I’m well aware that’s not really a word, but it seems like the end of this game was an officiating travesty worthy of throwing the dictionary away for.
Ever since the dark days of ol’ George Clancy we have tried to no longer rail against the men and women in the middle. But how do we not bag the officials for this one?
This isn’t like Craig Joubert against Australia (and we got mad about that!). A whistle the other way in the outcome *might* have altered that result, who is to say. Joubert did not have the “benefit” of a TMO either.
This decision on the other hand, by referee Nic Berry and TMO Brian MacNeice one hundred percent decided the outcome of the game.
Yes, Scotland should have tailored their plans so the result was decided a little more in advance (see also: Wales), but at the end of the day they still did enough to win it by grounding the ball and scoring the winning try, yet the championship points went to France.
Scotland are right to query World Rugby over it, but after that there’s not much we can do. Nothing will come of it – they are going to back their men, right or wrong. Nigel Owens wouldn’t come down either side in his official World Rugby video about the weekend’s big decisions, and this was the biggest.
There are no rogue weather systems to sue which means we can only focus our outrage on the remainder of the tournament. Which I really hope they do as this team are capable of great stuff such as we saw during the first try after just seven and a bit minutes.
It was an excellent debut for Harry Paterson who played a vital role in that try with a lovely dummy and offload; let’s not forget he had little notice he would be making his test debut and while there was one notable pass that went astray it looked like the first of many caps for the young man in what was his ninth game of professional rugby.
Another much wiser head who went well was Grant Gilchrist, marshalling a much-improved lineout effort along with Scott Cummings and George Turner. He too had a moment of madness during the bleak spell between 40 and 60 minutes (that seems to be our current nap time in games) with a through-the-legs pass but otherwise he filled in well for big Richie at the set-piece.
The pick of Scotland’s team was Rory Darge who went brilliantly in the loose and in defence. Darge makes such a difference in terms of intensity, you can see him urging his teammates on and playing with the controlled ferocity that Scotland’s pack often misses. Andy Christie only played the second half as Matt Fagerson went off injured but as destiny slowly chips away at our back row depth, surely now he has done enough to start against many players he’s familiar with.
Even during that period when everyone was just standing around while Finn and Ramos kicked things and Penaud dropped things, Scotland looked calm and in control.
This was a new sub-genre of “brave” Scotland loss – they don’t usually come after a game that has seen scoreboard dominance for most of it, with 100% goal-kicking and world-class tries.
Well okay: the quality of try we are used to.
Of course, we are also heartily sick of brave losses in general, and there are a few things that Scotland could work on for the England clash in two weeks to make sure that they get over the line with more certainty.
Firstly, never take the scrum twice in a row. Back yourselves sure, to a point – but just remember we’ve been watching Scotland longer than some players have been alive. Backing any referee to see things the way of a Scottish scrum more than once in succession is a bigger gamble than Brexit.
Secondly, when your 10 -12-13 axis is so good and you also have one of the world’s best finishers in Duhan van der Merwe on the wing, stop the forward pick-and-goes. You can see the frustration in the backs when Duhan becomes ensnared as an extra forward because he’s looking for the ball, then gets held up by last-ditch defenders (again, see Wales when Horne should have gone left).
Give the man a run up! Both he and Sione Tuipulotu excel in breaking the gain line; Huw Jones cuts lines off 10/12 that famed Hollywood producer Don Simpson would have been proud of. When the gain line is also the try line, Scotland are not giving themselves enough of a chance to get over it when it really matters.
Grounding it, of course, is another problem.
The post Scotland 16-20 France: The Unjustice appeared first on Scottish Rugby Blog.
