These were unknown agonies for Scotland and their supporters after a heartbreaking end to a staggering match. The Scots, who finished last in the Six Nations seven months back, were 90 seconds away from victory over an Australian side who had won the Rugby Championship, had just beaten England and Wales and are reckoned by many to be one of the favourites to win the tournament. No one, not even the most foolishly optimistic of their fans, expected Scotland to win this match. As their prop Alasdair Dickinson put it earlier in the week, “If you look at it, who would think we have a chance? That’s just the way it is. I wouldn’t say anybody is going to say that Scotland are going to win.”
All of which made it the crueller that they were beaten, in the end, by a penalty awarded in the most controversial circumstances. Credit to Bernard Foley, who stepped up, coolly, without doubt or hesitation, and kicked it to put Australia through.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2015/oct/19/scotland-react-rugby-world-cup-quarter-final-defeat-to-australia-video
Suffice to say that as soon as Craig Joubert had blown the final whistle he scarpered from the pitch to the safety of the stands, his escape made to a soundtrack of furious booing from thousands of furious Scottish fans. Joubert allowed Foley the opportunity to win the match after he made an offside call in the scramble under a high-ball. He did it on his own, without talking to the TMO, Ben Skeen.
The Scottish captain, Greig Laidlaw, who like many of his team-mates, had played the game of his life, called Joubert out as soon as the game was over. “They go to the TMO for everything else. Why not for that?”
The answer was that Laws did not allow Joubert to, since there was no suggestion of foul play and no one was in the act of scoring. But Skeen’s radio silence in that moment certainly made for the most uncomfortable contrast with another crucial incident at the start of the half, when Sean Maitland was given a yellow card for making a deliberate knock-on. Maitland stretched out his hand to grab at a pass thrown by Foley; Joubert saw it and rightly decided that Maitland had made a genuine attempt to catch the ball. Skeen then intervened. He told Joubert that he wanted to review the footage. Seen in slow-motion, it looked a lot worse than it had done in real time. Skeen suggested Maitland should be sent to the sin-bin.
Maitland, open-mouthed in shock, swallowed his anger and stalked off. Australia immediately scored, Drew Mitchell crossing in the very corner Maitland had just vacated. If Maitland had caught the ball – and he clearly tried to – he would, as his coach, Vern Cotter, pointed out, have been away and may well have scored. The sorriest thing is that the anger provoked by Joubert’s decisions and the debate they caused cast such a shadow in the aftermath of this marvellous match.
Many hours before it all, a Scottish couple were spotted making their way to Twickenham. The man was wearing a backpack, top zip tugged open to make room for the bits of bagpipe he had stashed inside. Bagpipes, of course, have been banned by the tournament organisers. “I’m hoping I can smuggle it in.” Fifty minutes in, Twickenham sounding so loud now that one could hardly hear what one’s neighbour was saying, a set of bagpipes began to play, echoing all around from somewhere over in the West stand. Perhaps it was his, though he was surely not the only one to have had the idea. It seemed to sum it all up. The Scots did not give a damn. They had come to play.
It was obvious in in the first five minutes, when they twice tried to run the ball out from their own try-line. At the time it looked folly, since Australia were coming on in waves, phase after phase, and took the lead with a fine try from Adam Ashley-Cooper. After that the game became a blur. It unfolded almost too fast too follow. Snapshots stand out: the try by Peter Horne, which first sparked Scottish hopes, a startling score as he shot straight through between Scott Sio and Rob Simmons, the gap as wide as a fat prop’s backside and many times more inviting; and soon after a scrum penalty, one of many. Scotland’s front row bullied their Australian opposites through the match, getting the better of pack that has battered every other they’ve had to scrum against.
Then there was Finn Russell, charging down Foley’s chip and sending through Tommy Seymour with a superb off-load. For Australia there was Kurtley Beale, brilliant up in the line as a second play-maker, and Matt Giteau, in his 100th match, passing to and fro, running the show; then Simmons’ superb steal at a Scottish lineout to set up what looked a match-winning try by Tevita Kuridrani.
And then came the final Scottish comeback, in torrential rain, as Mark Bennett broke through the line after latching on to an interception. All too much to take in. The anger will fade, in the end but those blurry memories of this brilliant game will linger on much longer.
