Pride In Spades But Precision At Key Times Elusive For Scotland

Scotland 12 – 16 England There was another excruciating sting in the tail for Scotland and their supporters at Eden Park tonight as a 77th minute try saw a lead that had been held for the entire match relinquished and the hopes of reaching the 2011 Rugby World Cup quarter-finals all but extinguished. Scotland, as captain Alastair Kellock acknowledged post-match, were physically spent – everything had been left in an Auckland arena that had produced an atmosphere every bit as captivating as Murrayfield at its best. Today’s Argentina victory over Georgia means that Scotland are out of the competition before the knockout stages for the first time in the 24 year history of RWC.   There was pride and courage in abundance from Scotland tonight. Yet it was not enough. Credit England, Kellock said, and the composure which had eluded the Red Rose for much of the match returned at oh-so-critical moments in the second period and that was probably the minuscule difference. What we had witnessed in the penultimate Pool B match against Argentina in Wellington last weekend was thus replayed to a lesser but equally agonising degree tonight.  Was the turning point of the game the restart kick in the 55th minute? Chris Paterson had just landed his second penalty and Scotland had a nine point lead. Any notions of enhancing that were rudely dispelled as Scotland did not claim the restart and from recycled possession Jonny Wilkinson’s radar was restored with the timeliest of drop-goals and Scotland’s momentum was quelled. Last week the scoreboard had ticked to 12-6 before kick-off receipt had mis-fired and the cruel consequences on that occasion resulted in Lucas Amorosino’s try. It was understandable that a Scottish journalist at the post-match media conference should ask in a genuinely perplexed way about such self-inflicted wounds. “I feel like you. How could it happen again? You’re exactly right. It’s something we have to be really ruthless about. It should not (have happened),” noted head coach Andy Robinson. Perhaps there were other occasions, too. Richie Gray almost galloped on to a crossfield kick and Simon Danielli and Nick De Luca were involved in drama aplenty. Robinson was right to praise the “massive pride” his players could take from their efforts both tonight and in New Zealand over the last month and the mission for him now is to augment those traditional Scottish virtues and the work ethic that has the coach salivating, with ice-vein precision that needs to be nailed. Kellock told www.scottishrugby.org: “The effort has been outstanding. At no point can you question that.  But we have to be more clinical. We want to move up a level. We want to be not only competing for 75 minutes but winning those games.”  You can hear Al’s comments below. Attention now focused on Palmerston North and although Georgia led 7-5 at  half-time, boosting hopes of an upset, it was not to be. Argentina’s experience told in the second-half as they emerged with a 25-7 success.