Scots underdogs to reach quarters, insists Townsend
SCOTLAND head coach Gregor Townsend believes Japan and Ireland are still the favourites to make it out of Pool A despite his side banking a late bonus point in tough conditions when beating Samoa 34-0 in Kobe.
The Pacific Islanders were in obdurate mood for large stretches, while the heat and humidity made for a stop-start game, but Scotland still had three tries and a 27-0 lead with more than 20 minutes to play.
They had to wait for over a quarter of an hour to finally secure the crucial try bonus though, the score eventually coming when Ed Fidow led with the knee into the sliding Sean Maitland, leaving referee Pascal Gauzere no choice but to award the penalty try.
Having given up a free seven-pointer earlier in the half, and been binned in the aftermath, Fidow also became the second player to be shown a red card in this tournament.
Failure to bank a full fivepoint haul would have been disastrous for Scotland, but now they sit just one point behind the same Ireland side who beat them so convincingly in Yokohama to open the tournament.
Japan still top the group on nine points, three ahead of Ireland and four of Scotland, but Townsend’s men finish up the pool with a pivotal game against the host nation in what could well be a shoot-out for a quarter-final berth.
“We’re still in the tournament, so that’s what the win means,” said Townsend (right).
“The bonus point gives us an opportunity to go to our next game and aim to get maximum points in that game. If we do, it will be a game against Japan to go into the quarter-finals.
“Japan and Ireland are still favourites to get out of the pool.
“We have to win our next two games and pick up at least one bonus point in those games, potentially two. We’ll see what happens at the weekend, Japan have a good rest into their game against Samoa (this weekend), but Samoa have a quick turnaround.
“We have an even quicker turnaround against Japan when we play them in a couple of weeks’ time. The way we’re going to look at the next 10, 11 days is as preparation for both Russia and Japan.
“We have to build towards a game plan that can get us maximum points against Russia but also beat Japan.”
Given that Ireland will play here against Russia on Thursday, the main talking point for Joe Schmidt’s men in the aftermath may well have been the conditions.
With the roof closed — as it will be for all the games at the stadium — the humidity was sweltering and the teams combined for 34 turnovers in a game where Samoan captain Jack Lam described the ball as “like a bar of soap”.
Scotland were one of the teams to apply shampoo to their training balls in an effort to combat the slippery pill but to no avail in Kobe.
Their captain Stuart McInally said: “It was really tough conditions with the roof closed and the heat. Even stepping out for the warm-up, without having done anything yet, I was starting to sweat.
“The ball was slippy but it was the same for both teams. It was pleasing that our defence managed to get a few errors out of Samoan handling. The ball was pretty greasy and it was tough but it was tough for both teams.
“We had done a bit of work in pre-season with a few strategies, we spent a bit of time in Portugal. I think it helped us.”