As usual with this team, the effort was always there, but the guys know that they weren’t up to the right level. The start we made, on the scoreboard and in the general flow of play, was really encouraging, but I was impressed with the way Australia regrouped.
There was so much to admire about the way they kept their nerve defensively. They left us hardly any holes to play with, or through. The way they did it was simple, the tackler getting back to his feet quickly to challenge for the ball, or at least one support man positioning himself to pinch it. The breakdown was one of the areas where the Australians were that bit better, and it eventually told.
There’s no point wondering how things would have gone had we been able to field our ‘full side’. The guys that had to step in will have learned a huge amount about the standard they need to reach come World Cup time.
I didn’t go into the dressing room to have a word before the game; it just didn’t feel like my place when I’m not in the side. I’m hoping to redress the situation a bit quicker than a lot of people have been speculating. If you believe some of the more morose predictions, I would be as well chucking my passport in a drawer and forgetting the World Cup. I’m not prepared to do that. I maintain the confidence I expressed last week that I will be fit to play some part in France next September.
Although it has been confirmed I need surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in my right knee, only in a worst-case scenario would it take me nine months to get back onto the field. The most hopeful prognosis is that I’ll be ready in six. That’s not as fanciful as it sounds. Chris Mayor, my teammate at Sale, recovered from the same problem three months quicker than the hand wringers said he might. If I can match that, I would have a full pre-season, a month of the new Premiership campaign, and Scotland’s two World Cup warm-up matches to show I am ready for the big one.
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The game against the Irish in August is looming large as a target. If I’m forced to be more patient than I would like; if, say, I’m out for eight months, it could be my next meaningful involvement, and would be a crucial test. For the moment, I just need to keep my head down and spirits up.
Charlie Hodgson, another Sale colleague, will be fighting a similar injury alongside me. He missed the 2003 World Cup with a knee injury, taking eight months to return. With the William Webb Ellis trophy staring us in the face, we’ve vowed to shave as much time off that as we possibly can.