Grant Gilchrist has told his Scotland colleagues to embrace the pressure of having to produce a positive response against Ireland on Saturday as they bid to banish “a dark couple of days” following their damaging Guinness Six Nations defeat in Italy last weekend.
The Scots have been heavily criticised after losing 31-29 in Rome and squandering the chance to set up a title shootout with Andy Farrell’s side in Dublin.
Instead Gregor Townsend’s team are now chasing a face-saving result away to “arguably the best team in the world at the minute” in order to avoid potentially finishing as low as fifth in the championship.
“We should feel under pressure,” said veteran second-rower Gilchrist. “Every time you put on the jersey you should feel under pressure, nothing for me changes.
“Through our own play we’ve set the bar a lot higher than any other Scotland team that I’ve ever been part of and that pressure is a privilege.
“It’s a privilege to wear the jersey, it’s a privilege to play in a team that’s good enough to be expecting to get huge results and to win all these big games.
“We’re not going to shy away from pressure. Pressure comes with big games and big moments and that’s why we play the game.
“We know the strength of the opposition, Ireland are arguably the best team in the world at the minute. With their home record, you can’t pick a tougher test but that’s a huge excitement for us.
“We know we’re going to have to be at our very best but that’s what we strive to be anyway. We need to embrace the pressure, embrace the challenge – I don’t think there’s any bigger challenge – and go out and deliver a performance.”
Gilchrist, 33, admitted the defeat in Rome was a tough one to swallow.
“In the immediacy, it was a dark couple of days,” he said. “No one cares more than the guys in that changing room and we’re devastated with how the game went and the opportunity we let slip by.
“It’s not a case of being able to move on too quickly but we had a really good day on Monday going through it and players taking a lot more responsibility.
“It was on us to look at solutions and come up with a plan so that we could put it behind us and it was great to get out on the grass on Tuesday and start putting things in place for what’s going to be… well there’s no bigger challenge.”
Hours after their own defeat, there was further reason for Scottish regret when Ireland’s surprise loss to England effectively meant Townsend’s team had blown a golden chance to go into the last weekend of the championship knowing victory would bring them title glory for the first time in 25 years.
“You couldn’t give me more of a blow than losing a game of rugby for my country that I know we were more than good enough to win, but because of our own doing we allowed ourselves to get into a game where we came out on the wrong side of the result,” said Gilchrist.
“Yes, it was a double blow (with Ireland also losing) but the first blow was enough for me. I couldn’t be more devastated at the fact that we didn’t take care of what we were doing and we knew all that stuff (the result at Twickenham) was out of our control anyway.”
Smith not pinning blame on Ford for England loss
Marcus Smith does not blame England's narrow defeat to New Zealand on Saturday on George Ford, despite his late missed kicks.
Ford replaced Smith, who had scored 17 points and set up England's only try in their 24-22 loss, hitting a potential match-winning penalty against the post before narrowly missing a drop goal.
England had held an eight-point advantage when Smith left the field, but Mark Tele'a's 76th-minute try before Damian McKenzie added five late points proved enough to get the All Blacks over the line.
The hosts' autumn series got off to a losing start as Ford struggled to find his clinical edge in the dying moments, but Smith does not lay any blame at his team-mate's feet.
"Sometimes that's the life of a kicker, we've all experienced that. It's part and parcel of the job," said Smith.
"I've learned so much off George. He's an unbelievable kicker, both off the tee and out of hand. It was one of those days.
"It's nothing to do with him why we didn't win the game. It's a team effort. Every kicker in the world has experienced that.
"We practise [drop-goals] as kickers every single day, but sometimes it doesn't go for you. We're all human and people miss."
Saturday marked a third consecutive narrow loss to New Zealand for England, with their last win an emphatic victory over Japan in June.
Despite that run, Smith remains confident that England can take lessons from these defeats to set themselves up for success in the future.
"International rugby is very different to the Premiership and the experiences we're experiencing now are very painful, but we'll be better for them," Smith added.
"Keep the faith. We've fallen again on the wrong side of the result, but we'll learn from it 100%.
