I am devastated my mistake cost us, says Scotland captain
So near, yet once again so far. For 70 minutes, Scotland looked like they might just prevail in a titanic, errorstrewn arm-wrestle played in the worst conditions witnessed at Murrayfield since Scotland’s 2000 Calcutta Cup win in lashing rain.
And then, with 10 minutes to go, they self-combusted again. It was 3-3 but Scotland were on top, with 60 per cent of possession and 68 per cent of territory. Playing with real determination and verve, they were camped in
England’s half and pressing for the winning score. And then it happened.
Stuart Hogg’s second “brainfart” in as many matches on a rare England foray into Scotland’s 22 decided this game. In fumbling the ball, the Scotland captain gave away a five-metre scrum, from which Ellis Genge powered over. That was game over.
“I’m devastated, again,” Hogg said. “Unfortunately, the ball just didn’t sit up and was tough to take. I put the boys under a wee bit of pressure and we didn’t manage to get out of it. I’ll take that on the chin. I’m not going to shy away from it, I made a mistake and these things cost us. We’re hurting now, but we’ll have to put these costly errors right for Italy in a couple of weeks’ time.”
Gregor Townsend did his best to defend his captain, suggesting that the real turning point in the game was Kyle Sinckler, who was off his feet at the time, getting away with stripping the ball from Jonny Gray on the England line. Nice try, but no cigar. While Hogg’s error in Dublin was not terminal, Genge’s try certainly was.
But if Hogg was the most glaring offender, he was by no means the only one. Once again his profligacy encapsulated Scotland’s performance, as it did in Dublin. The conditions may have been dire – “this was not a normal game of rugby” said Townsend – but it is nevertheless true that silly errors sunk Scotland for the second match in succession.
It had all started so well, with Sam Johnson smashing Jonny May straight from the kick-off. Yet that first Scotland attack foundered when they were penalised at a ruck in the England 22, an error compounded at the resulting line-out when Rory Sutherland was pinged for closing the gap. From an attacking position in England’s 22, within seconds Scotland found themselves defending a line-out in their own 22.
Nor was that an isolated example, with a litany of errors derailing Scotland’s momentum and ceding possession at crucial times. Early in the first half Scott Cummings was pinged twice within two minutes, first for not rolling away and then for offside. Then Scotland were penalised for engaging too early at the scrum. On and on it went.
The conditions were unhelpful, contributing to a miserable line-out performance which saw Scotland lose four of their five throws in the first half. Storm Ciara also pushed up Scotland’s error count and made it difficult to score despite spending so long in England’s 22. But it did not affect Scotland’s decision-making.
Where England kicked for goal at every opportunity, Scotland passed up two chances to kick for goal before the break, going for touch and making a hash of it both times. It is not difficult to imagine Townsend’s verdict on that given that, in the second half, Adam Hastings did not hesitate to kick their first chance, bringing the scores level.
If Scotland fell short in key areas, Townsend has a point when he said that Scotland were edged out last week by a side which has lost once at home in five years, and this week to the World Cup finalists. Yet losing can become a habit, and Townsend knows that failing in Rome in a fortnight is now unconscionable.
“The players are hurting, but we have played two good teams in the last two weeks, and this game could have gone either way,” he said. “I thought the players were outstanding to get the score back to 3-3, as was the way they adapted to those conditions in the second half. But when we go to Rome we need to find a way of winning.”
He is right of course. Last week was encouraging, this week they were stymied by the weather and Hogg’s mistake. But if Scotland find a way to lose in Rome, especially if he has got Finn Russell back on board, as he indicated he might, then patience is going to start wearing seriously thin.