When Scotland failed to emerge from the group stage of a rugby World Cup hosted by Japan in 2019 – only the second time that had occurred – disappointment was almost tangible.
But now it is being claimed that things were arguably much, much worse with a recently retired squad member claiming that :
- *Things turned “toxic”
- * Key player Finn Russell was effectively being manipulated to the detriment of his playing ability.
- * Some colleagues wanted to come home early.
- *Before even the outward bound flight there was a split among players.
All this is set against a background of mid-tournament furore with Murrayfield authorities fined £70,000 for comments, deemed by many as insensitive. They argued that even a typhoon that was to cost 90 local lives should not be allowed to get in the way of a rugby match that might have to be cancelled with a 0-0 draw awarded as per tournament rules, and which would be enough to eliminate the Scots and push Japan through.
Comments made and subsequently apologised for caused a divergence of opinion inside and out of Scottish rugby’s inner circles although ultimately the match in Yokohama was played with Japan beating Scotland 28-21.
The suggestions come in an article published this week in the largely Anglophobic weekly “Rugby Paper” during which 34 times capped Scotland prop and British and Irish Lion, Allan Dell, is interviewed for a feature headlined “My Life in Rugby” where a retired player reflects on his time in the game and makes it clear coaches had their work cut out to ensure harmony in 2019.
Now Head of Rugby Development at the Stirling County club after retiring from the pro scene last year Dell, 33, is quoted as saying: “I think selection at the (2019) World Cup was quite bad.
“Greg Laidlaw got replaced as captain by Stuart McInally and that caused a bit of a rift in the camp between the senior guys who were backing Greg and the young guys who backed Stuart.
“I think some senior players let themselves down in creating a bit of a toxic environment.
“There was a bit of a split between the groups … when Finn (Russell) was getting led astray, he wasn’t the issue, he was just being spurred on by certain individuals so it wasn’t a great World Cup to be fair.
“The sad thing is by the time we got to the Japan game (which brought the curtain down on the group stage) half of the squad didn’t want to be there anymore.
“I remember walking past a few of the guys in the hotel corridor when the game was in doubt because of the tsunami and hearing them say ‘this is shit, let’s just get back home.”
Dell’s revelations indicate that – ironically – the seeds of Scotland’s downfall were sewn in a pre tournament Calcutta Cup match at Twickenham when a universally acclaimed fightback from 7-31 at half time saw England held to a 38-38 draw and needing a late converted try to stave off defeat.
In the “as told to” article Dell said: “In a roundabout way I don’t think it was a good thing that we came back from the dead to snatch a draw because in every Test after that we had the mistaken belief that we could afford to get off to a slow start. We found out to our cost against Ireland (lost 3-27) in our opening (2019) World Cup match you can’t do that.”
Many will feel though, six years on, that these views offer confirmation of what some suspected at the time; that mistakes were made at a high level of world cup participation that cannot be repeated going forward if Scotland are to not only retain their place at the top table but do themselves justice on a global scale – unlike Japan 2019!
