Alarm bells for Boks as Scotland peak
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Scotland are peaking at the right time which is a major alarm bell for their heavyweight World Cup pool stage contenders, Ireland and South Africa.
Scotland backed up last weekend’s 25-21 victory over France in Murrayfield with another impressive performance on Saturday. ‘
While last weekend’s display may not have raised a few eyebrows, Saturday’s narrow 27-30 defeat against a star-studded Les Blues side at Saint-Etienne has certainly placed them on the list of World Cup wild cards.
France fielded an almost full-strength team with Romain Ntamack partnering captain Antoine Dupont at halfback, while Charles Ollivon donned the No.8 jersey.
#SPOTLIGHT: They wouldn’t want to lose those players 👇#France #Scotland #FRAvSCO #RWC2023 https://t.co/15iPSOuRuC
— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) August 13, 2023
However, Scotland, captained by Finn Russell and featuring South Africans Duhan van der Merwe, Kyle Steyn, WP Nel and Pierre Schoeman, were incredible.
Trialling 10-27 early in the second half, Gregor Townsend’s men staged a fightback and tries from Van der Merwe, Rory Darge and Steyn levelled the scores with less than 10 minutes on the clock.
“It’s a very weird one,” Scotland wing Steyn said in the wake of the match.
“I do feel positive about the fact that we came here [ at Saint-Etienne] and competed against a really good French team until the last minute.
“But at the same time gutted that we couldn’t get it over the line.”
#ICYMI: It is not easy to tell assistant coaches to continually chop and change teams when they stand to lose 40 percent of their income when things go awry. 👇#RWC2023 #SouthAfrica #Springboks https://t.co/UutHpcf24Y
— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) August 14, 2023
Many pundits have already predicted a group exit for the Scotts, however, Steyn revealed the performance gives them confidence and belief ahead of the World Cup.
“The start of the second half was a little tricky, letting in two soft tries, but the boys stuck together and fought back.
“We got ourselves back into the game by playing a brand of rugby that we really proud of.
“I think there a lot to take from that and a lot of belief heading into the World Cup.”
Scotland have one warm-up game against Georgia at Murrayfield before their open their World Cup campaign against the Springboks on September 10 at Stade Velodrome in Marseille.
🗣 Two-try Kyle Steyn gave us his thoughts following the conclusion of our clash in Saint-Étienne.#AsOne pic.twitter.com/3PMm7GPeJh
— Scottish Rugby (@Scotlandteam) August 13, 2023
