Scotland gain great respect for Pacific tour

It is fantastic to see that Scotland have gained massive respect from the pacific nations for their tour this summer. Not just for agreeing to do the tour in the first place, but the way they have conducted themselves, the way they have integrated with the communities and the impact and excitement they have caused from the places they have visited.

And to top it all off, Samoan player Eliota Sapolu (the controversial one from the world cup) has publicly said on Twitter numerous times (he has 18000 followers) how impressed he's been with the Scotland players and how amazing it is that they are touring the pacific countries.

#Rugbyshoutout to Scotland rugby in the Pacific at the moment doing what most rich countires are scared to do. Thank you.

Some articles and videos for those who don't follow the SRU website:

Cusiter has the crowd going wild with his answers and dance moves

http://www.scotlandrugbyteam.org/content/view/3114/2/

Charity donation

http://www.scotlandrugbyteam.org/content/view/3108/2/

The team visits a flood damaged village and donates kit (and does some dancing!)

http://www.scotlandrugbyteam.org/content/view/3097/55/

And finally my favourite - Scotland and Fiji locked in a huddle together after the game, Natani Taeli leading them in prayer. Powerful image of rugby united!

http://www.scotlandrugbyteam.org/content/view/3107/2/


So well done Scotland - I'm so proud of the way they've conducted themselves and lets hope we give Samoa the ultimate respect and beat them!

Very good to hear, they deserve the respect and accolades, good on them for being such grand ambassadors for Scotland.

I agree, it's great for countries to tour places that are otherwise isolated from the international crowd. Frankly i'd like to see a teams at least tour the African countries or eastern Europe properly

African countries??

The only ones I know are Kenya and they only play 7s really.

Any of the top 12 teams would put 100 points on the African teams.

I agree about Eastern Europe - Romania and Georgia would be an eye opener!

Namibia too. Zimbabwe have a rich rugby heritage

A tour team , with the inevitable experimentation and injuries, would not find Romania or Georgia anywhere as easy as I suspect they think they would!

Namibia and Zimbabwe would get humped by anyone in the top 12 though.

Would be great to see the IRB fund a Romania or Georgia or someone like that to go.

As I said - Romania and Georgia would be a beast of a tour!

Zim does have a rich heritage... but only in player creation, not the actual test team.
Given Namibia with all 200 registered players gets the 2nd African spot in the RWC it shows how poor the game is outside of SA.

Anyhow, I'm really please thus far with our boys... they've done well. Samoa will be tough however.... we're not going to just waltz in there and get the victory... if they play their best players i.e. those in Europe it will be as tough as playing AUS a few weeks ago.

I recall reading about when Wales last played in Samoa maybe 15 years ago. The weather conditions were so extreme that at one point Neil Jenkins got the ball and started running towards his own goal line such was his point of dehydration and heat exhaustion. They lost that match.

Hopefully the wins will be able to drag us to some real belief in our own abilities and bring home some more respectable results. If we want to be successful 20 years from now, we have to be successful now, you don't inspire kids by losing 7 matches in a row and being the whipping boys of tier 1 world rugby.

Anyhow, can't leave post in a negative stance, the boys have really turned it around... lets keep it going.

Yeah Samoa with Alesena Tuilagi and Fasa = a very capable team

Great to see more of the tour off the rugby pitch, especially the effort the lads are making and the hospitality the hosts are showing. Long may it continue

More teams should visit Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.

You can only play the teams in front of you and in that respect Scotland have been a highlight of the home nations.

I hope this tour does more than build confidence. Scots have been a sleeping giant too long.

Yeah, well done Scotland I've done a bit of work in Fiji and they really love their rugby, more 7s, but still 15s. The Fijians are the lovliest and most humble of people and they'll be eternally grateful that a big team went out of their way to play there. Hopefully a start of more tours to the islands in future.

ChequeredJersey wrote:A tour team , with the inevitable experimentation and injuries, would not find Romania or Georgia anywhere as easy as I suspect they think they would!

Last year the Kings (the 10th best team in South Africa) played in the Nations Cup. They beat Georgia, Romania and Portugal fairly easily to win the Cup.

http://www.irb.com/nationscup/news/newsid=2061161.html#2011+sa+kings+claim+title

Now the Kings made up a good part of the Southern Barbarians side who were thumped by England B last week.

I don't think any A team would break into a sweat against any of them.

lammergeier wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:A tour team , with the inevitable experimentation and injuries, would not find Romania or Georgia anywhere as easy as I suspect they think they would!

Last year the Kings (the 10th best team in South Africa) played in the Nations Cup. They beat Georgia, Romania and Portugal fairly easily to win the Cup.

http://www.irb.com/nationscup/news/newsid=2061161.html#2011+sa+kings+claim+title

Now the Kings made up a good part of the Southern Barbarians side who were thumped by England B last week.

I don't think any A team would break into a sweat against any of them.

I think playing Georgia in Georgia would be a tougher proposition (especially if a touring side played mid-week games too). The same would be true for Romania. Remember the Kings only beat Romania by 4 points and Geogia by 14 in the Nations Cup. I think it would be a great tour for all involved - I'd watch it if it were televised.

Gerogia and rumania - it needs to be club teams they play against and or invitation teams. No point in getting cuffed by 50 + points every game - far better to have entertaining competative game

I would let them enter the Heineken cup or the amlin

lammergeier wrote:

ChequeredJersey wrote:A tour team , with the inevitable experimentation and injuries, would not find Romania or Georgia anywhere as easy as I suspect they think they would!

