Rory Darge keen to take positives despite defeat to France

Darge admitted emotions were “raw” among the Scotland players post-match, but refused to criticse the officials for not awarding Sam Skinner what would have been a match-winning try.  

“You get some decisions go your way and you get some against you.  

“We’re absolutely gutted because Skinso feels like he’s got it, and when we’re watching the big screen it looks like its maybe down, but the decision was that it was no try so once it’s gone that way, it is what it is. 

“For us, there is a couple of things in here we can do to avoid getting into that position, so that all we can focus on. There’s not much point focussing on whether that decision was right or not because it’s gone now.” 

Darge, who was involved in the play immediately before Skinner’s drive for the line, felt the Edinburgh lock had got it down.  

READ MORE: Gregor Townsend 'absolutely gutted' after Scotland's loss to France

“I feel like he got it down, especially in the replay because I didn’t see t at the time, but it doesn’t matter what I think.  

“Like I said, it was probably his on-field decision which made it more difficult for him to give the try. 

Darge said he was trying not to read too much into the communication between the officials.  

"I heard him [referee Nic Berry] say his on-field decision was no try, so initially I was gutted, but then he sent it to the TMO to have a look and you see it on the big screen and get a bit excited.  

“I still thought he might not give it so it was a rollercoaster, especially at that point in the game.” 

Despite a heartbreaking defeat, Darge was keen to focus on the positives, while conceding his side cannot let the game slip away from a winning position.  

“We’ll look back at some point after relaxing tonight and taking a wee bit time away from it, and we’ll see some of the good stuff. 

“The physically, the way we managed the game, there’s lots of positives. The set-piece was really good as well, we put their line-out under a lot of pressure. 

“But I’m sure we’ll look at the things we can get better at because there’s three games left, so our focus is on getting better at what we can. 

“It’s tough to think about that right now, but we’ll start that on Monday or Tuesday.”