The Story of Scotland

[Wobbly]

Poor old Scotland haven't even made it out of RWC2011 pool stage.  They are on the plane home.

They will be disappointed no doubt. 

I think they should get used to it.  My thoughts are that this is going to become a more and more common scenario for counties we would normally think of as traditional rugby playing nations.

Scotland beat Romania by ten points and Romania by nine.  Argentina and England both came from behind with last gasp tries to deny the unlucky Scots.

For me this is all evidence that the gap between all nations is closing rapidly.  Take your eye off the ball for a second and you will be punished.  Tonga showed that against France over the weekend.  Samoa came oh-so-close to doing the same to South Africa the week before.

An "off day" against a lower ranked team once meant a lower winning margin.  This year a bad day at the office can mean defeat.  In four years time the margin of error will be even slimmer.

For me, Scotland sits right in the war zone.  They are good enough to beat top ranked teams on their day.  But the teams we once called "minnows" are snapping at their heels.  There's no easy day on the park for the kilted ones.

I feel sorry for Scotland - but what a great World Cup.  Nothing can be taken for granted.

[Hamish]

The emergence of the 2nd tier nations has been a little bittersweet.

It has been terrific to see them competing at such a good standard and really push the established nations.

But it has been quite sad to see the traditional flair of the island nations subdued by generic coaching patterns.