Scotland at 2007 World Cup: Expectation met but Frank Hadden remembered for reasonable if unpopular team call

Scotland were soundly defeated 40-0 by New Zealand at Murrayfield in the 2007 World Cup.

France hosted the 2007 World Cup, though some pool matches were played in Scotland and Ireland. There were four pools of five, with the top two in each. Neither Wales not Ireland reached that stage, while Scotland did so only by the skin of their teeth.

Though Frank Hadden had been welcomed after the dismal Matt Williams years, and had some success in his first season with France and England defeared at Murrayfield and Italy in Rome, there had not been much to cheer about since. There was only one victory in the 2007 Six Nations, while Italy won 37-17 at Murrayfield, Scotland having conceded three tries in the first six or seven minutes, all gifted by their own mistakes. The truth was that though Scotland had a good pack, there was little sparkle in the backs, most points coming from penalties kicked by Chris Paterson or Dan Parks.

The first two Pool matches, against Portugal and Romania were won with predictable ease, 56-10 and 42-0. The third match was against New Zealand. Even though it was to be played at Murrayfield, it had been easy, from the day the draw was announced, to see that the last pool game against Italy in Saint-Etienne would probably determine which of them reached the quarter-final.

The All Blacks match was on a Sunday, the Italy one the following Saturday. Hadden, assessing the odds quite correctly, chose to field a below-strength team against New Zealand. It wasn’t quite a second XV, but it certainly wasn’t our first XV (even if few could say what that was). The decision was reasonable, but unpopular. Some called it shameful. Even those who recognised the logic might be dismayed and aggrieved. More than 64,000 tickets had been sold. Those who had bought them (and, of course, many watching on TV) hoped for a fierce contest, and felt cheated. Hadden had thrown the towel in before the bell rang for the first round. It was all rather sad, and New Zealand won 40-0.

Scotland head coach Frank Hadden was criticised for his team selection against the All Blacks.

It was a wet evening in Saint-Etienne, and one had the impression that both sides were cagey, preferring to kick rather than risking handling movements. Italy scored the only try but Chris Paterson kicked six penalty goals. At 18-16 Italy had a last-minute chance to kick a penalty, but the ball drifted wide, and we were in the quarter-final even if it seemed scarcely deserved.

This was against Argentina, who had set the tournament going by beating France in the opening game. Now they were back in the Stade de France. It proved to be a tense match and for Scots an all too familiar ‘nearly one’. Argentina scored the only try of the first half when fly-half Parks had a clearing kick charged down, and led 13-6 at the interval. Another penalty and a drop goal from their fly-half Juan Martin Hernandez – hero of their defeat of France – seemed to take them out of sight around the hour mark. Scotland fought back. A powerful run from Sean Lamont took the ball deep into the Argentina 22 and scrum-half Chris Cusiter slipped over for a try. Paterson converted from the touch-line. Scotland continued to attack. In the dying moments a diagonal from Parks was just too long for Lamont and we were out.

Once again we had done no better than expected, no worse either. In the following spring we would win one, lose four. Of course the fact that the win brought us the Calcutta Cup was consolation, but couldn’t disguise the sorry fact that we scored only three tries in the five matches.

The cup would be won by South Africa beating England 15-6 in the final. Remarkably, they had been in the same pool, and South Africa then won 36-0. England had made an admirable recovery from that humiliation, but it should be said that in their last three matches – quarter-final, semi-final, final – they scored only one try.