petervcpt:
The Scots played their hearts out and were very unlucky not to win.
Sadly, Peter - It's a scenario us Scots know only too well - regardless of the sport involved.
alanti: Robbed by a diabolical referee (many dubious decisions not only in this game, but previous matches)
Hi Al,
Re the ref :
I just can't fathom why he never even looked at the replay before giving Australia the pen at the end. Such a vital decision you'd think he'd have at least have got confirmation of any decision he was going to make - if for no other reason than to save himself getting flak if it was shown his call was wrong.
The other call that irked me was the yellow card for the Scots lad for an intentional knock-on. I don't have a problem with the action the ref took - pen + sin bin for 10mins - what got me was that Australia had a try disallowed when the attacking player knocked the ball on, for me it was clearly intentional, yet he never produced a yellow card then.
I love the pace that the southern hemisphere teams play at and today my ain wee country did not look out of place at all. The pundits thought it would be a backs-to-the-wall perfomance from Scotland today. Instead we played some brilliant stuff at times and I don't mind admitting that I was a blubbering wreck with minutes to go.
Loved the game and the way both teams, at times, went for the jugular.
I do think that Scotland made an error when with 2 minutes approx' to go they launched the ball way up the park giving, way to cheaply, the ball to Australia. Given how long was to go I'd have thought possesion was the priority, gaining even a yard or so at a time would have seen the clock run out.
So long as the thrills continue in the remainder of the competition I don't really care who wins it now.
It's been a brilliant World Cup with some super games.
Thank you England for putting on such a great tournament.......
....and for the laughs (soz, couldn't resist).
:)