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Defence will be crucial - Paterson
28/08/2007 8:25:00 AM
PA Sport
Chris Paterson is not concerned by Scotland's lack of firepower - because he believes defence will be the key to success in the World Cup.
Frank Hadden's side failed to make many inroads in South Africa's defensive line in the Test match at Murrayfield.
Paterson, though, believes Scotland's cutting edge will develop as the World Cup progresses while insisting that a solid defence will be more important to enjoying success in France.
He said: "More game time and more match-sharpness will help our attacking edge. Not many sides score against South Africa - in fact not many teams score tries full stop these days.
"Defences seem to be on top in world rugby and I don't see it as a bigger concern for us than anyone else but we just need to keep working on trying to break down the defences which seem to be on top at the moment.
"Unfortunately defence seems to be the thing that wins World Cups these days. Our defence against South Africa was on the whole very good.
"I think physically we matched them and can't remember too many missed tackles across the side. It was our control which let us down a bit, although that is to be expected as it was only our second game after a long lay-off.
"It would be nice to see it turn round in the World Cup and get back to some attacking rugby.
"We found a little bit of space in the first 20 minutes around the breakdown and with a few wider passes from me to Jason [White], Kelly [Brown] and Dave Callam.
"Rory Lamont found a bit of space early on, it's just that against a team as good as South Africa you then need to do something special to finish them off."
The Gloucester utility back is also much more confident about Scotland chances in the tournament than he was before the 2003 World Cup.
Scotland endured a poor build-up to the event in Australia and eventually bowed out to the host in the quarter-finals after a brave but limited performance.
Paterson said: "Playing a team that is ranked in the top three in the world as opposed to the top six is always going to be tougher.
"They were a better side than Ireland but on the whole I thought there were a lot of positives to take from the match.
"The tries they got were obviously a negative and coming in such close succession it probably puts a negative perspective on the game.
"But take those eight minutes out of the game and we played some good stuff, especially beforehand. There was plenty of good attacking by us in the first 20 minutes but after that it was maybe a bit obvious that they have played a lot more games than us.
"That game will help us no end in getting up to speed for the World Cup because it was a big step up from Ireland and now the next games are Portugal and Romania, so our attention turns to them.
"You can actually detect things getting sharper. I think we can be far more confident and positive following the warm-up games than we did before the 2003 World Cup.
"We defeated Italy but were then beaten by Wales and Ireland in two heavy defeats, which was poor.
"This time we've had the win against Ireland and although it was disappointing to lose against South Africa there were a lot of positives to come out of it.
"They are probably second favourites for the World Cup and had their strongest team out against us and we helped them on their way with a couple of tries but otherwise we competed well."
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