Chris Harris knows that not everyone will get on the plane to the World Cup, but the big centre’s chances have definitely taken off after he made his mark in Scotland’s resilient 17-14 victory over France.
Harris, winning his ninth cap but starting only for the third time, had a big hand in creating Scotland’s first try which came just in time after the French had gone 14-3 up and looked to be gearing towards another dominating display to add to the 32-3 thrashing they handed the Scots in Nice a week ago.
The 28-year-old then scored the second half try that took Scotland into the lead, and his defence throughout the game was another huge tick on his report card with a coaching team that already likes the cut of his gib.
After the first cut of personnel in the training squad reduced the number of centres to six – with it likely that just four will go to Japan – Harris was widely considered to be the last of that group. Saturday’s performance might just have nudged him up a couple of places, but he’s taking nothing for granted.
“I know what I have to do to get a ticket to Japan and that one performance may not be enough,” he said. “It would mean everything to get on that plane, it’s been my goal and my dream.
“If I don’t make it I will be absolutely gutted and that’s what’s been driving me, that and the competition we have in the squad.”
All he could do was take the opportunity he was given, and there was no question that the Newcastle Falcon did just that.
“You can’t look beyond the game you are playing, the coaches are giving nothing away,” he continued. “I’m not aware if the final squad has been selected or indeed the positions they are unsure of.
“Obviously they want to ensure there’s that added edge to our play. There is pressure and you have to deal with it in your own way, we all know not everyone can go to the World Cup.
“I feel like I’ve put myself in a good position. I have been training well and working hard.”
The try came on a set move with Harris coming late on an angle from deep to take a flat pass from Greig Laidlaw at full pace and smash through fringe tackles to score under the posts.
“I was running from pretty deep and thankfully Greig saw me and he picked me out,” he added. ““You could see with the celebrations that we are all in this together, everyone just wants to win.”
Harris and other members of Saturday’s team were at pains to point out that the credit for this week should go to everyone, as the criticism for last week was also owned by the entire squad.
“Every player was motivated last week and every player was motivated this week,” he said. “That first game against France was just a bad day at the office. We got a bit of kick up the backside on Tuesday when we returned to training and that kicked us on as a group.
“The players were upset by the performance they put in in Nice and we were all desperate to put a few wrongs right. We were fired up emotionally to react and I think we did that.”
