A Braveheart Performance
This is perhaps the best way to describe Scotlands victory against England yesterday.
It certainly wasn't the most open flowing game of rugby you will see, but with the English pack being so much bigger, and looking for a grand slam, the pressure was on them to peform - which is something they singularly failed to do.
From Scotlands point of view, this is probably one of the greatest ever defensive performances any team has ever put in. There were a huge number of huge tackles, with relatively few penalties conceded in the process.
For a number of years, England have been devoid of any invention in attack, but the sheer brute strength of their pack has dominated teams. This game back to haunt them yesterday.
The English challenge is now what they do about the World Cup next year. Is this result just a hiccup, or does it demonstrate that there are some critical failings in their tactics which will require some major surgery to amend.
And for Scotland, well going from being a team that couldn't win anything six months ago, to convincingly beating two of the worlds best, things are certainly looking up. The defence is awesome, which is a very strong platform from which to build. Perhaps the World Cup next year may hold a little hope afterall.
It certainly wasn't the most open flowing game of rugby you will see, but with the English pack being so much bigger, and looking for a grand slam, the pressure was on them to peform - which is something they singularly failed to do.
From Scotlands point of view, this is probably one of the greatest ever defensive performances any team has ever put in. There were a huge number of huge tackles, with relatively few penalties conceded in the process.
For a number of years, England have been devoid of any invention in attack, but the sheer brute strength of their pack has dominated teams. This game back to haunt them yesterday.
The English challenge is now what they do about the World Cup next year. Is this result just a hiccup, or does it demonstrate that there are some critical failings in their tactics which will require some major surgery to amend.
And for Scotland, well going from being a team that couldn't win anything six months ago, to convincingly beating two of the worlds best, things are certainly looking up. The defence is awesome, which is a very strong platform from which to build. Perhaps the World Cup next year may hold a little hope afterall.
posted by pegj at 9:55 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home