MAGIC BOND BUT WE’RE MISSING A TRICK
Toony’s group of pals must get ruthless sharpish
ARGENTINA ..... 34 SCOTLAND ..... 31
THAT old saying about nice guys coming last jumped to mind when watching Scotland blow a 15-point lead against Argentina in Santiago del Estero on Saturday night.
Gregor Townsend was at pains to stress how much the team had bonded and what a jolly fine bunch of individuals they are.
The series was lost 2-1 as the head coach said: “What we’ve created here, we’ve got to make sure we save that in our minds.
“I’m so proud of how the players have come together and grown as a group. They’ve represented their country outstandingly well off the field over here.
“And they’ve shown on the field they really care for each other with the way they defended their line in the second Test and the way they put their bodies on the line today.”
That would be great if Scotland were off on a camping expedition or taking part in a reality TV contest in September next year.
But they are going to a World Cup and the evidence from this summer is Townsend and his team are way off the pace in terms of being prepared for that challenge.
Don’t forget, Scotland have been drawn in the pool of death for France. They are up against Ireland, who achieved a historic first series win in New Zealand this last month, as well as world champions South Africa, who put Wales to the sword on Saturday afternoon.
Those two teams, along with France, are setting the bar on the international stage and it is way beyond Scotland’s reach.
It will be a major achievement if Scotland manage to keep the score respectable against those two sides, let alone manage to avoid the ignominy of being dumped out of the tournament at the end of the pool stage.
To hear Townsend wax lyrical about camaraderie is tough to take – you suspect a bit more niggle in the squad might help reduce the number of silly errors that continue to hurt the team.
You’ll never see Johnny Sexton shrug his shoulders and say “them’s the breaks” if one of his Ireland team-mates kicked the ball out on the full to hand the
Townsend spoke during the Six Nations about compounding errors with more errors – that’s what we got again
opposition an attacking lineout at a key moment in the game.
Neither would Springbok captain Siya Kolisi pretend that continually failing to gather restarts immediately after scoring is “just one of those things”.
There is a nasty edge about top teams in world rugby. This Scotland side are pussycats in comparison.
That’s not to say they’re soft – you wouldn’t last a second in international rugby without guts.
But there is a distinct lack of ruthlessness, as we saw when they conceded a soft obstruction penalty at the restart straight after
Ewan Ashman’s try put them 15 points ahead.
That handed the Pumas a route straight back into the game, with substitute prop Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro scoring with his first touch just three minutes later.
In fairness, Scotland initially responded well by carrying hard to earn a kickable penalty Blair Kinghorn turned into three points.
But they messed up the restart again, with Rufus McLean catching the ball as it floated out on the full and ended up giving Argentina an attacking lineout inside Scotland’s 22.
Guess what? It again took Argentina just three minutes to score their third try and it was back to a four-point game. Their tails were up but Scotland managed to survive the next six minutes then had a chance to restore their lead to seven points when they earned a kickable penalty.
But they decided – incredibly – to kick to the corner this time and it came to nothing.
It was a golden opportunity for Scotland to recapture initiative but instead they handed their opponents a psychological boost.
With six minutes to go, Ali Price sent a clearance out on the full, handing Argentina yet another chance just outside Scotland’s 22.
And Scotland paid the price when Emiliano Boffelli went over for the winning try in injury time.
Townsend spoke during the last Six Nations about compounding errors with more errors and that’s what we got, yet again.
Scotland are stuck in a rut and won’t escape until they face up to some awkward truths and begin to demand more from each other.