Taylor haunted by defeat to Pumas

Scotland number eight Simon Taylor admits every player involved in the World Cup defeat by Argentina will be forever "haunted" by the result.

Taylor, who has left Edinburgh to join Stade Francais, was left shattered by Sunday’s 19-13 setback in Paris.

Scotland had high hopes of reaching the semi-finals after being paired with the South Americans in the last eight.

But an under-par performance scuppered their hopes, with a late rally failing to produce the second try Scotland needed to give themselves a chance.

Taylor wrote in his column for The Times: “Scottish and British sport has a tendency towards unrealistic expectations but in this case we knew we had a great chance of winning and reaching the semi-finals.

“I think our failure to do so will haunt us all for the rest of our careers.

“There are absolutely no excuses to be made, we simply didn’t play well enough and were beaten by a very competent team sticking to a game-plan they know inside out.”