Your Scotland Squad v Italy

First topic message reminder :

Alright Scots lads (and any lasses) it's that time of year again, when we all sit round, grab a beer (or 6) and watch the pinnacle of wooden spoon rugby, the experts of choke, also-rans and "we nearly beat them this time". Those magnificent 2 teams in the 6 nations that roll their 32 sided die at competition time and see if they'll upset any of the other 4 teams (with all other 28 slots reserved for 'only try against Italy/Scotland - delete as appropriate). My my, it has come round so fast. Super Saturday match no.1 (also known as "well we have to make the first match of Super Saturday in *some* way watchable by knowing it'll be a wooden spoon fest" ... indeed I won't go into how drawing up the fixture list in this way often FORCES this fixture to be so, because that is the power of psychology). The drama awaits. The knock ons beckon. The rock solid defence is ready to crumble. Andrew Cotter can't sleep.

Rome is booming this year, but WHAT will indeed commence? Probably a snooze fest intermingled with some poor defending allowing for the occasional try. But what is certain is we'll have our heads in hands, as is tradition, all over again.

WHAT Scotland team would you pick if you were Robinson? Okay not if you were Robinson because we all know he will do something like surprise us all and actually pick Matt Scott, albeit at 9, move Blair out of the XXII completely, put Cusiter on the wing, move Lamont to 10 in a bid to get him to play everywhere before retirement and bench Laidlaw only to not use him anyway. [And that's just the backline, don't get me started on the positional switch he decides is a masterstroke regarding Richie Gray] but if you were head coach of your own right?

Here's mine:

1 Jacobsen
2 Ford [C - only for consistency's sake]
3 Welsh
4 Gray
5 Hamilton
6 Harley
7 Rennie
8 Denton
9 Blair
10 Laidlaw
11 Lamont
12 Scott
13 De Luca
14 Jones
15 Hogg
16 Murray
17 Lawson
18 Kellock
19 Barclay
20 Weir
21 Morrison
22 Thompson [come on, was S Lamont seriously covering FB last game?]

Game plan: GO OUT AND PLAY BOYS. If you are doing well you ain't getting subbed off - promise.

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

flyhalffactory wrote:
Cheers mate , at the moment it looks like you are the only one who has commented on Scotts performance

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:As for Matt Scott's cameo against Ireland he was out of position and had to deal with dreadful service from those inside him. A farcry from being able to judge him. He has now been dropped which is IMO inexcusable.

Thats ok I don't mind being ignored

RuggerRadge

You are my main man............. sorry mate

Not sure about been out of position, he has played around that area for us this season , agree he is a more natural I/C and I would have liked to have seen the following against the Azzuri

15 Hogg
14 Evans
11 Lamont

13 NDL
12 Scott

10 Laidlaw or Weir
9 Blair or Laidlaw

Feckin Cuthbert FFS !!!!!!!!!!!

Right just for a laugh - unleash Hamilton, Gray, Jacobsen, Cross and Lamont - Max Evans might be a bit tasty here too (!!!!!). First bit of naughty contact by the Eyeties and 99 call it and blooter the nearest opponent. Even that lunatic Rolland (aided by Clancy FFS !!!) would not card everyone - what a game that would be.

ROBINSON MUST GO -NOW

Someone way more intelligent than me once posted on here that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different out come. In that case Robinson and Townsend are a pair of dangerous nutters.

Did Townsend go and see Cuthbert and watch the wrong one who plays for Wales perhaps ?

ROBINSON MUST GO -NOW

sensisball wrote:To be fair i am basing my views on him on the 60 minutes he had for Scotland against Ireland in the World cup warm up match. He caught some high balls under little pressure, made a couple of straight forward tackles and kicked a few balls out. He looked totally one paced and didnt break the defensive line once.

Nothing to indicate that he was anywhere near international class.

i believe he hasnt nailed a starting place at 15, playing second string to Nick Abendanon, a good but not exceptional club player.

He has however got some starts in the mighty LV cup, predominately used by clubs to give their bench/ back up players a few games.

So nothing suggests that he has suddenly become an international class player. Maybe we will get to see on Saturday, i certainly hope so and am quite prepared to eat my words if he can perform effectivley.

Fair enough mate, here's a slightly old (2010) video of him having a good game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCxuE9OLzxY&feature=related

I wouldn't say he is international class player but he is a well balanced player. Strong in defense, good kicker, has good ball skills and although not as fast as hogg he is a hard man to bring down.

The 2nd half on Saturday should be very interesting. As both Scotland and Italy tend to play well and keep the game close for the first 40, before falling away / collapsing in the 2nd half.

Case in point at our last 6 defeats, we see the failure to close out games.

RWC
V Argentina 6-3 up at half time.
V England 9-3 up at half time.

6 Nations
V England 6-3 up at half time
V Wales 3 all at half time
V France 10 all at half time
V Ireland 22-14 down at half time

Now looking at both Scotland and Italy's games in the 6 Nations so far.
Italy on average concede 17 points in the 2nd half. And in return on average score less than 3 points in reply.

