Scotland vs France

I have been reading mnay opinions about how poor the match was between Scotland and England, and it got me thinking about what people expect from a rugby match.

My first requirement is that a team must be good at the set piece.
The next requirement is that their defensive structures must be in place.
The next requirement is commitment form players in defence and attack.
Then I expect a team to go full tilt into the tackle and breakdown area, maintain momentum, rythm and lastly create scoring opportunities.
Then with all things being equal, the referee has been consistent to both sides.
Lastly a few well finished moves will be the cherry on the cake.

Now when comparing Scotland with France on the weekend.

Scotland had 26 set pieces in the match and had 80% success in the line outs and 94% success at the scrums. They won 120 of 127 rucks and had 3 succesful mauls out of 3.

France had 17 set pieces in the match and had only 70% success at the line outs and 100% success at the scrums. They won 97 0f 102 rucks and had 3 succesful mauls out of 4.

Scotland had 100% tackle success rate and France 96%

Scotland had 7/14/8 clean breaks/defenders beaten/offloads and france had 4/17/14 clean breaks/defenders beaten/offloads.

Scotland had 72% territory and France 34%

Scotland had 68% territory and france 40%

Scotland had twice as many passes and almost twice as many runs as France, and they ran 450 meters vs France's 415.

So in most aspects Scotland played better than france, when you compare the opposition of each team, there is even more a case for complimenting scotland on the way they dominated.

The next factor is the talent in the scottish team vs the Talent in the french team.

I am sorry but the only thing scotland did baly yesterday and for some time now is nt being able to finish moves accurately and that could very well be down to a question of lack of talented enough players. but you cannot criticise a team that went out there to play positive rugby and tried their best.

Yes they need a coach who can hone their spacial awareness and running angles, someone who will be able to hone their attacking skills, but when a team dominates posession, territory, do all the basics of rugby right apart from one aspect ( attack and finishing) and they did what scotland did yesterday by keeping england on the back foot for at least the last 20 minutes of the match, then perhaps your opinion of what is good is skewed.

thanks for listening to my rant.

honestly i think scotland have a shot- france have not been playing well either

Scotland's woes are two fold: Robinson cannot select the appropriate players (there are too many to detail but there are at least 4 players who should not have started yesterday).
this was down fall as England coach and will be his undoing in his current post.

Secondly we have no ideas in attack (leaving aside the selection of Parks at 10 and Lamont at 12 who cannot pass) there appears to be absolutely no patterns to our "attack".we simply shift the ball wide looking for space, when none appears we recyle and repeat until we knock on/ turn over the ball. gregor townsend seems to have attended the Martin Johnston school of coaching. Ie. getting a crucial coaching role without any experience to speak of, and procced to look clueless.

Until these two issues are successfully addresses we will continue to fight Italy for the wooden spoon. This season with Brunel at the helm this is another fight we look likely to lose in Rome.

Interesting to see a truly neutral point of view, not just a Welshman or Irishman having a go at how crap England or Scotland are etc...

I agree i actually enjoyed the Scotland v England match more France v Italy. There was a lot more intensity and passion in it and apart from a few outstanding tries the French game was too error strewn and it seemed like a training run to me at times. I quite enjoy a forward tussle now and again.

I do not even want to think what a quality team like France will do to Scotland. That utter wa **er Robinson will play Parks and someone else out of position and no cover in the backs as per feckin usual. France will destroy everyone apart from Wales. They will really do a number on Scotland though. Christ it will be so embarrassing.

have abit more faith galsgow dude!

you gotta take heart out of some of your stats v england- its not all doom and gloom

Thanks Sensi. I am still in a foul mood after witnessing that dross yesterday so not really making argumentative (?!) sense. I really want to lash out at someone and I guess that wee diddy Robinson fits the bill perfectly. The amount I have spent watching Scotland and the Warriors would make you eyes water but I have bloody had it now. I will watch the Warriors at home and thats it. You really only can take so much !

Don't give up 21st Cen... You guys didn't look that bad. I actually thought you attacked pretty and played with purpose, just couldn't finish of those chances unfortunately.

Were France really that good? I reckon Scotland will surprise a few this year. There's a decent forward or two kicking about and much as I hate to jump on a bandwagon, when Parks is gone (as surely he is now), there's a chance of an upset or three. Nothing I've seen this weekend forwards wise would worry me if i were a scot!

France were not that good, but they always looked like if things went badly and they ended up behind they could go up about 3 gears and score tries on every play. They always look like that, but now they looked like they wanted to defend and play with structure too. Look at Fafana- a bit naff all match then he got one opportunity and there was nothing the Italian defence could do to touch him. Clerc chipped and chased on his own 22 and it nearly worked. They can step it up whenever they like, the way to beat them is to rattle them really early then don't let them get the ball, alla England in RWC 2007