Match thread - Edinburgh V the Zebras

[RDW]

First topic message reminder :

Edinburgh

15 Greig Tonks

14 Lee Jones
13 Nick De Luca
12 Matt Scott
11 Tim Visser

10 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN
9 Richie Rees

1 John Yapp
2 Ross Ford
3 Willem Nel
4 Grant Gilchrist
5 Sean Cox
6 Stuart McInally
7 Ross Rennie
8 Netani Talei

Substitutes
16 Andy Titterrell
17 Allan Jacobsen
18 Geoff Cross
19 Perry Parker
20 Dimitri Basilaia
21 Chris Leck
22 John Houston
23 Tom Brown


Zebre

15 Sinoti SINOTI
14 Giovanbattista VENDITTI*
13 Matteo PRATICHETTI
12 Daniel HALANGAHU
11 Ruggero TREVISAN*
10 Alberto CHIESA*
9 Tito TEBALDI

8 Andries VAN SCHALKWYK
7 Mauro BERGAMASCO
6 Emiliano CAFFINI*
5 Josh SOLE
4 Quintin GELDENHUYS
3 Luciano LEIBSON
2 Carlo FESTUCCIA
1 Andrea DE MARCHI

Replacements :
16 Andrea MANICI*
17 Matias AGUERO
18 Luca REDOLFINI
19 Filippo CAZZOLA*
20 Filippo FERRARINI*
21 Alberto CHILLON*
22 Paolo BUSO
23 Alberto BENETTIN*

[RDW]

Edinburgh website has Talei at 8

[RDW]

My earlier post showing the suggested team from the Scotsman is now up to date - spare some confusion!

[AsLongAsBut100ofUs]

Shame to break up the front-five after a good performance against Cardiff but hopefully the changes won't affect the strength of the side.

Why isn't Talei at 8, surely McInally isn't 1st choice. Same goes for when Denton's been playing, a whiff of Moffat about it.

Great to see Scott back, really exited to seeing if he can build on his impressive first season.

Jones is a lucky boy, three abject performance can't go unnoticed.

Fingers crossed for a BP.

Aye, think you should be good for an LBP

[RDW]

[AsLongAsBut100ofUs]

Tee hee

[RDW]

On a side note I'm taking the Mrs on a nice romantic trip to Paris in December - just so happens that it is a complete coincidence that it is also the same weekend as the Racing Metro away game!

Anyone else planning on making the trip?

[AsLongAsBut100ofUs]

On a side note I'm taking the Mrs on a nice romantic trip to Paris in December - just so happens that it is a complete coincidence that it is also the same weekend as the Racing Metro away game!

Anyone else planning on making the trip?

Nice planning, RDW

[RDW]

Just watched some of the interviews for the zebre game - it's worrying that everyone is saying we played well last week!

[funnyExiledScot]

That is cunning planning RDW!

My planning leaves much to be desired. Taking the Mrs out tomorrow night for dinner for her birthday so missing the Zebras game.

Haven't put my thought into travelling for HC fixtures. Must get thinking cap on.

[reallybored]

Picture of Matt Scott in the hootsman today and he's looking a lot bigger than last season.

Really hope he develops into a kiwi style 2nd five-eighth, offering the skills of a second play-maker and physicality of a crash ball centre. Plus if he could offer a second kicking option that'd be great, still not convinced by Laidlaw's kicking game.

[RDW]

Just as things start going well there's another ticket fiasco! Just went to book tickets for tonight and found they are 25 quid, despite articles on the Edinburgh website earlier in the week saying they will be 20 quid up until 5pm Friday.

Looked at the team announcement article yesterday and they had slightly changed it to midnight Thursday!

I put off buying tickets until today because I had entered their Facebook competition for free tickets and were announcing the winner this morning. I did it no the basis that if I didn't win I could get 20 quid tickets as per the articles earlier this week.

Anyway - emailed them asking what the hell is going on and hopefully I'll just get free tickets for the mix up!

[bsando]

That is genius RDW, I'm gonna attempt to formulate a similar plan! I was actually thinking about a trip with the missus to paris in october but i think december might be a better month now I'll let ya know if I book tickets.

[RDW]

bsando - the downside is now everyone thinks I'm gonna propose while I'm there!

[bsando]

Hadn't thought of that one. I've already been publicly embarrassed by my gf's mum. I stopped to tie my gf's shoe lace once and her mum started yelling "he's proposing! he's proposing!" A small crowd assembled

[EST]

Picture of Matt Scott in the hootsman today and he's looking a lot bigger than last season.

Really hope he develops into a kiwi style 2nd five-eighth, offering the skills of a second play-maker and physicality of a crash ball centre. Plus if he could offer a second kicking option that'd be great, still not convinced by Laidlaw's kicking game.

He has added some serious beef, the comparison with last year is amazing. I expect him to have a really good year, he could fully establish himself as first choice 12 for Scotia...although I think the reporter is pushing it a bit with the lions shout.

[reallybored]

Am I right in thinking that BBC Alba aren't picking this game up?

