Dark Blues inspired by fan reaction to Ireland defeat

A video showing the reaction of young Scottish fans to the team’s loss to Ireland at rugby clubs across Scotland “tugged on the heart strings” and was inspiration to the squad in Japan before their restorative victory over Samoa.

The team were shown the video, compiled by the SRU’s social media unit with film from the North Berwick and Broughton clubs and photographs from eight others including Kirkcaldy RFC, on Saturday two days before they played Samoa in Kobe.

The film was part of the union’s initiative “Everyone’s Game” which was aimed at getting fans down to clubs to watch the games in the morning in Scotland, but it turned out to have a secondary use when shown to the entire squad.

“It was just to show the boys all the rugby clubs back home, just to show what it meant to them,” said assistant coach Matt Taylor. “It really showed the boys all the support we have.

“It was a good reminder and tugged on the heartstrings a bit.

“It showed a lot of young kids, and probably a lot of the boys in the national team were thinking that was like them 10-15-20 years ago.

“It was just a reminder that there’s a lot of people pulling for us back home, and how much it means.”

George Horne, likely to start against Russia in the next game, said that it reminded of him of being “down the Howe with all my mates and my mum and dad” when he was a junior at the Cupar club.

“It was nice to know that the supporters are up early in the morning down in the local clubs, it’s tough with the time difference, you can feel isolated from it all from back home,” he said.

“It shows the buzz is not just over here, it’s back home as well.”

Coach Matt Taylor