World Cup 2017: Scotland

Scotland players swarming in defence vs Samoa

This was the second side to say goodbye to the 2017 RL WC. The team was mainly English players with some Scottish ancestry but also a couple of Scots and Australians. The team has less fully professional players than last time, with notable defections in the lead up to the tournament.

Report card: This was Scotland's 4th consecutive WC, the first being the year 2000. The record is below and the bottom figure is the points differential for the group matches played:

				00			08			13			17
				W	D	L	W	D	L	W	D	L	W	D	L
						3	1		2	2	1	1		1	2
				-21			-16			+16			-114

2000 was three losses, a win in 2008, two wins in 2013 and a quarter finals spot. For 2017, the first match was a 4-50 demolition by Tonga, followed by a 6-74 hammering by New Zealand. Three top players were sent home at this point and it was turning to custard. However, this galvanised the side and they drew 14-14 with Samoa. The last result gave the side some respectability as they had underachieved until then. It would still rank as their worst performance at a WC in my opinion.

Final ranking for the tournament: 12th to 14th (out of 14 teams).

Picture source: RLEF.

Other teams ranked at the 2017 WC. Click on the nation to go to that article.

12th - 14th: Scotland, Wales, USA.
9th - 11th: France, Italy, Samoa.
5th - 8th: Ireland, Lebanon, New Zealand, PNG.
1st - 4th: Australia, England, Fiji, Tonga.