Rugby World Cup 2015: Scotland Surprise Many With Win

Scotland surprised many on Wednesday in the Rugby World Cup 2015. Despite Japan’s defeat of the Springboks on Saturday, the team struggled against the Scottish players. Initially off to a shaky start, the boys in blue worked as a team to storm to victory with a 45-10 final score.

Many expected it to be a tough match. Japan surprised all on Saturday when the team defeated South Africa. The final try in the final minute of the game meant the underdogs won by just two points. With Scotland traditionally the weaker team out of the four British teams, many wondered if Wednesday would turn out to be a loss. The one thing Scotland had going for it was that it showed a promising start in the World Cup warm-up game against France.

Scottish rugby team captain Greg Laidlaw helped to start the victory in the first half, hitting all four penalties on target. By half-time, Japan had only scored and converted one try. There was an attempt at a second, but the Scottish defense was just too good on the line and turned the ball over.

Laidlaw told the BBC that the second half really helped. That was the most important half for Scotland, as they had already heard that Japan would beat them then if the team was really in it. Laidlaw continued to explain that playing at full strength for the full 80 minutes is something the team has talked about and worked on, and it paid off.

“That’s just the start. We’ve talked at length about playing for 80 minutes and we did that. We’re delighted for the boys wearing the thistle. Credit to Japan, they were awesome in the first game against South Africa and again they were really tough opponents.”

–Greg Laidlaw

Despite many beliefs, Scotland managed to score five tries in the second half, with two by Mark Bennett in quick succession. The majority were converted by the skipper, with just one penalty scored by Japan.

The short turnaround between games was blamed by many for Japan’s defeat. However, Eddie Jones refuses to agree, according to Rugby World Cup 2015. He admitted that the Scottish side was just too good for the Japanese in that rugby game. The coach praised his players, but said that they “just weren’t good enough.”

“We are a fit team, and I thought we did well and kept on running. We just weren’t good enough.”

–Eddie Jones

Laidlaw believes that Japan was tiring during the second half. He felt that they were tiring by the end of the first half of the World Cup game.

“I did feel they were tiring in the second half. To be honest, I felt like we had them at half-time. I felt they were starting to blow and we were starting to put them under pressure.”

–Greg Laidlaw

The victory puts Scotland at the top of its World Cup pool. The team scored the bonus point for getting four tries, a system that was introduced this year. Japan is the only team to play two games so far, but Scotland will face the United States on Sunday. South Africa will go up against Samoa, and may take the victory to get to the top of the table. South Africa already has one bonus point despite losing, due to being within seven points of the winning team.

The Rugby World Cup 2015 continues, with New Zealand playing Namibia later today. Both teams have lost four out of five of their previous matches.

[Photo by David Rodgers/Getty Images]