A couple of minutes short of full-time and I was ready to call an end to our Rugby World Cup campaign.
We were two points behind a Scottish outfit that had just intercepted a James Slipper pass to score what looked like a match-winning try.
Time was fast running out. We were all over the shop. And it was raining, Glasgow style. The Scots were as happy as pigs in the proverbial.
As for us, we were flat out holding on to the ball when it was dry. We had Buckley’s now.
>> PUMAS STUN IRELAND
>> WALLABIES SCRAPE PAST SCOTLAND
>> ALL BLACKS CRUSH FRANCE
>> SPRINGBOKS ADVANCE PAST WALES
“Imagine if this comes down to a penalty kick by Foley,” I tweeted, more in desperation than hope.
And then it did.
One lucky lineout penalty and Bernard Foley was lining up the biggest kick of his career for a place in the semis.
Twitter went into meltdown over referee Craig Joubert’s call. But as Wallabies coach Michael Cheika pointed out afterwards: “You’ve still got to kick it.”
Which was no sure thing. Last weekend and the weekend before, you’d bet your house that Foley would put the ball through the sticks.
But his GPS inexplicably deserted him against Scotland. It took him four kicks before he found his range. Had he landed the first three, I wouldn’t have been sitting on the couch at 4am with a resting heart rate of 170.
Foley moved in for the do-or-die kick, Australia did a collective sphincter clench, we live to play another day and Craig Joubert can add Scotland to the lost of countries it’s not safe for him to visit.
There’s winning ugly and then there’s whatever that was at Twickenham, where we’ve racked up three wins in a row for the first time ever.
As rugby goes, it was about as pretty as Stephen Moore’s nose. Our scrum and defence, World Cup talking points of the past two weeks, went to custard.
We couldn’t kick a ball without some rampaging Scotsman charging it down. And we seemed to forget the fundamentals of the game, like only pass to the blokes wearing yellow.
On the other side of the park, Scotland’s Greig Laidlaw, a haggis-like nugget of a man, was kicking goals one after the other, like he’d stolen Foley’s boots.
Four northern-southern hemisphere match-ups. Four southern hemisphere wins. The Rugby World Cup has become the Rugby Championship by default.
Compared with the All Blacks, who made their match-up with France look like a pool game against Uruguay, we’re a long way short of where we need to be.
But you can bet Cheika will be taking the steel-toed boots to the collective Wallabies rump over the coming week.
As for the rest of us, we need to get down on our knees and start praying hard for Dave Pocock’s injured left calf. Our World Cup is stuffed without him.
Karlos
Guest
Redskin, i am an Aussie who predicted the last minute penalty, but i predict that quite often in rugby. The yellow card was a joke and the double movement was as plain as your nose.
Dave_S
Guest
That penalty was 50/50, but the wallabies were the better side and deserved the win.
13th Man
Guest
Yep, bloody nervewracking stuff! Full credit to Scotland, they have a right to feel pretty dirty about that, should only have been a scrum at the end I think and the Maitland yellow card was ridiculous. But we are through, thank goodness. One things for sure is we will have to play better to beat the Argies, they were awesome yesterday, hopefully Folau and Pocock return or else our World Cup is over!
Sprigs
Guest
B side....
Kia Kaha
Roar Guru
It was sport in all its drama kazblah and cruel to see the Scots go out like that. The get out of free jail card can galvanize a side, which is what Cheika will be hoping for because Argentina are building nicely. That said, for all the semi finalists the slate is wiped clean. The Magna Doodle is clear for the next masterpiece to be etched.
Brisbane boys
Guest
The Ref had a poor game IMO but a haters got to hate Redsking. Every team had international players in them it is the way of things now but for clarity's sake Pocock went to a Brisbane School all of the way through his Secondary Schooling and has now lived in Aus for about 20 years. As I said earlier build a bridge.
RedsKing
Guest
Radio commentary of the moment where Joubert sprints from the pitch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qwSBNACeWc Hahaha... how shameful. On the world stage. What a disgrace. These commenters know what is up, especially with mentioning the 2011 final too.
SP
Guest
You're carrying on like you've been forcibly penetrated
SP
Guest
The Wallabies deserved to win, and they did. Scotland weren't good enough, despite being gifted 2 tries and scrumming illegally. What makes the victory even more sweeter is watching you have this epic tantrum. Comedy gold lad.
RedsKing
Guest
The Wallabies were forcibly penetrated, very deeply by the All Blacks just recently too. About 40 points.
RedsKing
Guest
Get off the fair dinkum roar for once and have a look around at what is going on. Joubert's career is likely to go the way of Bryce Lawrence's. Yes, you need that Zimbabwean back because the actual Australians in your side are pretty soft.
Sprigs
Guest
Yes, we all know who should be in the semis. The winners of the quarter finals. They are obviously the best teams. The Wallabies beat the All Blacks just recently. They also knocked over England and Wales. Do you think they just might be a little better than Scotland?
Brisbane boys
Guest
Build a Bridge Redsking I support both Scotland and Australia being born in one and living in the other. The facts are this regardless of your vitriol if Scotland had executed their lineout they win the game. Good teams take ownership of the outcome and get better. We being the Scots scored two tries from boneheaded Australian errors we just need to get better and create more this is a young team who will improve so I am actually hopeful for Scottish Rugby for the first time in a long time. All I need now is for Pocock to get fit and Australia to win two more games and my Rugby year is complete. (Lets not talk about the Reds)
RedsKing
Guest
The ball flew into him. The play was a total mess with multiple players playing at the ball and it should have been a scrum. Pretty simple stuff. Why can't you Australians just admit that you didn't deserve to win? Is a ref sprinting away out of the stadium a sign that all was fair? I don't think so.
chochie
Guest
you fail to mention any of the scrum calls, offsides, entering from side of ruck (1st try) that went scotland's way....regarding last penalty video clearly shows the ball touch scotland hands before the shoulders and going forward and hitting phipps , (phipps didnt gather it) and then a scotland player intentionally gets hold of the ball , a clear penalty according to the laws...by the way how many tries did scotland actually create themselves and score for you to actually declare them better team than australia on the day...
RedsKing
Guest
Hahaha… what a joke this game was. Just like I said about Joubert, he did exactly as suspected. Why is it that you could predict he would penalise the Scots in the last minute of the game? It backfired this time, the whole world was watching and they saw what he did. The yellow card was an even funnier joke. Thanks for ruining the world cup, Craig. He always protects the Anzac teams. NZ is first priority but after that Australia is very closely looked after. The yellow card basically gifted the Wallabies 7 points as well with that hack of a wing Mitchell scoring against no one. That Wallaby team that everyone has been going on about was exposed and should be on their way home right now. How about that scrum? Wow! Dislocated shoulders and all! The Kurindrani try was also a double movement. There are three movements before he placed the ball. He lands, shifts his body and then stretches his arm. Drew Mitchell also shoulder charged into Hogg to prevent him from chasing the kick in the dying minutes of the game... yet no TMO for that. Don’t worry Scotland, Australia “won” but we all know who should have been in the Semis. This is the sort of BS that kills rugby. Craig Joubert should never be allowed to ref again, he clearly has not learned his lesson from the 2011 final.
Mals
Roar Rookie
"We were two points behind a Scottish outfit that had just charged down yet another Wallabies kick to score what looked like a match- winning try." The last Scottish try was from an intercept, the pass thrown by James Slipper.