Poor Performance of Scotland Rugby Team Provokes Parallel between Its Coach And Dame Edna

Scotland’s rugby team lost at home to England at the RBS 6 Nations Championship 2014, causing a wave of disappointment among fans and bettors.

The RBS 6 Nations is currently the biggest annual rugby competition in the world. It is the time of the year when rugby fans enjoy the best games complemented by visiting some of the most exciting cities in Europe, showing their support for the favorite team.

Rugby fans are particularly pedantic in keeping their team’s traditions, following strictly different pre-match rituals that make a match day extremely special. Unfortunately for Scotland’s fans the latest games were a huge disappointment, causing big losses for all who bet on sports in Scotland.

The controversial Scottish coach

The times are pretty hard for Scotland’s rugby head coach Scott Johnson. Maybe even worse than the 2004 scandal, which the Australian caused by calling New Zealand “a poxy little island in the Pacific.” His comment caused such a catastrophe, that he had no other choice, but to give further explanation of his comment and issue an apology.

Everyone expected a real act of regret, but all he said was: “Sorry, New Zealand is actually TWO poxy islands in the Pacific.” This is when he was first compared to the comedy character Dame Edna Everage and this comparison seems to be valid now when his team seems lost.

Coach’s poor decisions at the game against England

Scotland’s rugby team is very disappointing at the RBS 6 Nations Championship 2014

• England humiliated Scotland at home
• Scottish coach made poor decisions during the game against England
• The future game against Italy might be the light in the tunnel

With all that said, it seems that Johnson might not be all too bothered about the amount of criticism for the Scottish team, after its pathetic performance against England at Murrayfield Stadium last week.

Some bettors, who lost huge amounts at booking houses that comply with Scottish gambling laws, suggested that the Scottish team should leave the 6 Nations Championship and give their spot to Georgia.

Despite the bad game, it seems that the coach needs to leave rather than the whole team. Johnson took couple of weird decisions regarding the players’ selection, for example leaving out captain Kelly Brown and after the game commenting that the team had poor decision making strategy.

Furthermore, he substituted the best player David Denton and also told Duncan Weir to kick as often and quickly as he could, giving England’s back line the opportunity to control the game.

The inevitable future

Regardless of the current defeat, Johnson is due to step down from his position later in 2014. However, everyone secretly expected that he or Scottish RFU will accelerate the process after the Six Nations’ two weak games and only six points scored by the Scottish team.

Yet, the Football Union issued a statement of support and vaguely suggested that it “shares the supporters’ sense of disappointment and frustration at the results and performances.”

The prospects of the next game

The Scottish team is facing the Italian team next, which lost their two away games in the Championship so far. Regardless of that, the Italians are always much better at home, so the Scots will be having a tough time in Rome.

Especially keeping in mind that Italy beat both Ireland and France on its own field in 2013, it will be looking at the Scots as an excellent chance to experience the same excitement as the one caused by those wins.

The bets for this game are not set yet, but a win for the Italians by more than 12.5 points is currently set between 5.5 and 10.5. So, Scots and Italians should be prepared for an epic battle.