A stage of the Scotland-England semi-final – from: theguardian.com
Article by Giovanni Manenti
From i Countries of the United Kingdom, Scotland is considered the “poor relation” in the rugby fieldjust think that it is the only one that has not yet won an expanded tournament “Six Nations“since Italy also participated, i.e. since the 2000 edition, despite having won the previous year…
A statement that concludes the last decade of the 20th century which, for the “Brave Hearts” Scots had opened with theirs third, and last so far, “Grand Slam”, obtained in 1990when Scotland, after a debut success in Dublin with a 13-10 win over Ireland, a heavy 21-0 defeat to France on 17 February 1990 atMurrayfield” of Edinburghto then win 13-9 in Cardiff against Wales and then host England on equal points in the standings on 17 March in Edinburgh.
This challenge, which sees the two teams reach the goal once each (Tony Stanger for the hosts, Jerry Guscott for the Squad’s XV), is decided by the precision of the foot, with the Scottish fly-half Craig Chalmers sending the oval between the posts on three occasions against the sole of the English fullback Simon Hodgkinson for the final 13-7 which allows Captain David Sole to lift the Trophy…
This triumph means that Scotland – despite the following year he suffered the ransom of France and England who beat it 15-9 1 21-12 respectively, relegating it to third place – present yourself with renewed enthusiasm at the second edition of the Rugby World Cuporganized jointly by the five countries that make up the “Five Nations Tournament” and scheduled from 3 October to 2 November 1991.
Four years earlier, on the occasion of the inaugural edition of this event held in the southern hemisphere between Australia and New Zealand, the Scotland had not performed badly, finishing on a par with France at the top of Group D having beaten Zimbabwe 60-21 and Romania 55-28, as well as finishing the direct clash at 20-20 with the Transalpines, who however go to first place having, in that match, scored three tries against the two Scots…
This circumstance means that in the quarter-final matches, the Highlands XV have to contend with the favorite New Zealand on their ground in Christchurch and the outcome is merciless, with theAll Blacks” to win 30-3and the only Scottish points consisted of a placed goal by fullback Gavin Hastings, while France, favorites on the scoreboard, even reached the Final only to be defeated 29-9 by the New Zealanders.
For the 1991 World Championships, still structured with 16 teams – and South Africa is always absent due to the ban on international activity due to the apartheid regime in force in the country – the formula is identical, with the same divided into four elimination rounds with the top two qualifying for the direct elimination phase with first-against-second pairings…
Inserted in Group 2, Scotland finds Zimbabwe again, together with Japan and Ireland, against whom they won narrowly (28-25) in the middle of last March as part of the “Five Nations”, a challenge which is however scheduled for the last day.
And, as predicted, both teams arrive with full points, with the Scots who beat Japan 47-9, scoring goals 7 times with as many different playersand therefore had the better (51-12) over the Africans, in a match where the protagonists are the winger Iwan Tukalo, author of three triesand the extreme, as well as Captain, Peter Dods, who scores 12 points, the result of two placed socks and three transformations of the 8 goals scored…
For its part, Ireland are certainly no exception, given that they beat Zimbabwe 55-12, with the third row center Brian Robinson on their shields, author of 4 of the 8 tries scoredin addition to fly-half Ralph Keyes, who scored 17 points, the result of 5 finishes and 4 conversions, and then prevail 32-16 over the Asians, with two tries from Noel Mannion and 16 points fromusual” Keyes.
The decision on the assignment of first place in the Group – more important than ever, since determines the pairing in the quarter-finals with Western Samoa, who sensationally eliminate Wales who ranked third four years earlier – is decided by the challenge that takes place on 12 October 1991 at “Murrayfield” of Edinburgh, with Scotland therefore trying to take advantage of the home advantagea commitment completed victoriously by reversing in the second half a result which at half-time saw the Trifoglio XV ahead 12-9…
This time the polite foot of Keyes (author of all 15 Irish points) can do nothing to stem the two tries scored by scrum half Gary Armstrong and outside center Graham Shielsubstituted in the second half of the game, both converted by Gavin Hastings, with contributing to the final 24-15 – remember that at the time the goal was still only worth 4 points, otherwise the margin would have been wider – three placed hits by Hastings and a drop in Chalmers.
The aforementioned elimination of Wales represents the only significant surprise of the qualifiers, and vice versa New Zealand and England to emerge from Group 1, Australia e Western Samoa from Group 3 e France and Canada from Group 4, for the consequent quarter-final pairings New Zealand-Canada, France-England, Scotland-Western Samoa andd Australia-Ireland …
The opportunity offered by the scoreboard deserves to be exploited to the fullest by coach Ian McGeechan’s team, together with the fact that they still have the friendly ground of “Murrayfield” and Scotland doesn’t miss the opportunity, with Mathew Vaea’s successful finish at the start of the match represented a very brief illusion for the Samoansgiven that, after Gavin Hastings’ equaliser, they conceded at the end of the half the tries by Tony Stanger and John Jeffrey which set the score at 13-3 which was then extended in the second half to 28-6 final, with Jeffrey still scoring and Hastings contributing 16 total points.
As expected, iCanada has little chance with the reigning champions New Zealand, who prevail 29-13 after leading 29-3 midway through the second half, while Ireland is about to accomplish a sensational feat when a try by Gordon Hamilton 5′ from the siren and converted by Keyes (author of 14 points…) sees them ahead 18-15, before on the last action of the match Michael Lynagh scores to give Australia a 19-18 victory and semi-final against the All Blacks…
For Scotland, on the other hand, the semi-final sees them opposed to winner of the traditional match between England and France – match that in mid-March, during the “Five Nations“, had seen the whites of Albion prevail by a measure (21-19) – with this time, however, the scene of the match being “Princes Park” of Paris, even though the outcome is the same, i.e. with the English success with a 19-10 which should not be misleadingas the score takes on such dimensions only in the final minutes, first with a successful goal by fullback Jonathan Webb and then, right at the end, with William Carling’s goal transformed by Webb himself.
With the two hemispheres (northern and southern) designating one finalist each, they are the first to take to the field to revive a historic rivalry. Scotland and England, on 26 October 1991 again in Edinburgh, for an extremely balanced and hard-fought matcheven if it lacks great ideas for the game, but which turns into a joke for the hosts, given that two Gavin Hastings finishes had amassed a 6-0 margin just before half an hour of play…
Shortly afterwards Webb put the English back in the game and also scored from a free kick, only to then be the one to bring the match back to an equal footing (6-6) in the 56th minute, before being decisive, not finding their respective attacks outlets towards the opponent’s goal line, the drop by Rob Andrew 10′ from the siren which turns off every “Gloria’s dream” on the Scottish side.
Little consolation that England was then defeated 12-6 in the Final by Australia – which in turn won 16-6 in the southern semi-final derby over the All Blacks – while the Scotland, now demotivated, also lost against New Zealand (6-13) in the valid match for the assignment of third place…
From then on, in the following eight editions of the World Cup played so far, Scotland has no longer managed to reach the semi-finalsa circumstance which, even more so, only increases the bitterness for “what could have been and wasn’t…” …
2024-05-23 18:26:15
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