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'I feel heartbroken': Second World Cup defeat pains Scotland
By PA
Scotland head coach Bryan Easson said he felt heartbroken after their defeat to Australia left them on the brink of a Rugby World Cup exit. Easson’s side led 12-0 at the break in Whangarei thanks to a score from hooker Lana Skeldon and a penalty try.
But Australia - who finished with 13 players after Ashley Marsters and Adiana Talakai were sent off in the closing stages - scored 14 second-half unanswered points to seal a dramatic victory.
“It was always going to be tough,” Scotland boss Easson told ITV. “We knew the wind was really strong first half and we probably could have done with another few points. We knew Australia were going to pressure us. We had to keep the ball and build phases, but it just wasn’t to be that second half.”
Scotland suffered an 18-15 defeat to Wales in their tournament opener when Keira Bevan kicked an 84th-minute penalty to clinch victory. They now have to beat New Zealand next Saturday to keep alive hopes of staying in the competition.
Easson said: “These guys are so close, it was the same against Wales. They are playing some good rugby. You see the passion that’s in them, the fight that they give. I feel heartbroken for everybody because of the work that they’ve put in.”
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Go to commentsThink we have to accept we have been on the slide for a while now.Still interesting to see the repeated media pieces about the myth of the ABs slipping-I would say slipped past tense.In part don’t we have to give credit for the improvement of other nations particularly Ireland?Isnt that good for the game?Are we beginning to feel the impact of losing the Boks from Super rugby and maybe soon TRC?I would agree we are also ran right now so will be interesting to see how we progress-assuming we do!Isnt that part of sport though to be in improvement mode?Back to the stats though I think the Boks were under 60% leading into 2019?Now with the focus on the RWC does it matter so much what you are doing between tournaments?You just get through your group(remembering the ABs qualified 2nd in 2023)and then you have 3 matches to win the thing.
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