Scotland ready to restore national pride

Lock Jonny Gray, centre, and full-back Stuart Hogg, right, lead Scotland through a training session at Elland Road stadium in Leeds on September 25, 2015. Bertrand Langlois / AFP

Duncan Hodge is hoping the Scotland rugby side can put a smile back on the face of their nation following disappointment in the world of football.

Assistant coach Hodge and other squad members watched on television in England as the Scottish team saw their footballing compatriots have their hopes of qualifying for Euro 2016 wrecked on Thursday night in a 2-2 draw to Poland thanks to a last-minute equaliser.

The rugby side are in a strong position to restore some national pride on Saturday as victory over Samoa in their final Pool B match will qualify them for the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup.

Hodge said his players can take heed of what happened to the footballers. “It just highlights that little things happen,” he said.

“Things can turn so quickly. We’re aware of that.”

Vern Cotter’s side made an impressive start to the tournament last month as they scored 10 tries and notched up two victories over Japan and the United States.

They were brought back down to earth last weekend as South Africa claimed a 34-16 win, and now they are playing for second spot with the Springboks having already sealed top spot.

If Scotland fail to beat Samoa, that would open the door for Japan to leapfrog them if the Japanese win their final pool game against the United States tomorrow.

“Last week was a minor blip,” full-back Stuart Hogg said. “We tried to take South Africa on at their own game plan and it didn’t really work for us.

“We went away from our game plan and turned it into a strength contest. We should have stuck to our original game plan, which was to try and move their big pack around and keep the ball when we were kicking.”

Samoa’s hopes of clinching a last-eight slot are already finished after back-to-back losses against the South Africans and Japan.

But Hogg is still wary of what the Pacific Islanders could do to their own ambitions.

“The longer these teams stay in a game, the quicker they grow arms and legs,” he said. “You have to shut them down. Every opportunity we get, just keep that scoreboard ticking over.

“We learned a lot from last week and can’t revert back to how Scotland of old used to play.

“We tried to take teams on physically and it didn’t work for us. We’re going back to the way we want to play, and hopefully it’ll get us the win.”

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