Scotland are confident they have come through their bruising encounter with South Africa without sustaining any notable injuries. Their talisman Finn Russell took a couple of heavy blows in Sunday’s 18-3 defeat by the Springboks in Marseille but early indications are positive on the fitness front.
Coach Brad Mooar, speaking on Monday afternoon after the team returned to their World Cup base near Nice, said: “It appears we’ve got a clean bill of health there out of the game. Finn’s all good. Clearly it was a very physical game, as you’d expect, so there’s the odd bruise and bump but nothing that’s going to keep people out.”
While the squad is in decent shape physically – with Ewan Ashman, Luke Crosbie and George Horne all progressing well after missing out against the Boks – the Scots must now overcome the emotional damage of failing to live up to their own lofty expectations in their first game of the World Cup.
“I don’t think the general emotions have changed since last night,” said Mooar. “There is still an air of disappointment at letting an opportunity slip. We all understand we weren’t at our best and that’s a real shame to be taking on South Africa and not put our best game forward. We did it in parts but not overall so that disappointment is there.
“But certainly looking back at the game and having conversations, we can see opportunities where we could have imposed ourselves but we weren’t accurate enough and didn’t execute the opportunities. It’s all still there in front of us and we’re excited about what’s to come. We’re all looking forward, not back.”
The Scots have a fortnight to regroup between their first two matches – with their next game against Tonga in Nice on 24 September – and Mooar revealed how the players and coaches were lifted by the sight of their families welcoming them upon return to their team headquarters on Monday.
“The players have got two and a half days off now, so it was lovely to come back into the hotel and see all the families, the partners and children in the team room and the swimming pool waiting for us,” he said. “So players and management have gone from that mode into father and husband and partner mode, which is great to see. We’ve got time to get the rugby part and the injuries right so we’ve got an exciting couple of days ahead and then a week of footie coming up.
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“This group is built on connection. There are strong connections between ourselves and that allow us to have the conversations to be better and the connection with the families and our supporters is also massively important to us. It’s a great boost for everybody to share some family time.”