IT’S ALL TO PLAY FOR
Battered Scots aim to keep Cup hopes alive
SCOTLAND were made to suffer in a brutal battle with South Africa in Newcastle yesterday — but their World Cup fate very much remains in their own hands.
Head coach Vern Cotter will take stock of his battered troops today after the 34-16 defeat at St James’ Park, with Stuart Hogg the biggest injury concern for the head coach.
The full-back limped off in the second half of what was a ferocious encounter and will now be monitored ahead of next weekend’s crucial encounter against Samoa.
If the Scots win that game, they will have booked their place in the quarter-finals at the second time of asking and lessons will have been learned from yesterday’s defeat to one of the tournament favourites.
Afterwards, Cotter said: ‘We have seven days, which we haven’t had up until now, to look at the game.
‘We haven’t been able to train much — we have
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been basically in recovery mode between these first three games.
‘So we’ll be able to have a full week to set up and prepare for the game (against Samoa). It’s not about points any more, it’s a simple win-or-lose calculation to make.’
Scotland captain Greig Laidlaw added: ‘We were disappointed with our performance. It was a poor first half and probably wasn’t a great second half either. We just didn’t really get out of the blocks and paid the price for it.
‘We knew (the South African physicality) was coming, we just didn’t stop it. We were letting them get that momentum we spoke about. Once they did that, it was a nightmare to try to attack.
‘That was all nonsense (about Scotland fielding a weakened side) before the game. We’re just disappointed with our performance.’