ANDY NICOL EXCLUSIVE
ALMOST a week later and the pain still hurts after Scotland came so agonisingly close to reaching the semi- f i nals of the Rugby World Cup.
We’ve only reached that stage once before, in 1991, and you never know, it might be another 24 years until we have another chance like last Sunday’s.
Scotland will be haunted by that line- out for a long time. Win that line-out and it would be us who are playing Argentina tomorrow — not the Wallabies.
The margins between winning and losing can be summed up by that line- out. The throw from Fraser Brown was an inch away from being perfect. An inch lower and David Denton would have caught the ball cleanly rather than deflect it to the ground — and we know what chaos that caused.
Sir Ian McGeechan always talked about rugby being a game of inches. If you can gain an inch in the scrum, in the tackle, getting across the gain line; the inches all add up and make it easier to play. If that throw had been an inch lower, we win the game. There has never been a better — nor a more painful — example of Geech’s theory being played out.
Scotland had a chance to control that line-out and didn’t — but they had no control over what happened next with the decision-making of the referee.
My issue with Craig Joubert is that a penalty should only ever be awarded if the referee is certain that an offence has been committed. There was no way Joubert could have been certain.
We’ve all looked at the fateful incident many times on TV and it’s still not crystal clear who had the final touch and whether or not it was intentional.
My initial reaction was that Joubert should have awarded a scrum, and this was proved correct when World Rugby confirmed he had made a mistake and should not have given the penalty.
This was an incredible turn of events. Referees have made many wrong decisions at this tournament, but only Joubert has been publicly criticised by World Rugby.
It was a huge decision he made but I do feel sorry for him in the sense that he has received no support from his governing body.
Referees have a tough job in the face of almost constant criticism. One team will love the ref, the other will hate him based on what happened in the game. It can be such a fickle relationship.
I have met Craig Joubert on a number of occasions and he’s a good man and a good referee. He made a bad call — but he made an even worse decision by sprinting off the pitch at full-time.
On my first day at Panmure Mini Rugby Club in Dundee, when I was six years old, we were taught to r espect t he r ef eree and t he opposition.
This meant, irrespective of what had happened in the game, you shook everyone’s hand at the final whistle. I did this in every single game for the following 26 years, even when I was livid about something.
Joubert did the game of rugby a huge disservice by running off the way he did.
He claims he was worried about what might happen as emotions were so high. Nothing would have happened because all the players would have had the same values instilled in them as I had and would have respected his decision as much as they didn’t agree with it.
But that’s history now. The future is this weekend and a southern hemisphere shoot-out in the semis.
New Zealand and South Africa continue their rivalry in the first semi-final today, while the Aussies face one of the real stories of this World Cup — Argentina. The Pumas have been most impressive, especially in the backs where they have produced some wonderful rugby, and fully deserve their place among the last four.
If the All Blacks produce anything l i ke their performance against France last week, they will beat the Springboks by at least 20 points.
They played some of the best attacking rugby I’ve ever seen and are, by far, the best team left in the competition.
I’m torn over the other semi. My gut feeling is the Wallabies will have received such a boost after the scare against Scotland that they will just have too much for the Pumas.
But we’ll all be watching the game tomorrow thinking: ‘What if?’
Players would have respected him if he hadn’t sprinted off