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What a week of mixed emotions!

I heard that I was not to be in the starting XV for the crucial match against Scotland on Tuesday morning even though I had been in the team that trained on the Monday – a sign I took to mean that I had secured my place for the match on the Saturday.

Of course, I was disappointed – particularly as I thought I had played well in the previous game against Romania. Still, as a professional in a team sport, you have to come to terms with these kind of disappointments, stay positive and continue to be a supportive influence in the team – and hope you get the chance to prove the selectors wrong!

The first half of the game against Scotland, viewed from the bench was extremely frustrating as we were unable to establish the kind of control at lineout and scrum that is so crucial. We were also guilty of giving away six penalties before the match was very old which also cost us dear.

I got the call to take the field with about twenty five minutes of the match remaining and the score 12 – 3 against us and I was delighted that my first contribution from the kick off was a clear out to give Jonny the chance to land a drop goal to reduce the deficit to six points.

We knew that we would be on the plane home after the match if we were to lose by eight points or more and so there was renewed effort to cut out the previous mistakes at scrum and lineout.

More players from the sub’s bench were introduced and they injected more pace and urgency to the play and, after a Jonny penalty, we had reduced their lead to just three points with eighteen minutes to go.

Our lineout was functioning much better and with four minutes to go Toby Flood, another off the bench, decided to kick for position near their try line rather than kick for goal.

We secured the lineout possession and created a powerful forward drive to take us even nearer their try line. When the ball was delivered to the half backs Toby saw that Chris Ashton had space wide out and threw a long pass to give him a dash for the corner and the try to secure victory. Toby nailed the conversion from the touchline for good measure.

We now know that we will face France in the quarter finals next Saturday. Don’t be fooled into thinking that this French team will play as badly against us as they did against Tonga. I play with and against these same players every week in France and, believe me, they are capable of producing a performance that will be good enough to defeat any side in world rugby. They cannot play as badly as they did against Tonga a second week in succession.

I am taking nothing for granted. I just hope that I make the starting line up against them and we produce a performance worthy of our collective talents that wins us a place in the semi-finals.

Keep the faith

Cheers, Tom