Any chance an Italian network will be broadcasting it?

[RDW]

Alba aren't showing it no.

I'd say Scott is very much in the dark horse category for the Lions - consider who his competition is at 12, no one really stands out other than Jamie Roberts who is long term injured just now.

Lets not put too much pressure on him though - he's had 1 great season but it was his first as a pro. Look how crap Lee Jones has been so far after a good season last year.

So I would see Scott has a better chance than most of the Scottish backs!

[RDW]

And yes he does look like a bit of a beast now! Lets hope he's not lost his pace which helped him ghost through gaps last season.

[EST]

He would have to go some this year to be selected, but I suppose its not outside the realms of possibility.

I just think the hootsman writer is getting a bit carried away with himself (shock!) - as you say lets not burden the lad too much, lets see how he goes in the AI's and 6 Nations first, before any lions chat.

[RDW]

Look at Keith Earls last tour - very inexperienced but showed up well at the right time, didn't have much stronger competition, and got on the plane!

[RDW]

All worked out very well after all with the ticket fiasco I mentioned this morning - got 3 tickets for the price of 2!

[tigertattie]

damm RDW, yer a tight fisted git

[Janecory]

Edinburgh 41 Zebre 10 FT

[21st Century Schizoid Man]

So - you beat the Zebras at home - big woweee !

[RDW]

Great contribution there schizoid.

[21st Century Schizoid Man]

No probs. Thanks.

[AsLongAsBut100ofUs]

Bravo the girners!! A wins a win, no matter who the oppo

[RDW]

Well as Schizoid said, it was only the Zebras at home, but doesn't matter - this was a cruical game to kick off our season and we not only got BP win but showed some great aspects to our play. Yes they didn't make it overly difficult for us but there was still some promising aspects - and disappointing too.

Positives
5 try win with ease

Penalty try for the forwards again 2 weeks in a row

Perfect lineout

Aggression at rucks

Tonks had a superb game again with the boot - two of his kicks he got just outside our 22 and he managed to loft them over the defenders and go out deep into their 22. Much be starting to come into Scotland contention if he carries on like this.

Our scrum was dominant over them, and we could then bring an international front row off the bench - strength in depth

WP Nel had a solid performance and is starting to grow into his role. Looks more match fit too. Yapp continues to impress.

Matt Scott looks in great shape and had a strong game - he had a great carving run through the defence on the build up to Ford's score - it was in the corner I was standing and it was a site to behold!

Laidlaw has found his kicking boots again with 100%

Richie Rees had a good game

Lee Jones didn't get decapitated when their 2nd row swung his tree trunk of an arm out and closelined him - should have been a red IMO

Visser scored 2 more tries!

Negatives
They scored a soft try

The subs totally disrupted the game and we were pretty flat once they game on, as opposed to lifting the tempo

Lee Jones had his worse game yet - and that is an achievement in itself! He let his opposite man ghost past him with a weak attempt at a tackle, had a few knock ons and ruined a flowing move when he dropped the ball with no pressure on him and after a decent pass

De Luca passed to touch 4 times

Alex Black was truly awful at scrum half when he came on


So all in all a good night but the big test starts next week against Leinster - they will have all their big guns out and we must do the same. Get oru 1st team out and give them a real test and see what they can do.

[Imperialbigdave]

Alex Black was truly awful at scrum half when he came on

I couldnt believe how bad he was when he came on. He seemed incapable of functioning inside our own 22.

[RDW]

Agreed. His clearance kick that got charged down was woeful! Any other thoughts since you were there?

[Imperialbigdave]

Agreed. His clearance kick that got charged down was woeful! Any other thoughts since you were there?

not much that hasnt already been said. Happy with 5 points, but it wasnt great. Bringing on the entire bench at once probably didnt help.

[funnyExiledScot]

It's all about clocking up the points, getting everyone a fit as possible and trying to improve the performance levels.

5 points was what we needed, and 5 points is what we got. Matt Scott made his comeback to action, and Tonks is proving a huge hit.

Now we need to get Farndale into the team. Bradley must now be looking at other options - Lee Jones is horribly off form. He needs to rebuild that somewhere else. We can't have a winger missing 9 out of 10 tackles.

[tigertattie]

"De Luca passed to touch 4 times"

at least he is passing

Surely Lee Jones needs to be dropped now? he is truly murder! He needs to go to the training ground and sort himself out. A few weeks would do him the world of good.

How annoyed must the repalcements be. Sitting there thinking how crap they must be if that gets picked ahead of them!

[George Carlin]

Jones definitely has the biggest target painted on his chest and has to pick up some arseskelfs warming the bench for a while. 4 poor games is not a blip, it's a demonstrable and consistent loss of form.

Farndale is absolutely wasted on the bench - am very, very keen to let the Robocop see his serious gas.

De Luca and what seems to be a newly genetically enhanced (or at least someone who has recently been eating his weeties) SuperScott have to stay as the centre pairing. We really need them to play well against the Blackness and the Bokke.

[RDW]

To be fair I think one of the passes to touch was from Matt Scott, so maybe only 3 from De Luca!