Last year the Kings (the 10th best team in South Africa) played in the Nations Cup. They beat Georgia, Romania and Portugal fairly easily to win the Cup.

http://www.irb.com/nationscup/news/newsid=2061161.html#2011+sa+kings+claim+title

Now the Kings made up a good part of the Southern Barbarians side who were thumped by England B last week.

I don't think any A team would break into a sweat against any of them.

Probably didn't help Georgia that most of their first choice players weren't selected due to continuing commitments in the French leagues.

End of season tour to Fiji and Tonga sounds good to me beats the fleshpots of Tenby anyway .

Full marks to Scotland for this .

I think theres a bit of baiting here, come on big boys don't be scared of us!!!

In reality Ireland, Wales, England and France would gain very little by sending full teams to the islands, and even less sending weakened/young teams there.

#Rugbyshoutout to Scotland rugby in the Pacific at the moment doing what most rich countires are scared to do. Thank you.

Pffft, seems like another dig to me. Elliot's punishment for his outbursts on Twitter during the RWC were not severe enough in my opninion. The guy should be banned from social networking!

I think if Scotland go 3/3 they should be lauded for this tour. They have gone to Aus and done them under pressure, then into the rugby cauldron that is the PI and won again and they have introduced Visser. Winning on tour is never easy and they are on a roll.

They have Italy, Ire and Wales at home next season having opened their account with the Calcutta Cup at Twickers...i expect to see them finish 4th.

thebluesmancometh wrote:I think theres a bit of baiting here, come on big boys don't be scared of us!!!

In reality Ireland, Wales, England and France would gain very little by sending full teams to the islands, and even less sending weakened/young teams there.

Bit of baiting yourself there. Scotland have done all that is required of them this tour and you seem to be the one belittling them unnecessarily.

I've just looked over the video links, makes you proud and actually the 3 wins is the bonus. For such a dour bxgger AR seems to have got the balance right on how to conduct ourselves on tour.

Scotland get to play Italy next year BEFORE the last weekend?!?! At HOME?

What's more, 3 home games in a row??

France the LAST instead of FIRST weekend?

Who invented this absurdly not-biased-against-Scotland fixture list ??

Scotland up into 9th in the IRB.

Full marks to Scotland. Job done.

3-0 in the SH is no mean feat no matter who you're playing. And for one of them to be Aus is even better.

Well done Scotland. A good tour and excellent results, especially beating Australia in the first test of the tour.

Congratulations. Well played.

mowgli wrote:I think if Scotland go 3/3 they should be lauded for this tour. They have gone to Aus and done them under pressure, then into the rugby cauldron that is the PI and won again and they have introduced Visser. Winning on tour is never easy and they are on a roll.

They have Italy, Ire and Wales at home next season having opened their account with the Calcutta Cup at Twickers...i expect to see them finish 4th.

So you can't see us beating Wales next 6Ns?

I can't see us beating all of Italy, Ireland & Wales. If we do it's *definitely* progress but with recent records I'd take 2, with the other match to the wire probably.

flyhalffactory wrote:

mowgli wrote:I think if Scotland go 3/3 they should be lauded for this tour. They have gone to Aus and done them under pressure, then into the rugby cauldron that is the PI and won again and they have introduced Visser. Winning on tour is never easy and they are on a roll.

They have Italy, Ire and Wales at home next season having opened their account with the Calcutta Cup at Twickers...i expect to see them finish 4th.

So you can't see us beating Wales next 6Ns?

right now i can see my gran's bridge club whooping wale sin the last minute......honestly they shoudln't beat wales but then they shouldn't have beaten Aus or Samoa. Wins bring confidence and I think they could win all 3 games and also lose all 3 games but i expect them to win against either wales or ireland and of course being scotland they could also beat the english. Blimey the way France are right now they coudl be heading for a Slam.

I fancy us to beat Scotland again aswell, it appears to be the norm after the last 5. Well done to Scotland for coming home unbeaten though, Samoa are no mugs, neither was the Aus team. I'm not going to raise expectations yet though, not until I see the Scotland rugby team back it up in the AI's and following 6 Nations. They didn't back it up the last time btw...

ChequeredJersey wrote:Namibia too. Zimbabwe have a rich rugby heritage

Quite correct but you have to tell people Zimbabwe were called Rhodesia in those days and had a draw and win against New Zealand. Though did lose all 9 games they played against the Lions.

The other African Union was East Africa which has now split into Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and they used to play the Lions too.

Though none of these teams in the modern age present a serious threat to and tier 1 nation at the moment.

As for Scotland I'm really glad they survived that Samoa game they did really well, hopefully they will have something to build on, you can't get better than beating every one that's put in front of you. I still think Ireland, England and Wales would of developed more because they have played higher intensity teams and had to play to higher standards, which will develop them more in the long term. but they have had a good tour and will have a good boost in confidence.

I think also that lack of game time to the bench generally was very poor, 5 weeks on tour and a few mins in a lot of cases.

Harley great but mins only? Weir 4 mins etc

So I think not development as Robinsons ego to proove a point or two.

Great so see AR with a big grin, that guy has balls of steel and deserves to be acknowledged for sticking with his team and showing a sense of loyalty that does the game proud

Guys - I know a few scottish fans (and other fans) on here were complaining about the lack of coverage. Well, hopefully this helps!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISNFJLfQreM&feature=g-u-u