Taylor: Let’s forget inquest and move on

SCOTLAND’S under-fire defence coach Matt Taylor finally broke cover yesterday, only to admit he still has no idea why the team let down a nation of rugby fans with their meek display against Ireland. Instead, he said the players have been told to draw a line under their shambolic showing in Yokohama — or risk letting the mood of despair ruin attempts to get their World Cup back on track against Samoa. Warning that focusing too much on the Pool A opener will make it harder for the Scots to lift themselves for Monday’s do-or-die clash with the Pacific Islanders in Kobe, Taylor said: ‘We were pretty brutally honest with the review. We said: “That part’s gone, we can’t get it back”. ‘We must make the days we have to prepare for Samoa count. Everybody is disappointed, I’m disappointed, the boys are disappointed. ‘We don’t go into these games not to prepare well. We go out to perform to the best of our abilities. Maybe the occasion got to us, I’m not sure but we’ll do everything in our power to put in a performance the country can be proud of against Samoa. ‘We’ve got to move on. The Ireland game is gone. We’re disappointed with it, but it’s gone. If we dwell on it, it seeps into Samoa. ‘We’re going to do a good job on Samoa. I’m saying that we will — I’ll be disappointed if I’m sitting here in a week’s time and we haven’t.’ There were lots of bold predictions coming from the Scotland camp in the lead-up to their clash with Joe Schmidt’s side. Chief among them was from Taylor, who spoke about the team aiming to ‘smash’ opposition fly-half Johnny Sexton. His words were made to look foolish as Gregor Townsend’s team contributed to their own downfall. And the defence coach stands accused of being in charge of a department which, when it is away from Fortress Murrayfield, is conceding an average of some 30 points a game to tier-one nations. The criticism since last Sunday has not been sparing, but Taylor believes his side can win over their doubters with an improved display at the Misaki Stadium. ‘The criticism was tough to hear,’ admitted the 46-year-old Australian. ‘After losing in France during the warm-up games, we had a good talk and seemed to have turned it around. ‘But we came up against the No 1 side in the world and if you’re not at your best you will come second and that’s unfortunately the way it went. ‘We’ve got Samoa this week and we’ll be looking to put those things right. ‘We’ve got to be more full on than we were at the weekend and be more aggressive.’ Taylor, however, was still at a loss for the reasons behind the abject start in Yokohama that allowed Ireland to score three tries inside 26 minutes. ‘Not sure,’ was his curt reply when asked for an explanation. ‘We can’t put our finger on it. All we can do is move on and make sure the next game is right. ‘Samoa gives us lots of challenges but I’d be hoping the boys would be keen to get up and smash them — we need to do that. ‘If we don’t, then it will be tough. They play with a lot of width, they are big explosive athletes and we’ve got to ensure we get up with our line speed and knock them over.’