The only way anything good can come out of the agony of Scotland’s controversial World Cup exit is to ensure that the positive improvements achieved by the squad are built upon when they next face the leading nations — knowing that ill fortune will balance out if they can recover from their shattering Twickenham setback.
So says Jon Humphreys, the Scotland forwards coach. “For us, it is just devastation. However, as long as it makes us stronger, makes us strive harder to go forward, then something can come from it. The bare minimum is to keep performing at that level,” he said.
With his eyes still red from the emotion of losing a quarter-final in the dying minutes, Humphreys was already starting to think ahead to the RBS Six Nations Championship and the opening game, the Calcutta Cup match at Murrayfield. For the players, it will take longer to recover, but he believes they have shown that the foundations are there for a team to go on to greater things.
“That is something we talked about in the changing room,” he said. “It is a pretty young team and we are packing a lot of experiences into that. Someone like Jonny Gray at 21 has been through an unbelievable amount. We have to push on, we have to engender the belief that we can be competitive no matter what tournament we are in or where we are. That is what we are talking about.
“We have the Calcutta Cup match in the distance but we have to get over this first; we have to grieve and then over the next couple of weeks we will begin to focus on the next challenges. At the moment you have to allow the boys to grieve over a tough end to the tournament.
Advertisement
“It was a really tough one to take. To be in the quarter-final of a World Cup and lose it in the last minute, it probably does not get tougher than that. We talked about character all the way through this tournament and they have shown that in buckets — after a tough first half against Japan, to score as many tries as we did, the same against America, it has been a real tough one.”
Indeed it was not just in the game itself that the side had shown its character: “There was Al Dickinson, who had been in bed for 24 hours before that game,” Humphreys added, “ and you had Ross Ford and Jonny Gray [coping] with all their disruption [after their bans were lifted on the day before the Australia game].
“You had all that going on but also the people they replaced were un- believable — Kevin Bryce and Alasdair Strokosch were dropped from the squad, and Fraser Brown and Tim Swinson from the chance to start a World Cup quarter-final, but all they were thinking about was the good of the team. These boys were incredible but the way that Jonny and Fordy performed was a testament to their character. For Jonny to go through all that turmoil and play the way he did was exceptional.
“All those boys have worked extremely hard on the scrum and the lineout and all the other aspects. I am extremely happy for them that they have come so far and could put in a performance like that. They scrummaged exceptionally well and sometimes you just wish you could come in from a tight game like this and be very, very happy rather than those boys having to try to move on from something like that.”
Life moves on, but the emotion, the tears and the anger will be worth it only if they can drive the side to greater heights. As Humphreys observed, there is no point in complaining: “It is not going to make us feel any better, it probably makes us feel worse,” he said. “We won’t talk about it, it is up to everyone else in the world of social media to talk about that decision. Right now it is heartbreaking because no matter what you do, it won’t change the result.”
Advertisement
Bad calls, sad endings
Scotland 2 Czech Republic 2. Hampden, Sep 3, 2011
Kevin Blom, the Dutch referee, allowed himself to be conned during Scotland’s Euro 2012 qualifier with Czech Republic by awarding a last-minute penalty after Jan Rezek dived following Danny Wilson’s challenge. He then denied Christophe Berra a penalty seconds later after Roman Hubnik clipped the home player. Blom later said: “I was fooled.”
Wales 31 Scotland 24. Millennium Stadium, Feb 13, 2010
George Clancy, the Irish referee, reduced Scotland to 13 men with a second yellow card in the final seconds when he wrongly sent off Phil Godman for obstruction. After 79 minutes and with the entire back three in hospital Scotland, with 13 men, kicked the ball back to Wales, allowing Shane Williams to snatch the win three minutes past the 80.
Advertisement
Scotland 1 Italy 2. Hampden, Nov 17, 2007
A home victory against Italy, in an electric Euro 2008 qualifier, would have ended Scotland’s long wait to qualify for a major tournament finals. But with the scores at 1-1 Manuel Mejuto González, the Spanish referee, awarded a baffling stoppage-time foul against Alan Hutton, from which Christian Panucci headed the winner.