More Scotland woe for Williams
Matt Williams today described Scotland’s performance in their 33-15 defeat to a shadow NSW Waratahs side as the most disappointing of his time in charge.
The second string, development side conceded five tries at Aussie Stadium, with London Irish-bound winger Scott Staniforth scoring twice.
Winger Elia Tuqiri, full-back Peter Hewat and Tim Clark all crossed while fly-half Tim Donnelly landed four conversions.
Scotland, who trailed 12-10 at the interval, managed just a try in each half, from prop Joel Brannigan and winger Stephen Cranston with Gordon Ross landing a penalty and conversion.
“It was very disappointing,” said Williams.
“It was probably the most disappointing performance since I’ve been Scotland coach. The players had no excuses. Four of the tries were from turnovers and breakaway tries.
“We felt that Scotland team had more to give. We are very disappointed with that.
“There certainly wasn’t the urgency to the breakdown, we sent one runner out on his own without going with him time and time again and we missed a couple of first-up tackles.
“It’s disappointing because we are looking for consistency of performances.”
Scotland, who have already lost five players to injury this tour, suffered another scare with today’s captain Jon Petrie taken to hospital for scans on his neck.
“Jon Petrie felt a crack in his neck and he is off to the Royal North Shore hospital. He is walking and it is just a precaution but you don’t muck around with neck injuries,” said Williams.
Although the Scotland camp were disappointed by the performance, centre Graeme Morrison produced another impressive display up against former Australia international Nathan Grey and was a contender for man of the match.
“Graeme Morrison was absolutely outstanding, the best player on the field,” said Williams.
“He made the gain line and broke it every single time.”
Fly-half Gordon Ross was playing for a place in the Test side and Williams was encouraged by his display after a difficult start.
Ross, who is in competition with Dan Parks for a start in the first Test against Australia on Sunday, miscued his first three clearances and then failed to deal with a grubber kick through and his bungle led directly to Staniforth’s first try.
“Gordon played quite well given there was not much momentum from the forwards. He had a solid game. His first couple of kicks were wobbly but (the selection of fly-half) is a nice problem to have.”
