/Farrell axis. The closer he is to the forwards the less damaging his defence issues. But that kick and chase will scare Ireland..
Home grown or not
Every one a Scot
Giving all they’ve got.
Well done you “flooers “
So we need to assume SA get a BP win vs Tonga giving them 15 points. That means we need to beat Ireland by more than 7 points so its then down to the result of ireland vs scotland that comes before points difference we won we go through. The odd result that would knock us out is we get a BP win vs Ireland they also score 4 tries and come within 7 points they get 2 points and win the group. The result is then based on SA vs Scotland (15 points each) we go out…
The ‘within 7 points’ fact is the toughest one. Could be DGs all day long from Ireland.
I love Gregors response to the Irish journalist yesterday as though we’ve been written off already. We have two weeks to really focus on the inner strengths and beliefs. It’ll be largely determined on how we tune our mindset and choose how WE want to play the game. I think it would be great to send some former players in to camp over the next two weeks to help with this. It needs some further inspiration from beyond the parameters of the squad. Time to go and show the world that you don’t write us off – don’t insult us!!
Does anyone know if there was a fair allocation in tickets for the game against Ireland for both supporters or are tickets provided on a first come first served bases?
First come first served. Sort of, ticketing launch was a nightmare. But no allocations
Thank you Septic+9. I just hope we manage to fill half the stadium at least against Ireland. May be I am wrong and shouldn’t really care but this is when organisers should consider a split of the tickets for these games. Or just hell to it and expect Paris to be full of Irish supporters where they sing their songs cheering on their team…. This goes back to my point of mental preparation and thank that Aaron Welsh is in camp but again I feel we need more to add to the build up. I think of 1990 when the squad didnt interact with the press much if at all but built an inner bubble and came out with the slow walk and the rest is history…