IT’S AGONY FOR BRAVEHEARTS
Ref gaffe results in the most bitter end for Scots
THE sight of referee Craig Joubert making a swift exit up the Twickenham tunnel at the final whistle to a chorus of boos told you all you needed to know. There was only one villain of the piece at the home of English rugby and it was a South African.
The Scotland players, led by captain Greig Laidlaw, tried to catch him at the end but he was too hasty. Just like he was when he gave the penalty that cost the Scots a place in the World Cup semi-final.
Laidlaw had urged him to look at the big screen before awarding the decison against Jon Welsh for offside in the last minute with Vern Cotter’s Bravehearts leading 34-32.
He would have seen Australian Nick Phipps try to play the ball beforehand and knocking on, which would have convinced him to change his decision.
The fact he did not led to the sense of injustice among the Scotland players, officials and fans.
Bernard Foley slotted over the penalty, and for Australia it turned into the great escape. For Scotland it was heartache, tears and frustration.
Of course, we have been here before but never in this manner. This was a Scotland team written off before kick- off — 10/1 with some bookies — but who matched the Australians in every department.
They played with heart, commitment and with discipline which is never an easy thing to do on such an emotional occasion.
‘Aussie, Aussie’ may have been heard al l over Twickenham afterwards, but a chorus of ‘Scotland, Scotland’ drowned them out. Quite rightly, too, as Cotter’s heroes nearly pulled off what would have been one of the greatest results in their history.
Tactically Scotland were superb. They adopted a kind of guerrilla warfare, picking their times to attack. They did not panic when it looked like the game was getting away from them and even took the l ead through a Mark Bennett converted try with seven minutes to go — but could not hold on.
Tommy Seymour and Peter Horne also got on the scoresheet for Scotland, with captain Laidlaw kicking 19 points through two conversions and five penalties.
Australia never gave up either but take Drew Mitchell, who got two tries, out of their side and Scotland would have won. The winger was in superb form and a constant threat to the Scottish defence.
The other points for the Wallabies came from a try each from Kurtley Beale, Adam Ashley-Cooper and Michael Hooper. Foley, as well as kicking the winning penalty, also got one other and two conversions.
Of the four World Cup quarterfinals, this was the most exciting, dramatic and controversial. As well as the dubious late penalty, the referee did no favours to Scotland by yellow- carding Sean Maitland for an intentional knock- on two minutes before half-time.
Stuart Hogg was also taken out on the touchline by Ashley-Cooper but it went unpunished.
As early as four minutes in, both sides showed what was about to come. Foley showed his class in open play by coming in on the dummy scissors before flipping up a pass to Mitchell. Luckily for Scotland, the winger failed to take the pass and the chance was gone.
The dam was going to burst and when i t did i t came f rom an uncharacteristic missed tackle by Seymour who let Tevita Kuridrani get past him. Hogg was left trying to cover two men with the Aussie centre having the easiest task to play i n Ashley- Cooper for the opening try.
Scotland showed their maturity with some calm phase play that led to Laidlaw putting over a penalty to narrow the deficit.
They then took the lead through a mix of class play from Horne and a mistake by Aussie Rob Simmons. The lock lost concentration at the ruck when the ball went loose. That allowed Horne to pick the ball up, go through the gap and score beneath the posts. Laidlaw put over the extras and a penalty to give Scotland an eight-point lead.
The Wallabies were able to get back into the game when Mitchell was given acres of space to go over in the corner for a try. Foley missed the conversion, but Laidlaw was much more accurate with a penalty for Scotland soon after.
Three minutes before the break, Aussie captain Stephen Moore made the call to kick to the corner rather than go f or a penalty. Fortune favours the brave and that proved to be the case.
The Australian won the line-out with Hooper going over after a rolling maul. Foley missed his third conversion to allow Scotland to go in at half-time a point ahead.
Two minutes after the restart, Scotland were down to 14 men after a controversial yellow card decision against Maitland. Joubert claimed he had intentionally knocked the ball on to stop an overlap but it was not as clear-cut as that.
No matter that it looked like, he had tried to catch the ball with one hand, he was sent to the sin bin with Scotland being made to pay within a minute of being down to 14 men.
Will Genia spread the ball wide to give Mitchell his second try despite a despairing tackle by Laidlaw. Foley put over the conversion.
A mess-up between Hogg and Seymour then gifted the Wallabies a line-out that they won. It looked like Ashley-Cooper had gone over, but play was called back for a knock-on earlier in the move.
They did not have to wait long to add to their account when Bennett was caught offside at the ruck, allowing Foley to put over only his second kick with a penalty.
On the hour mark, Scotland scored a superb try when Russell charged down Foley’s kick. The quick-thinking stand-off picked up the ball and, although tackled, still managed to offload to Seymour to go over. Laidlaw missed the conversion.
Scotland shot themselves in the foot with 16 minutes to go when Richie Gray failed to take at the line-out which proved costly. Kane Douglas picked it off and, after two attacking phases, centre Kuridrani piled over although it looked like it was a double movement before he touched down.
Foley’s conversion put Australia further ahead although a Laidlaw penalty cut the deficit to just five points with 10 minutes to go.
In those final pulsating passages of play, among the most important in Scottish rugby history, Twickenham erupted when Bennett ran straight through the middle for a converted try.
With the rain starting to pour and nerves being shredded, the final fateful last minute unfolded. It look like Phipps made an effort to play the ball but knocked it on. Penalty Scotland. ‘No,’ said the referee and when the ball fell to Welsh on the wrong side he cuddled it on the floor.
Accidental offside, ruled Joubert, which led to the Foley penalty and the quickest exit up the tunnel by a referee you will ever see.
At the end, the Scotland players to a man were in tears, but also to a man the Scotland fans stayed behind to cheer their heroes after yet another heroic failure by their side.