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The surprising way Scotland like to celebrate a win

Scotland picked up their first win of the World Cup against Samoa.

Jamie Ritchie says it is only right Scotland sing when they are winning after getting their World Cup campaign back on track.

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The Dark Blues players could be heard belting out a number of songs from inside their dressing room as they celebrated hitting all the right notes during Monday’s 34-0 triumph over Samoa.

It was a moment when the tension that has threatened to strangle the squad in the wake of their disastrous defeat to Ireland was released.

And flanker Ritchie believes those moments of team harmony are crucial if Scotland are to remain on song during the rest of the tournament.

He said: “Every time we get a win we sing a couple of songs just as a group to connect afterwards and to celebrate.

“I think it’s important we do that. We talk about being a really tight-knit group and that’s part of that.

“It was good to get the win and it was good to have that chance to enjoy it, especially in a tournament like this when you spend a lot of time together preparing for matches.

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“When these good times come around you have to make the most of them.

“I think that team spirit has been key to getting us through the last week. There’s been a lot of outside noise coming in but there has also been a few honest conversations inside the camp.

“For us to keep each other going has been great and the celebrations after games like Monday’s shows just how collected we are.”

Scotland faced a humiliating early exit after their shocking display against the Irish was compounded by Japan’s stunning upset win over Joe Schmidt’s men.

Gregor Townsend’s were faced with requiring three bonus point wins to rescue qualification for the last eight but their display against the Samoans at the Misaki Stadium has delivered the first of those extras.

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And Ritchie believes Scotland are profiting from their refusal to panic in the face of that daunting challenge.

“Before we went out to face Samoa, we spoke about winning the game first and then if the opportunity was there we’d go for the four tries,” said the back-rower, whose side face Russia a week on Wednesday and then Japan four days later.

“We went in at half-time 20-0 up and the bonus point got mentioned in the shed.

“We talked about not going for points so much and instead going for the tries. We looked like scoring more than we actually did so it bodes well going forward. We knew we needed to perform this week. We all had belief that we could so getting the job done feels good.

“We talked about the Ireland game in the first couple of days after the game and tried to put it behind us. Obviously it got brought up a couple of times as we needed to react in a few areas but I think we did that on Monday night.

“I think that’s a truer reflection of what the team is about than Yokohama. If we can back it up it will be. We can’t afford to flit in and out of form like we have done.

“We played reasonably well in the warm-up games but then didn’t perform at all against Ireland. We need to back this win over Samoa up with another good performance against Russia.

“To nil Samoa, the first time they haven’t scored a point in a World Cup match, is a huge stat for us to have. Defence is going to be a huge part of our game going forward, especially against Japan in the final game.

“You saw what they did to Ireland so if we can defend like we did on Monday then hopefully that will be a great game.”

Scotland react to Samoa win

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J
JW 8 minutes ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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