Rugby World Cup team profile – Scotland
The Scottish Rugby Union is the second oldest rugby union in the world. This year, Scotland’s national rugby union team has been placed in Pool B of the 2011 Rugby World Cup (RWC). Besides
Scotland, others teams in Pool B includes Argentina, England, Georgia and Romania.
As all the teams in Pool B are from Europe, it is commonly referred as 2011 RWC, European Pool.
Scotland qualified for a place in the 2011 RWC as they were ranked among the top 12 rugby-playing nations. Scotland is currently placed at 9th place in the International Rugby Board
(IRB) World Rankings.
This year’s RWC campaign will be Scotland’s sixth consecutive RWC appearance. Their best performance in RWC came during the 1991 RWC, in which they finished fourth. In 2007 RWC, Scotland reached
the quarter-finals but failed to progress further.
Earlier this year, Scotland failed to produce a performance up to their liking in the 2011 Six Nations tournament. They managed to win just a single game out of their five matches in the tournament.
Scotland’s only Six Nations win came against Italy. Besides this, their only other impressive performance of the tournament came against the Ireland at Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburg. The game
is even more disappointing as they fail to carry on the momentum they generated to defeat the Rugby World Cup winners, Springboks, in November 2010.
The most notable players in the current Scotland squad are Dan Parks and Chris Cusiter.
Parks scored all 21 points in their surprise victory over the Springboks. Earlier in 2010, Parks won Man of the Match awards in three of the five games Scotland played during the 2010 Six Nations
tournament.
Chris Cusiter is considered among the World’s best scrum half. He so far has made 53 appearances for Scotland and has scored three international tries. The combination of Cusiter and Parks
is also counted as the world's best halfbacks pair.
Scotland is also famous for the trio of Cusiter, Mike Blair and Rory Lawson. All three are considered among the World’s best scrum halves and all three are Scotland born.
Former Scotland international, Gavin Hastings, with his 227 points is their highest point’s scorer. With his nine international tries, Hastings is also their highest try scorer.
Scotland’s head coach, Andy Robinson, has announced a 40-man provisional squad for their 2011 RWC campaign. The squad includes,
John Barclay, John Beattie (both Glasgow Warriors), Kelly Brown (Saracens), Geoff Cross, David Denton (both Edinburgh), Alasdair Dickinson (Gloucester), Ross Ford (Edinburgh), Ryan Grant, Richie
Gray, Dougie Hall (all Glasgow Warriors), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester), Robert Harley (Glasgow Warriors), Nathan Hines (Leinster), Allan Jacobsen (Edinburgh), Alastair Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), Scott Lawson (Gloucester), Moray Low (Glasgow Warriors), Euan Murray
(Newcastle Falcons), Ross Rennie (Edinburgh), Alasdair Strokosch (Gloucester), Fergus Thomson, Richie Vernon (both Glasgow Warriors), Joe Ansbro (Northampton Saints); Mike Blair, Ben Cairns (both Edinburgh), Chris Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors), Jack Cuthbert
(Bath), Simon Danielli (Ulster), Nick De Luca (Edinburgh), Max Evans (Glasgow Warriors), Ruaridh Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh), Rory Lamont (Toulon), Sean Lamont (Scarlets), Rory Lawson (Gloucester), Graeme Morrison (Glasgow Warriors),
Dan Parks (Cardiff Blues), Chris Paterson (Edinburgh), Hugo Southwell (Stade Francais), Nikki Walker (Ospreys).
With their poor performance in the first quarter of the year, Scotland needs to pick their game up if they want to proceed to the second round of the 2011 RWC. They are favourites to win their
Pool matches against the Georgia and Romania.
However, their metal will be tested against the Los Pumas and England’s side. Scotland needs to register a win against either of these two to reach the second round of the 2011 RWC.
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