Whilst Scotland aren't much better conceding an average of 14 points in the 2nd half. And in return we muster a meagre average of 4 points.

So what do the above stats tell us, not much other than we're marginally better than Italy. And as such I suspect Scotland to squeak it in Rome

Interesting, and depressing stats!

I wouldn't mind if we'd had a similar six nations with Hogg, Scott, Weir and Laidlaw in from the start because at least then they would have learn from the experience but honestly what does anyone gain from the Lamonts, Morrison, Parks etc. They've proven that they aren't good enough for international rugby or at the very least that they don't work together. Let's look ahead, let's look to phase out anyone over 26 except Ford, Hamilton, Brown and Blair who at very good but the average players need to go.
Before this tournament I had faith in Robinson but he has shown himself to be a stubborn little man with as much talent for selecting as an indecisive schitzophrenic, I'm willing to see how he works with his new team of coaches but if it doesn't work he has to go no excuses.
You can guarantee he'll come out with some crap such as "I capped Hogg, Jones, Scott and Weir therefore I've succeeded. The players were crap as was the referee and the linesman and the set piece and the fans and the groundsmen in fact the only blameless people are myself and Gregor Townsend who won't be coming back next year becuase something had to go wrong at the pro clubs".

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Italy: 15 Andrea Masi, 14 Giovambattista Venditti, 13 Tommaso Benvenuti, 12 Gonzalo Canale, 11 Mirco Bergamasco, 10 Kristopher Burton, 9 Edoardo Gori, 8 Sergio Parisse, 7 Robert Barbieri, 6 Alessandro Zanni, 5 Marco Bortolami, 4 Quintin Geldenhuys, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Leonardo Ghiraldini, 1 Andrea Lo Cicero
Replacements: 16 Tommaso D'Apice, 17 Lorenzo Cittadini, 18 Joshua Furno, 19 Simone Favaro, 20 Manoa Vosawai, 21 Tobias Botes, 22 Giulio Toniolatti

Let me be the first to say it. Man for man, with the exception of Burton (Laidlaw is better), Italy have better backs than we do. I think we have better locks, a better openside flanker and a better hooker. In conclusion, we run the risk of being outclassed. The key for us will be Burton. He does for Italy what Parks used to do for us - stifle the backs. Masi, Venditti and Benvenuti are all top class runners, and Canale and Gori are no mugs. We're going to need a massive defensive performance, and Hogg is going to need to put on his counter-attacking boots (because Burton will not kick particularly well), if Hogg starts an aerial ping-pong contest then we can certainly conclude that it's the tactical impact of our elite coaches.

To beat this side we will need to play at a high pace, takes some risks and compete as best we can at the set piece (Italy base so much of their game around it).

I wouldn't want to be putting much money on Scotland for this one. Not on the back of the Ireland game.

123456789 wrote:You can guarantee he'll come out with some crap such as "I capped Hogg, Jones, Scott and Weir therefore I've succeeded.

But that shouldn't wash. He wouldn't have capped Hogg had Evans not been injured in the first game (thus using Hogg at 15 and moving Rory Lamont, his first choice 15, to cover on the wing). He was clearly iching to pick Morrison because he slung him straight in at 12 as soon as he was fit, so Lamont would have been on the wing in place of Jones most likely (and Scott was nowhere near the equation with both Morrison and S Lamont deemed to be better at 12). Laidlaw only got a game when Parks retired (Robinson had him down as first choice at the start of the tournament), and Robinson has made it very clear that Weir would have been nowhere near the side had Parks and Jackson both been available. Despite no form whatsoever, Jackson has come in straight ahead of Weir, so despite form this season, Weir was 4th choice in Robinson's eyes.

Assuming no injuries and pre-Parks' retirement after the first match, Robinson's first choice backline would be as follows:

9.Cusiter 10.Parks 11.S Lamont 12.Morrison 13.NDL 14.Evans 15.R Lamont

That is genuinely the backline he'd have gone for at the start of this tournament if given the chance.

Seriously, you can't give him credit for "bringing through youth". The only two young players he has genuinely backed are Richie Gray and David Denton. Do we really think an international rugby coach deserves credit for seeing the potential in those two???

I beginning also to think that AR is just not a man manager, if he was we would not have seen the stupidity of the Parks retirement no matter what you think of Parks is was totally mishandled.

Through necessity Hogg was given his chance in Wales and what a breath of fresh air, Jones also but then we grind to a all familial halt.

If in his position I would rather go out with all guns blazing, but no lets keep it tight and just hope we will win this game.

I will always support but really fed up with miss management and endeavor from the top of the SRU I trust Boldrick I have a cunning plan?????

MacKnocked-on wrote:Scott gets dropped for failing to hold an impossible bullet pass from Jackson who keeps his place (he's prone to flinging out these types of passes). Weir played pretty well when he came on against France but he too was dropped. Grove played well in his two or three games two seasons ago but hasn't featured since. There must be more than a few young players hoping for a change of coach now I would imagine.

