Rugby League World Cup 2013: Scotland have nothing to lose against the Kiwis

The Scottish team, which was founded in only 1994, has been involved in two

previous World Cups, 2000 and 2008, and is made up of players from a

mish-mash of backgrounds. Only four Scottish-born players made the squad,

but McCormack resisted the temptation to bring over an entire squad of NRL

players with dubious Scottish ancestry.

There are some NRL players in the squad, including Luke Douglas, whose brother

Kane is also over here touring with the Australian rugby union side, but,

according to Szostak, who qualifies through his Scottish grandfather on his

mother’s side, there is plenty of passion running through the team.

“We weren’t all born in Scotland but we have a massive sense of pride about

playing for them,” he says. “We do talk a lot about who we are playing for,

whether it is your mum, your dad, your grandfather, yourself.

“It is not a problem for us, getting up for a game. We have made sure that it

is a priority to learn the anthem off by heart and be able to belt it out.

And to get the piper out there is a massive thrill.

“Apparently quite a few Scots who have never watched rugby league before have

travelled down to see us play, which is amazing.”

No one was expecting Scotland to make the quarter-finals. They did it by

winning against Tonga and the United States and drawing with Italy, and then

crossing their fingers while Tonga played Italy. A YouTube video shows the

Scots watching that match in their Manchester hotel. As the final Tongan try

is confirmed and a quarter-final place becomes a reality, you see a

beer-spraying, ecstatic crew.

However, New Zealand are a different prospect to anything Scotland have faced

before. The Kiwis have scored 146 points during their serene progression to

the quarter-finals with victories over Papua New Guinea, France and Samoa.

Szostak cannot quite believe what they will walk out to this evening.

“It is a little bit daunting, but a massive challenge. I’ve never played on

this sort of stage before. They are a team of superstars, with people like

Sonny Bill Williams all at the top of the their game. We’re expecting quite

a bit of heavy traffic, we’ll be facing up to some of the big boys. In sport

in general you need an element of fear and excitement, and we’ll certainly

have both of those.

“I can’t believe we’ll be getting to be on the field when they are doing the

haka. We’ll probably just be stood staring to be honest.”

Although the Scots have the passion, the closest battle of the evening could

be the race to do a shirt swap with Williams. Danny Brough, Scotland’s

inspirational captain, is said to be to have pulled rank in order to secure

the booty. But whatever the result tonight, Szostak has still had the time

of his life. On Monday, it will either be even more surreal, or back at the

hospital, bent over a slide.

Probable teams

Scotland M Russell; D Scott, B Hellewell, K Linnett, A Hurst or B

Carter; D Brough (capt), P Wallace; A Walker, I Henderson, L Douglas, B

Phillips, D Addy, B Kavanagh.
Subs A Henderson, A Szostak, M Stringer, O Wilkes.
New Zealand K Locke; R Tuivasa-Sheck, D Whare, B Goodwin, M Vatuvei; K

Foran, S Johnson; B Matulino, I Luke, J Bromwich, F Pritchard, S B Williams,

S Mannering.
Subs S Moa, F-P Nu’uausala, J Waera-Hargreaves, E Taylor.
Referee B Cummins (Australia).

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/24859463

Rugby League World Cup 2013: Scotland have nothing to lose against the Kiwis