"These experiences will tighten us as a group, and it will be worth it in the long run. We will be better for it."
England 'banging on the door' of rugby's elite, says proud Borthwick
Steve Borthwick reckons England are "banging on the door" of the elite nations after their close loss to New Zealand.
England went down 24-22 to the All Blacks in Saturday's Test match at Twickenham.
Mark Tele'a scored the decisive try for New Zealand, who beat England twice in July, in the 76th minute.
England missed the chance to win it late on when George Ford missed a drop-goal attempt, after he had struck the post with a penalty.
But coach Borthwick, who was immensely proud of his team, feels England showed they are capable of mixing it with the best teams in the world, despite losing four of their last five Tests.
"It is a mixture of immense pride at the performance against a very tough New Zealand team and one of incredible disappointment," Borthwick told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"They are the emotions we balance and will work through over the next few days.
"When we started two years ago we wanted to get England right to the top of world rugby again. You can see the team banging on the door."
With the pre-match build-up having been dominated by Joe Marler's jibe at New Zealand's pre-match haka routine, tries from Tele'a and Will Jordan put New Zealand in control.
Marcus Smith's penalties kept England in contention, though, and he set up the hosts' only try when he intercepted a loose pass and teed up Immanuel Feyi-Waboso.
Yet England ultimately failed to hold on to an eight-point advantage, with Ford having to be consoled by his team-mates after the match.
Next up for England are Australia, with fixtures against South Africa and Japan also in store.
"We really have to find a way of winning these close ones," said captain Jamie George. "We put ourselves in a really good position after 60 minutes.
"Eight points is a lot in Test match rugby but we probably went chasing the game a bit and gave away too many penalties. We have to be smarter in that respect."
England walked up to the halfway line to face the haka, something George explained was planned prior to Marler's comments.
"That was always our plan before Joe's comments but we did it in a respectful way," said George. "I saw a smile on Scott Barrett’s face, I was smiling, and it was done in good spirits."
England aiming to be one of 'world's best' teams, says Earl
England have aspirations of greatness, asserted Ben Earl as he prepares to face New Zealand in a friendly at Twickenham.
The 26-year-old was optimistic about the progress England had made under Steve Borthwick despite registering two losses at the hands of the All Blacks in July.
England will be seeking revenge after losing the second match of the test in a devastatingly close 16-15 defeat. Immanuel Feyi-Waboso had scored a try to put England ahead after scores had been tied 10-10 at half-time, but two penalty kicks from Damian McKenzie ended their hopes.
Earl, however, believes the heartbreak has given his country an opportunity to develop.
“I think it’s an experience all the big teams go through, you have to go through some heartache to get over the line,” he told TNT Sports.
“It just feels like it’s the evolution of all the top teams, and we are a team that wants to be known as a great team, some of the world’s best.
“So we know the heartache is good for a while, but it’s time to go and do it at the right time. We got a glimpse of it against Ireland last year, and we feel we are due one, and we have learnt some really hard lessons over the summer, so we feel we are in a better place for it.
“We have always said you don’t win easily against us and that’s something we have developed over the last 18 months with Steve’s mindset and the boys getting hold of it, and now I feel it’s time to get over the line in one of these big games.”
New Zealand have won their last three matches, having defeated Japan and secured a double over Australia. They struggled against reigning world champions South Africa, however, as they failed to exact revenge on the Springboks in late summer tests falling to defeat twice.
Undoubtedly, the All Blacks still represent some of the best talent in the world, with Earl expected to line up opposite New Zealand’s superstar Wallace Sititi.
“There’s stardust littered all over the pitch isn’t there? There’s some pretty cool match-ups; it just feels like a game that isn’t going to disappoint,” he said.
England won’t be overawed, though. Instead, they aim to make their west London home a fortress for visiting sides to travel to.
“[Twickenham is] a place where we want to be really, really hard to beat. And we’ve always said in the camp, if you want to beat us at Twickenham you are going to have to be over and above the norm,” Earl said.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