Spot on and it's quite a list now - Weir, Grove, Thompson, Welsh, Scott, Murchie, Ryder, Harley, Beattie - goes on and on.

Have loved some of the posts here today and sadly all are justified.

It does not detract all at from the good occasional wins that AR has achieved in the past to suggest that he now is no longer up to the job and his poor selections are inconsistent with his apparent game plan and is crippling the team.

Dying for John Beattie Snr to blog about Lineen being ousted. Will the big chap be brave enough to open that Pandora's Box?

GC, I don't think he will - with his son involved, it's too close to the bone I suspect

GC/ASBO

John Beattie did say he would blog post the now laughable SRU press conference where that idiot Lowe dismissed Lineen's views and those of the supporters. Another nasty deviant at the SRU!

ROBINSON MUST GO -NOW

Well to be fair the ousting of Lineen was a monstrous act. A guy who has given it his all for Glasgow despite having to contend with losing his players and getting little support from the SRU for the bulk of his tenure all the while grinding out wins against the likes of Tolouse, Bath, Castres in the HC and making the Celtic League play offs already and in a good position to make them again.

Shameful.

Thom Evans is not wrong in today's Torygraph:

Six Nations 2012: five things Scotland need to do bring more success in future. Scotland have done a lot of good this year, but scoring more points than the opposition has not been one of them.

By Thom Evans

So on the weekend of their final RBS Six Nations game of 2012, what do they have to do to change that? And what needs to be done to bring more success in the future? This is my to-do list:

1. Play the territory game more smartly. The dynamism of the Scotland pack and the line-breaks being made by Scottish players in recent weeks have shown what they can do as a team, but too much of their best work has been happening at the wrong end of the pitch.

Whipping the ball across the backline makes a great spectacle, but it doesn't have much effect on the scoreboard if you're doing it in your own 22. It's great that Greig Laidlaw is a running fly-half, but every playmaker needs a good kicking game in his tool kit as well.

2. Master the restart. I've been surprised by how ineffective Scotland have been in that area this season. It's not as if we lack physical presence any more, as Richie Gray, Jim Hamilton and Dave Denton are all pretty strapping specimens.

In a lot of games nowadays there are more restarts than scrums, and possession gained there is as precious as anywhere else. Against Ireland, particularly, weaknesses at the restart saw Scotland concede soft scores at points in the game when they should have been taking control and protecting a lead.

3. Learn to relax. It's maybe easier said than done because a Test match is a pretty intense environment, but failures of composure have Scotland points in almost every game so far.

Pressure seems to have been getting to players within sight of the opposition line, adding to the impression that they play their worst rugby in the very place where something special is needed.

It surprises me that there doesn't seem to be a sports psychologist around the team any more. Wales have benefited hugely from professional help in that area and it's something we should be doing again as well.

4. Put trust in young players. In Scotland we've traditionally been slow to give youth a chance. It's staggering that 19-year-old Stuart Hogg became the youngest player for almost 50 years to win a Scottish cap when he came on as a replacement against Wales.

With modern strength and conditioning programmes, young players are physically up to the job much earlier nowadays and they should be given the chance to show it. All the signs are that Scotland has its best crop of young players for a generation, and the success of Hogg, Lee Jones and Denton shows that faith will be rewarded.

5. Get the numbers up. Scotland has the smallest player base of all the major nations. What's maddening, though, is that we then compound that problem with a game that is still seen in some quarters as the preserve of a certain social class.

When I was with Glasgow I met a lot of youngsters who were enthusiastic about playing the game, but opportunities to do so were limited by facilities, lack of access to clubs and other reasons.

Class has never been an issue in the Borders and the area has produced hundreds of international players; it should be that way across all of Scotland.

In other words the coaching is poor ergo Robinson must go

The bit Thom says about class is something I've said before. As I grew up in Australia where class in sport is not an issue I found it remarkably unusual to hear people in Scotland trying to tell me that rugby was for the upper classes. That is total bull and should be completely eliminated from Scottish society. It makes me so mad that people can be that narrow minded.

I think the Warriors/Edinburgh are doing a great job at getting kids into rugby in Glasgow/surrounding area and i'd like to see more of that. Proper facilities and more importantly, PE teachers, schools that give kids the chance to try rugby out. I'm sure work is being done to achieve this and I really hope it pays off in the future.

bsando wrote:The bit Thom says about class is something I've said before. As I grew up in Australia where class in sport is not an issue I found it remarkably unusual to hear people in Scotland trying to tell me that rugby was for the upper classes. That is total bull and should be completely eliminated from Scottish society. It makes me so mad that people can be that narrow minded.

I think the Warriors/Edinburgh are doing a great job at getting kids into rugby in Glasgow/surrounding area and i'd like to see more of that. Proper facilities and more importantly, PE teachers, schools that give kids the chance to try rugby out. I'm sure work is being done to achieve this and I really hope it pays off in the future.

bsando, it's an odd one, certainly fairly true of the central belt (sadly), but much less so of the Borders and Ayrshire, for example - hopefully it's on the wane tho