State of the Nation: Scotland flatter to deceive yet again at a Rugby World Cup

David Skippers
Scotland SON image RWC 2023.jpg

Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend and winger Darcy Graham

Now that the dust has settled on another memorable Rugby World Cup, we bring your our State of the Nations pieces, kicking off with Gregor Townsend’s Scotland.

Scotland’s players, coaching staff and supporters will not look back on their Rugby World Cup campaign with much fondness as for the second successive time at the global showpiece they failed to advance to the competition’s knockout rounds.

Townsend and his troops were drawn into the tournament’s so-called pool of death alongside defending champions South Africa, Six Nations Grand Slam winners Ireland, Tonga and Romania and the success of their campaign would depend largely on how they fared against the first two of the aforementioned opponents.

And while Scotland did well to claim bonus-point victories against the two lesser nations, their inability to stand their ground against the Springboks and the men from the Emerald Isle led to their undoing and ultimately another unsuccessful campaign.

Tournament summary

Scotland came into the World Cup in a confident mood after doing well in their warm-up encounters and they were seen as being a potential banana skin for the Springboks in the World Cup’s Pool B opener in Marseille.

Although the Scots delivered a brave performance during the opening exchanges and did well to trail the Springboks by just three points at half-time – 6-3 – they went off the rails in the second half as the Boks’ forwards took control of proceedings during that period and the defending champions eventually had too much firepower for the Scots and handed them an 18-3 defeat.

As expected, Scotland got their campaign on track in their next match against Tonga and Townsend’s charges made a statement of intent as they brushed the Pacific Islanders in a 45-17 victory. The likes of chief playmaker Finn Russell led the charge with a superb attacking display and he received good support from the likes of Sione Tuipulotu in that department as the Scots crossed for seven tries.

If truth be told, there were some errors in Scotland’s play but Townsend would have been happy with their overall display as their defence, attack, set-piece and breakdown work all looked solid on the day and put them in a confident mood as they approached their next match against unfancied Romania.

Like their clash against Tonga, Scotland were the dominant side as they cruised to a comfortable 84-0 triumph in Lille in a match which summed up the vast difference difference in quality between rugby’s tier one nations and the game’s minnows.

Darcy Graham stole the show as he crossed for four of his team’s 12 tries, while Ben Healy also impressed with a 27-point haul on his World Cup debut, and that result gave Scotland plenty of confidence as they prepared to take on their Six Nations rivals Ireland.

The clash with the Irish was a highly anticipated encounter but Scotland failed to live up to the pre-match hype as they came off second best in most facets of play and eventually suffered a 36-14 loss.

Although Scotland’s attacking style of play had caught the eye in the build-up to the tournament, like their clash against the Springboks, they could not break down Ireland’s impenetrable defence for most of the match. In the end, that defeat proved costly as – like Japan in 2019 – it meant Scotland would once again bow out from the World Cup ahead of the play-offs.

Standout players

Once again, Scotland relied heavily on star fly-half Finn Russell and although he was kept in check in the defeats to South Africa and Ireland, he had some good moments in both those matches and showed his class in the victory over Tonga when he caught the eye with his excellent playmaking skills and a solid goal-kicking display.

However, the player who was arguably Scotland’s best player was Edinburgh wing Darcy Graham, who proved a handful to most defences which Scotland came up against. Despite having few attacking opportunities against the Boks and Ireland, he gained some valuable metres on attack in both those games and he shone with ball in hand against Tonga and Romania. Graham scored a try and gained 91 metres against Tonga and had his best performance of the tournament against the Oaks when he scored four tries and finished with a whopping 213 metres gained.

Another player who put his hand up in France is young back-row Rory Darge, who started three of their four matches – against South Africa, Tonga and Ireland – and came off the replacements bench against Romania. Darge caught the eye with excellent defensive displays while his breakdown work was also of a high standard. He has already overtaken British and Irish Lion Hamish Watson as Scotland’s first choice openside flanker and if he continues on his current upward trajectory, he is sure to play for his country for many years to come.

Statistic leaders

Graham finished in joint-third place in the try-scoring charts – along with five other players – with five tries from the four matches he played in while Chris Harris made the seventh most offloads in the competition (7) and Healy is in eighth spot for the number of successful conversions (11), which is a remarkable achievement as he slotted all those kicks in one match – against Romania.

Overall, Scotland finished eight for points amassed (146) at the World Cup while they are in fifth place for the number of tries scored (21) and the number of conversions kicked (19). The Scots also made the second most offloads (55) – just three adrift of New Zealand – and are in third spot for clean breaks made (45) with only the All Blacks and France sitting above them in that category.

Success story

Under the guidance of head coach Townsend, Scotland’s attack has looked dangerous but there was little evidence of that in those key matches against South Africa and Ireland. They looked dangerous with ball in hand against lesser sides like Tonga and Romania and what was encouraging in the match against the Oaks was the performance of Healy. Although, it was against one of the weaker sides in the tournament, Healy gave a good account of himself as he impressed with excellent game management and finished with a 27-point contribution courtesy of a try and 11 conversions. At 24 years of age, he also looks like Russell’s heir as Scotland’s next Test fly-half.

Main regret

While they were under the cosh from the outset in that crunch encounter against Ireland, they were put under extra pressure when they lost the services of full-back Blair Kinghorn as well as captain and back-row Jamie Ritchie during the early stages of that match.

Kinghorn left the pitch as early as the eighth minute for a HIA never to return while Ritchie was forced off the field with an arm injury midway through the opening half. Both Kinghorn and Ritchie had talked up Scotland’s chances in the build-up to the match and the duo were at the forefront of their country’s charge but due to their early departures, they had little impact on the end result.

While both injuries were major setbacks, the loss of Kinghorn was keenly felt as Townsend had opted for a six-two split between forwards and backs on the bench and that proved costly in the bigger scheme of things.

Results

Scotland v South Africa (lost 3-18)
Scotland v Tonga (won 45-17)
Scotland v Romania (won 84-0)
Scotland v Ireland (lost 14-36)

READ MORE: 11 critical stats from the Springboks’ record fourth Rugby World Cup title

Features Darcy Graham Finn Russell Gregor Townsend Rory Darge

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