Don't get me wrong - Scott definitely looked rusty but he also looked strong and fit and added a real good balance to the backline. Everything was still a little bit too lateral for my liking though.

Talei was also quiet until he absolutely demolished a guy who made the mistake of going too high on him. It was his first game back though really so he won't quite be match fit.

[Captain_Sensible]

Are there any highlights anywhere?

[RDW]

They were on STV last night at 11.30pm - might be on ITV player. I think the Rabbo website gets them eventually too.

[funnyExiledScot]

I watched the highlights last night on STV. Difficult to judge players based on those. Scott looked very good in the passages of play shown, as did De Luca, but they obviously didn't focus on the errors made during the game.

Signing of the season so far is Tonks (although Rees looked sharper on Friday). Great attacking play and has an excellent boot on him. I trust a few words from the elite Scotland coaching team and we'll have him humping the ball around Murrayfield before long, ignoring his other attacking assets, in very much the same way as they ruined Southwell (who is playing really well at Wasps).

Edinburgh squad is getting into pretty good shape. We just need to get Talei and Scott fully fit and firing, and sort out the Lee Jones issue, and we'll have our first XV.

[RDW]

Agreed FES - after a slow and frustrating start the squad is shaping up nicely. Main source of encouragement for me is the front row - we have 2 top class front rows now so unlike last year we can close out games up front despite subbing Chunk and Cross off. OK they've not been up against strong scrummaing units but the signs are there. Lineout is very strong too.

Big test will come next week against a 1st choice Leinster team though - win that and it'll be a real confidence booster for the season!

[George Carlin]

I haven't been able to watch many of the Edinburgh games - can one of my colleagues tell me how Rennie and Denton have been playing? Muchas grassy arse.

[Imperialbigdave]

Rennies been top class, pilfering and generally being a right sh!t at the breakdown, and hes always the first to each ruck. One moment of frustration like the england game, where he broke through against munster but tried to chip the fullback this time, kicking it dead... but otherwise top marks.

Dentons been mixed. Against Munster, he was losing it in contact a lot. If the comments from the sideline reflected what they worked on him with before the cardiff game, it worked, he was carrying like a beast. He also seems to have better awareness now, he drew defenders and passed pretty well for Vissers 3rd try, and then ran a great dummy for his try against cardiff the following week.

oh and the highlights are on stv.tv/player

[RDW]

I don't think Rennie or Denton have played anywhere near last seasons form, especially Denton. Rennie looks sharp, ridiculous kick aside, but Denton hasn't quite it his stride yet I don't think.

Denton does need to work on when to pass though - his default action is to barrel into contact full pelt, which is fair enough, but an International class 8 needs to know when to pass as well.

[George Carlin]

IBD/RDW

Can't access the STV player from here - part of my problem.

[RDW]

As I said try the Rabbo website in the next couple of days - they will hopefully have highlights up.

[justified sinner]

I don't think Rennie or Denton have played anywhere near last seasons form, especially Denton. Rennie looks sharp, ridiculous kick aside, but Denton hasn't quite it his stride yet I don't think.

Denton does need to work on when to pass though - his default action is to barrel into contact full pelt, which is fair enough, but an International class 8 needs to know when to pass as well.

Think that's a bit harsh on Rossco, he's done what he has to so far this season. Was OK against Munster and pretty good against Zebre. Maybe not up to full speed yet, but looks fine. Denton looked rusty against Munster but better against Blues.

Any news on PJ Parker's ankle? Apparently damaged it in a ruck on Friday.

[Janecory]

Are there any highlights anywhere?

http://player.stv.tv/programmes/stv-rugby/2012-09-16-2245/

[RDW]

Thanks for hte link - currently sitting through over 2 mins of adverts!!

[RDW]

Have to say - those tries were a lot better than I remember at the game! Ross Ford's try was a great one - amazing break by Scott and great hands from Rennie then Gilchrist.

Great break by Rees for the first pass, and again Tonks with perfect timing of the pass to put Visser over. Wonder if him learning his rugby outside of Scotland means he knows how to convert 2 on 1s??

And on the subject of Visser - incredible pace at the end there considering it was on 80 minute mark!

[funnyExiledScot]

I'd say Tonks is odds-on favourite to play 15 for Scotland in the AIs with Hogg injured. Good hands, good pace and a thumping boot. He's formed a very nice partnership with Visser already. Feel slightly for Tom Brown. Thought this would be his breakthrough season and he's got a real fight on his hands again for that 15 jersey.

Rennie has started the season where he left off. Denton's hand and ball retention in contact have always been an issue. When he wins the collision he's fine (and he nearly always does), but when he doesn't, he doesn't look after the ball well. Something he can work on though.

Really promising start by Scott. Can't see where Atiga fits in really on what I've seen so far. Perhaps a challenge to NDL at 13, but I've seen nothing so far to suggest he's a better option in that jersey.

Finally, thank God Laidlaw's remembered how to kick!

[ChequeredJersey]

Has Harry Leonard had any gametime this season/preseason?

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