This was meant to be Scotland’s Rugby World Cup. The team arrived in Paris with a top five world ranking, a win over the hosts in the summer test series and an impressive Six Nations championship.
The Group of Death
It wasn’t going to be easy. A draw made three years ago plunged Scotland into the tournament’s “group of death” with World Number One Ireland and number two, South Africa, the defending champions ─ a tough draw for any team but devastating for a squad whose improved performances in the past 10 months moved them up to fifth in the World.
With three of the top five teams in one group, this made it one of the most competitive in the tournament’s history, but Scotland remained determined. Second row forward Richie Gray is no stranger to the highs and lows of Scottish Rugby, having appeared 78 times for his country since 2010. Going into his third World Cup, Gray was the most senior squad member and ready for the challenge.
“We certainly went in with a lot of optimism, and rightly so,” he said, speaking last week after training with his club, Glasgow Warriors. “I think we’d been playing well. We believed that we had all the tools to win those games. It’s come on from 2011 where you’re going into games hoping rather than believing you can get a result.”
“Everybody was aware of the challenge this group faced, but the rules are the rules and you can’t complain.”
A World Cup debut
Of the 33 players selected for the tournament, 19 were making their World Cup debut for Scotland, including 29-year-old centre Huw Jones, despite his first call-up for Scotland seven years ago and impressive appearances in four Six Nations.
“Just making the squad was a great achievement,” he said. “The capping ceremony at the beginning down in Nice was really fun, a lot of people turned out for that down the promenade, just cheering us on.”
“Then down to business with the games. The level of support you get when you’re out there from back home but also the people coming to the games, I didn’t realise how many people would actually be coming.”
“When you play in the Six Nations, every game is a home game for one of the teams, so they’re going to have all their fans turning out, but the French went mad for it. The atmosphere was always just incredible. From that point of view, it was such a big spectacle to be involved in. Just really enjoyable.”
Taking on the Springboks
Jones, who had played for Western Province and the Stormers in South Africa, was selected for the crucial opener against the Springboks, vital for Scotland to put down a marker for the rest of the tournament. Gray was the only survivor from the Scotland starting 15 that beat them at Murrayfield in 2010.
“Going in at halftime it was 3-6. We had got ourselves back in the game and were feeling pretty good about it. Going back out to the second half, we definitely had moments, we definitely had opportunities, we just couldn’t capitalise on it,” said Gray.
The Springboks won 18-3. The next two games were positive but predictable, with a 47-17 win over Tonga and a record-breaking 84-0 win over Romania in which they scored 12 tries, their biggest tournament win since beating Ivory Coast 89-0 in 1995.
Celtic Clash
All eyes looked towards Scotland’s final group game against Ireland, their last shot at qualification for the knock-out stage in which they needed to beat Ireland and score four tries against the tournament favourites.
An Irish try in the first two minutes set the tone for the rest of the game. An injury had left Scotland without captain Jamie Ritchie and tactical lynchpin Blair Kinghorn, and the result was the systematic dismantling of the Scottish defence.
“We were outclassed,” admitted Gray, his tenth match against Ireland and the seventh on the losing side. “We could have done better, any error we made defensively they were able to capitalise on it with an attack and when we had the ball we weren’t ruthless enough.”
Jones had been the sole try scorer in their last encounter in the Six Nations in February and knew it was a monumental challenge.
“They just suffocated us,” he remembered. “We pride ourselves on playing fast attacking rugby, and we had a lot of ball and we attacked a lot, but there wasn’t any way through, we didn’t make many line breaks at all.”
“Then when they get a chance to attack, they take their chances and they score. It was definitely tough to play against them, but I’d say the better team won on the day.”
“Going in against the number one team in the world we knew it was going to be tough. We’ve struggled against them in recent years and haven’t got a win in a few years. They’re just such a clinical side, they’re like a well-oiled machine, any one of their players can step in and they always perform,” he said.
The 36-14 defeat ended Scotland’s campaign in a subdued and disappointing manner and, perhaps reflecting the outcome, the highlight for Jones was not the rugby on the field.
“We lost the two big games, so there wasn’t really a rugby highlight. We had a really good team environment and catching up with some of my old mates who I used to play with in the South African team was pretty fun,” he said. “It’s always good to make contacts and make friends with guys you play with sort of across the world.”
Looking ahead
So, what next for Scotland? Richie Gray is the only survivor from the 2011 World Cup squad and at 34 is one of the most senior members. His 6ft 10 stature and ability have allowed him to have a lengthy international career, but there is a strong chance 2023 will be his last World Cup.
“In the short term we’ve got to take lessons from the World Cup. There’s not much use in just saying it out loud,” he said.
“We’ve got to look at what we can do better. It really is a bottom-up approach, and it can’t be top down. I know those discussions have already been happening. I know the national team coaches have been doing a long review, a long debrief of the World Cup, [and] the players have had their input as well just on how we can continue to improve.
“We’re not ripping up the playbook because we’re doing a lot of good things. Certainly, the way we play, the style, our environment, it’s all very positive. It’s just fine-tuning certain things that we continue to let us grow.”
Featured Image credit: Scotland Rugby
Film, Media and Journalism student who writes about things that catch her interest. Instagram @charlsutcliffe
