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EDINBURGH - Scotland coach Frank Hadden has issued a rallying call to home supporters ahead of Tuesday's World Cup Pool C match against Romania.
Fewer than 25,000 tickets have been sold for the clash at Murrayfield and Hadden has warned fans that they may be missing out on
the chance of a lifetime and evidently hoping the Murrayfield bosses will not have to resort to the lengths of the 1999 edition where they introduced canned applause because there were so few spectators turning up - leading to them being ridiculed.
"There has been a lot of excitement generated over in France at the World Cup and we desperately want to sustain that with a quality performance on Tuesday night," said Hadden, whose side beat Portugal 56-10 in their opening match.
"Obviously we want as many people as possible to turn out. I think it would be a shame if we are to do something special in this World Cup (and the
supporters don't turn out for the Romania game) - people will be killing themselves for missing an opportunity to come and see us.
"It would be great if we got an excellent crowd. The figure at the moment is 23,000 which is similar to that for the Ireland and South Africa games and that (number) generated a tremendous atmosphere for both of those games and we are assuming we are going to get more of the same."
Scotland skipper Jason White said the team were looking to replicate the Braveheart spirit - recalling the Mel Gibson-directed Hollywood blockbuster about Scottish mediaeval hero William Wallace who took on the English which won several Academy Awards - shown by the country's football side in their shock 1-0 Euro 2008 qualifying victory over France in Paris last week and hoped the supporters would play their part.
"It was a great result for the footballers. They were not given too much of a hope but went over there and showed what can be achieved with good teamwork and a good work ethic. We will be looking to transfer those things into our game against Romania," said the Sale flanker.
"I hope we will see the drip-down effect with the Scottish fans coming out to support us at Murrayfield when we take on Romania. That would be a perfect knock-on effect for us. Our confidence is good but if you can make people want to come out and support Scotland, even better."
Scotland's World Cup fate will probably not be decided until the final group match with bogey team Italy - who lost badly to the All Blacks before an unimpressive 24-18 win over Romania last week - in St Etienne on September 29.
- AFP