Gilchrist out to make up for his 2015 heartbreak
AS Grant Gilchrist approaches what he hopes will be his second Rugby World Cup, one emotion driving him on is a sense of unfinished business from the last one.
That was when he put himself though all kinds of pain and misery, after a broken arm failed to set properly, to make sure he was fit for the tournament, only to pull a groin muscle 18 minutes into the second match and be forced out of the rest of the competition.
“I don’t tend to look on it too much as a negative, but obviously it was a disappointment at the time,” Gilchrist recalls now. “It was still a big highlight getting to go and play in the first two games when I look back on it, despite the obvious disappointment.
“I would really love to get back there put get more of my game out there at a World Cup than I could in a game and a half.
“Playing in the World Cup is the pinnacle of rugby and I don’t think it gets much better than representing Scotland at one – making sure you are selected, getting the opportunity to do something special on the world stage. That’s what we are aiming to do.
“I’m working hard and I think the difference [from four years ago] is that I’ve had a good couple of years and I feel confident in my own game and the improvements I can make through the pre-season.
“I know I am in better shape than I was coming [in to the camp], on the back of what was a pretty good season for me personally. To make more improvements and put my foot forward for selection is all I’m thinking about at this stage.”
The last few months have been a huge contrast when compared to the build-up to the tournament in England when he had hardly played since breaking his arm playing for Edinburgh three days after being named as Scotland captain for the 2014 Autumn Series.
The problem was that the bones didn’t knit properly, so the arm had to be rebroken and a plate inserted. He did not play again until the warm-up Tests, where he still did enough to be selected ahead of Richie Gray for the opening game against Japan and was retained in the starting XV for the second match against the USA, where he injured himself.
This time, he arrived in the training camp when it started back in June in prime form after a strong season with Edinburgh that ended with him and Ben Toolis, his club partner, winning the Scotland starting spots during the Six Nations.
It puts him in a strong position when it comes to selection. With Richie Gray, who was injured in the spring failing to make the training squad, all the players in contention for the World Cup were also in contention during the Six Nations. It’s unlikely the pecking order will change much. That ought to give Gilchrist a lot of confidence. Not only was he the only one to start every game, but he played the full 80 minutes in the first four matches, getting his only rest late in the game at Twickenham.
Now, like most of his colleagues, he has had enough of training and is desperate to test that extra fitness by actually playing a proper game.
“I really want to play, you could feel it in the sessions, it has become more physical and the intensity is right up there,” he said.
“Boys are just itching to go out and play. We’ve done a lot of prep and you can see all the parts of our game starting to come together. Everybody looks in good shape and we want to get out there and get our first real hitout to see how our systems are.”
As one of the big forwards whose fitness will be tested to the limit by the hot, humid conditions in Japan, he is grateful for the chance to experience something similar in the warmup matches. You’d expect both in Nice, where next Saturday’s game against France is to be played, and Tbilisi, where they play Georgia a fortnight later, will replicate that kind of weather as closely as is possible within Europe.
For Gilchrist, Japan will not be entirely a step into the unknown. He played as a junior when the Under-20 World Cup was held there, but that was a decade ago and he missed the more recent trip in 2016.
“We’ve done a lot of work on heat and acclimatisation,” he pointed out. “There have been a lot of hot baths, saunas, all the way through the training, pretty much from day one.
“Obviously, it is kind of ramping up in contact and team shape. We finished off well – that was another good week in the bag.” EDDIE JONES celebrated a successful start to England’s World Cup preparations before launching an attack on World Rugby over inconsistency among match officials.
Potential quarter-final opponents Wales were dispatched 33-19 to end their 14-Test winning run and prevent Warren Gatland’s Grand Slam champions from claiming top spot in the global rankings.
Following an impressive result from an experimental side delivered just hours before England’s World Cup squad is named, Jones turned on Sunday’s referee at Twickenham, Mathieu Raynal.
The talking point was provided by the red card shown to New Zealand’s Scott Barrett for a shoulder charge to the head of Michael Hooper against Australia on Saturday - a dismissal Jones described as “ridiculous”.
When asked about England debutant Willi Heinz, Jones said: “Willi’s a good, mature player. I thought there was an issue with the referee.
“We saw a red card [on Saturday] which affected the game. I thought it was ridiculous. A bloke gets tackled, he goes to be second man in and his shoulder hits his head and he gets a red card. We can’t have that in the game.
“There has to be some common sense applied, but maybe common sense was applied [on Sunday] really well. But what I’m saying is that we need to have some consistency and common sense. I think it’s really important for the game.
“In the World Cup if you lose a player through a red card as New Zealand did [on Saturday], it makes the game very difficult. I thought we saw two instances (on Sunday) where that could have happened.
“I urge World Rugby, although I don’t think they do anything at great pace, to get some consistency in that area.”
Playing in the World Cup is the pinnacle of rugby and I don’t think it gets much better than representing Scotland at one