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'We can't go out there and just throw the ball around'
By Online Editors
Sam Johnson insists Scotland must be ready for a fight to the finish against Russia if they are to keep their World Cup quarter-final bid on track.
Gregor Townsend’s men will realistically need to take a bonus point from the Bears in Shizuoka next Wednesday if they are to ensure they go into their final Pool A game with Japan four days later still in the hunt for the last eight.
Lyn Jones’ team – ranked 20th in the world – have been well beaten in each of their three games so far but have battled bravely in just their second appearance on rugby’s biggest stage.
Hosts’ Japan were forced to wait until 12 minutes from time to claim the bonus point as they kicked off the tournament two weeks ago, while Samoa and Ireland were also both deep into the second half before securing their fourth tries.
And Johnson has warned it might take another late show for his side to claim the extras they need.
Asked if the pressure levels had dropped any after the Scots beat Samoa to stave off the threat of a humiliating early exit, the Glasgow centre said: “Not really.
“We know we can’t go out there and just throw the ball around and think we’re going to score four tries in the first 20 minutes.
“Greig Laidlaw has been saying all week that we need to construct these games of rugby. Russia have improved with each game and we treat them with respect.
“It’s probably a game we should be winning but that doesn’t mean we go out there and throw the ball around and expect to win.
“We need to show them the intensity and respect we showed to Samoa and construct a game of rugby. If it takes 75 minutes to get that bonus point then we’ll take it.”
The Russians have shipped 99 points already this tournament and sit rock bottom of the Scots’ group.
But Johnson is concerned that they are about to hit form at the worst possible time for his side.
“They are improving,” said the Australia-born midfielder. “They have kicked the most and in these conditions the kicking game has been a huge aspect.
“It’s been frustrating for me because I’ve hardly touched the ball.
“But they are improving. They are getting fitter. Against Japan and Samoa they started tiring after about 50 minutes but they went all game against Ireland on the weekend.
“Their skill set was improving against Ireland too. They were going wide-wide so we need to treat them with utmost respect.
“But we’ll concentrate on ourselves, show them our physicality and put them under as much pressure as we can.”
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The boy needs to bulk up if wants to play 10 or 11 to handle those hits, otherwise he could always make a brilliant reserve for the wings if he stays away from the stretcher.
Go to commentsIn another recent article I tried to argue for a few key concept changes for EPCR which I think could light the game up in the North.
First, I can't remember who pointed out the obvious elephant in the room (a SA'n poster?), it's a terrible time to play rugby in the NH, and especially your pinnacle tournament. It's been terrible watching with seemingly all the games I wanted to watch being in the dark, hardly able to see what was going on. The Aviva was the only stadium I saw that had lights that could handle the miserable rain. If the global appeal is there, they could do a lot better having day games.
They other primary idea I thuoght would benefit EPCR most, was more content. The Prem could do with it and the Top14 could do with something more important than their own league, so they aren't under so much pressure to sell games. The quality over quantity approach.
Trim it down to two 16 team EPCR competitions, and introduce a third for playing amongst the T2 sides, or the bottom clubs in each league should simply be working on being better during the EPCR.
Champions Cup is made up of league best 15 teams, + 1, the Challenge Cup winner. Without a reason not to, I'd distribute it evenly based on each leauge, dividing into thirds and rounded up, 6 URC 5 Top14 4 English. Each winner (all four) is #1 rank and I'd have a seeding round or two for the other 12 to determine their own brackets for 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. I'd then hold a 6 game pool, home and away, with consecutive of each for those games that involve SA'n teams. Preferrably I'd have a regional thing were all SA'n teams were in the same pool but that's a bit complex for this simple idea.
That pool round further finalises the seeding for knockout round of 16. So #1 pool has essentially duked it out for finals seeding already (better venue planning), and to see who they go up against 16, 15,etc etc. Actually I think I might prefer a single pool round for seeding, and introduce the home and away for Ro16, quarters, and semis (stuffs up venue hire). General idea to produce the most competitive matches possible until the random knockout phase, and fix the random lottery of which two teams get ranked higher after pool play, and also keep the system identical for the Challenge Cup so everthing is succinct. Top T2 side promoted from last year to make 16 in Challenge Cup
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