An early World Cup exit would haunt us for the rest of our days, says Allan Jacobsen

But prop is inspired by his vivid memories of that day in 1990

ALLAN Jacobsen was 11 years old when Scotland won the Grand Slam in 1990, not so much a Chunk as a wee dollop. On that storied day against England at Murrayfield, he was sitting in the schoolboys’ enclosure with his mates from Preston Lodge, as giddy as could be. He remembers everything. David Sole’s slow walk, Finlay Calder’s tap penalty, Tony Stanger’s try and the extraordinary joy at the final whistle. He’s talking about it now in Sky City, Scotland’s team hotel in downtown Auckland, and the memory of his younger self is making him smile.

“The build-up to that match was incredible,” he says. “The country was on a high and I got carried along with it.

“I was just a kid, but that day put me on the path to where I am now. As a result of that match, I grew up and lived my whole life wanting to play for Scotland against England.”

Over the years, Jacobsen has had many reminders of how special the fixture is. In 2006, he sat in the stand at Murrayfield with a friend and witnessed what he thought at the time was the most colossal defensive performance he had ever seen when Scotland beat England 18-12. In 2007, he had his first taste of it himself, albeit off the bench, in a heavy defeat in Twickenham. He smiles again when he talks about his first start against the English at Murrayfield, how he went into the game with the memory of 2006 in his head, the thought of wanting to be part of something as special. And he was. In 2008, Jacobsen’s team beat England 15-9. “That was incredible,” he says. “Just incredible.”

Four appearances against England and one win, one draw and two losses. Number five comes on Saturday and there is more riding on it than ever before. Jacobsen is a tough customer, but it’s not hard to see the emotion when he talks about the events of the last week, the desperate low of losing late in the game to Argentina and the challenge awaiting Scotland at Eden Park

“Everyone knows what this game means to all the players, to the fans at home and the fans down here. It’s massive. It could be our last game. It’s the biggest game of my life. I know I said that last week as well – and we got beat. It might be the biggest game I ever get to play in.

“I don’t know how I feel really. It’s not that there’s a weight on our shoulders, but we’ve got a job to do for the country and I just want to get out there and get it done. The game was there for the taking against Argentina and we messed it up. We can’t mess it up again.”

Jacobsen was a picture of anger, frustration and heart-break in the aftermath of the loss to Argentina. He spoke with brutal honesty about what went wrong, about the shortcomings that did for Scotland. When the pressure comes in the really big games, he said, his team too often make the wrong decisions. It was a brief analysis but it was bang on, just as it was in the wake of the poor performance against Romania in their opening game. “We’ve just got to get our f****** act together,” he said at the time.

Some players might be reluctant to talk about the despair of Argentina, preferring instead to give the impression that they’ve moved on. Not Jacobsen.

“We were so frustrated the way it ended. The effort and the fight was there. A journalist asked Steady (Graham Steadman, the defence coach) about the mistakes that were made leading up to the Argentina try and he said there were six errors, but it all started with one, which was the kick-off, which led to the next one and then the next one which eventually led to the try.

“It just seems that, over the last few years, we’ve been in these situations when the pressure’s really been on and some teams get out of it but, more times than not, we’ve went the other way. I’m thinking specifically about the game in Wales when we had it wrapped-up [in 2010, when Scotland blew a 10-point lead sky-high in the closing minutes at the Millennium] and it went wrong.

“There have been other games where we’ve nailed it. Australia at home when we were on the rack the whole game but we nailed it. We’ve got to find a way of doing that every time. Consistency in our decision-making and our performance is what we’re lacking.

“That one mistake against Argentina has put us in a position where we could be going home. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not over. We’re going out to win this game and then whatever happens, happens. If things don’t go the way we want we’ll look back on it and I can’t imagine in years to come what it’s going to be like. It will haunt us for the rest of our days. Scotland have a good record at the World Cup. We’ve qualified for every quarter-final and I don’t want to be in the team that fails to make it.”

If it sounds like Jacobsen is obsessing about Argentina rather than England then it’s not the case. Sure, he’s looking back but he’s using the torture of Wellington as a focus for Auckland. He says he couldn’t see an Argentina try coming, no way, no how.

“I still haven’t really got my head around it. But it’s not acceptable. Everyone was angry. We had a meeting before we left Wellington and another when we got to Auckland. Things were said. The whole thing was private. I just wanted to get out training. Train as well as you can and get ready for the next game. What else can you do? You’ve got to get on with it and be better the next time. You keep fighting, don’t you?”

Scotland are underdogs on Saturday, but they weren’t fancied in 1990 either, the day it all started for Jacobsen. Of his four games against England, he has started three and none of those Tests have given him cause to fear Martin Johnson’s side. He won one, drew another and lost the third by just six points.

“They’re a good team and they’re playing OK. They’ve got a good set-piece, a good scrum. Their lineout is under-rated. They’ve got one of the best lineouts about. They’ve got a great pack but we’ve got a good pack as well. I’ve got no doubt we’ll handle it. We’re under huge pressure, but these are the games you dream about. I don’t believe that the guys in this team would have got here if they couldn’t handle the pressure of games like this. These are the ones you live for. This is what it’s all about.”