Scotland over Pumas heartbreak
Scotland coach Andy Robinson said on Tuesday that his players had put the heartbreak defeat to Argentina to the back of their minds and were targetting an upset win over England to keep alive their World Cup hopes.
The Scots were just seven minutes away from a place in the last eight at Wellington on Sunday leading the Pumas 12-6 when an opportunistic late try from Lucas Gonzalez Amorosino sent them crashing to defeat.
They now must defeat England by more than seven points in Auckland on Saturday, or hope that Argentina are defeated by lowly Georgia the following day and even that would not be enough if they lose to Martin Johnson’s men.
What followed he added was “24 hours to get rid of all our frustrations, emotions and people do it in different ways.”
“But we’ve got through that. Today [Tuesday] is really the first day that we now start focussing on England and there is a real vibrancy about the team.
“Everybody understands that it is still in our control (whether Scotland will progress to the quarterfinals) and we’ve got to go out and put in a top performance Saturday against England.”
Robinson said he knew that even at 12-6 up and time running out against Argentina that Scotland were far from home and dry.
But he said he was surprised at the manner of the winning score, coming as it did with a try, which had looked unlikely all match in the windy, rainy conditions
“I could see us potentially losing the game through penalties that we would give away, or drop goals that Argentina would score because that was the nature of the game,” he said.
“But I thought we were pretty much in control of the game defensively and to concede a try in the manner that we did, was just a bit of a shock. It was to everybody, it was a shock to the system.”
Turning to Saturday’s game at Eden Park, Robinson, who previously coached England, said that he rated them a good side.
“Contrary to what a lot of people write about them they are a quality team. They won the Six Nations and they have got a good blend to the way they play.
“They have conceded but one try in the tournament so far, so they have defended well and they are a well-organised side.”
Robinson said that Scotland could take heart from the way Ireland manhandled England 24-8 in Dublin in the final Six Nations match and his own team’s performance in going down by just 22-16 at Twickenham.
There were also other signs of hope available for the Scots, he said.
“I think you just have to look at what happened after we played the All Blacks last year, where we were comfortably beaten,” he said.
“The following week we beat South Africa and we beat them with a comprehensive performance from everybody.”
AFP
