Buildup: Scotland vs South Africa

First topic message reminder :

Based on Today.s performance who would you pick to play South Africa.
I'd go for:
15. Hogg
14. Evans
13. Dunbar
12. scott
11. Visser
10. Jackson
9. Blair
8. Denton
7. Rennie (Barclay if he's not fit)
6. Brown
5. Hamilton
4. Gray
3. Murray
2. Ford
1. Grant

George Carlin wrote:

Cari wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

Cari wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Can anyone PM me a good stream for this (that doesn't require you being in the UK to see it)?

Check your PM.

Thanks Cari - none of them work.

I can't help then I'm afraid. I wasn't using a stream, so I hadn't checked them at all.

Not at all - thanks for trying.

George try mine. I'm in Central America and working fine!

Suddenly Scotland have woken up a bit. Good to see.

GAME ON!

KickAndChase wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

Cari wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

Cari wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Can anyone PM me a good stream for this (that doesn't require you being in the UK to see it)?

Check your PM.

Thanks Cari - none of them work.

I can't help then I'm afraid. I wasn't using a stream, so I hadn't checked them at all.

Not at all - thanks for trying.

George try mine. I'm in Central America and working fine!

Tried it Kick. Thanks but am just making a 'loser' sign for myself out of Post It notes tonight.

What a shocker Mike Blair had today. How can a player with >50 caps and a former captain no less, look so green?

Wow! Two chargedowns in seconds. Now Scotland NOW!

Scotland deserve something here. They've got a penalty.

What a bad call there, ref had the whistle ready before the ball left the hand!!!

Argh no. They go for the lineout, and then throw a wonky one. Five metre scrum, Saffa put-in.

Early Saffa engage, Scottish scrum!

Andy Nicol called it right, tap and go was the way to go. Worked against NZ.

Scotland engage too early, the saffas kick it away. Bum! Scotland have possession though...

What's with this long line out throw on 5 metres constantly? I can't remember the last time Scotland haven't done it in a match. 50% of the time they lose possession, 30% of the time they gain it shoddily and nothing going. I think they've scored from it once in about 3 years?

Where's Visser? Could've done with him there...

Cari, are Scotland your second team?

No KAC, but I'll support them when they're not playing Wales or Tommy Bowe

Saffers in danger of getting a yellow for some off-the-ball business.

Argh! Scotland should've scored there, but they couldn't get to it in time.

Scotland, STOP KICKING IT AWAY

Cari wrote:No KAC, but I'll support them when they're not playing Wales or Tommy Bowe

Saffers in danger of getting a yellow for some off-the-ball business.

Argh! Scotland should've scored there, but they couldn't get to it in time.

Sounds like a 2nd team, 3rd priority to me

One more penalty has GOT to be a yellow

This is very frustrating from a Scottish POV...how the frig they haven't scored during this last ten minutes or so is beyond me. How long have we been in the Saffer 22 now? How many penalties have they given away?

Finally a yellow card, the ref has given Mike Blair a run for his money for worst man on the park.

There you go - VDM is binned after the millionth penalty.

NOW Scotland!

Balls! Visser knocked that on.

Haven't we turned down the change to kick for at least 9 points now in this last quarter alone?

This is so infuriating. It's like watching the 6N all over again

Cari wrote:This is very frustrating from a Scottish POV...how the frig they haven't scored during this last ten minutes or so is beyond me. How long have we been in the Saffer 22 now? How many penalties have they given away?

See what I mean?

But seriously, you're right. It's a familiar feeling.

George Carlin wrote:Haven't we turned down the change to kick for at least 9 points now in this last quarter alone?

Yeah, at least twice since the Pyrgos try.

Scotland will be kicking themselves to be fair. They really should've scored this second half. Possibly two tries lost.

KickAndChase wrote:

Cari wrote:This is very frustrating from a Scottish POV...how the frig they haven't scored during this last ten minutes or so is beyond me. How long have we been in the Saffer 22 now? How many penalties have they given away?

See what I mean?

But seriously, you're right. It's a familiar feeling.

Leave Cari alone. She's definitely one of us.

Even if it took a very handsome Dutchman to bring her into the fold.

Ah KAC when I say "we" I meant "we, the viewers"

Jebus H. Scotland please get SOMETHING!!!!

Oh crap. It's going to end 10-21. Yet another frustrating finish for Scotland.

Who was MOTM? Blair?

Expect Pyrgos to start over him next time.

MOTM = Francois Louw, really.

Scotland are woeful. They had so, so many chances to take points in the last 15 minutes but they panicked and didn't have the ability to back it up. Blair was awful, Laidlaw was poor, Ford proved the point about his throwing and Kelly Brown's captaincy has to be questioned.

On the plus side, Pyrgos looked a better player than his Glasgow performances would suggest.

An exciting match, mainly due to the error strewn play of both teams. Hope the likes of Grant, Laidlaw, Pyrgos, Scott and Visser take a lot out of this last couple of games.

England also staring down the barrel of a 14-20 defeat unless something amazing happens in the next 6 minutes.

England set to go scoreless in the second half.

I'm still nervous about Scotland in the Six Nations. They are not going to be a pushover. Even though they still can't finish their dinner...

According to the live scores feed I was watching, after the Pyrgos try we had 15 points worth of kickable penalties but we kicked every single one of them into touch.

On the current form of teams Scotland are looking at 3rd place in the Six Nations. They have Wales, Ireland and Italy at home and should go through the Welsh/Irish forwards like butter.

George Carlin wrote:According to the live scores feed I was watching, after the Pyrgos try we had 15 points worth of kickable penalties but we kicked every single one of them into touch.

Yes, Scotland dominated in terms of possession for most of the second half. Apparently SA made something like 158 tackles to 60-odd by Scotland. Just another golden opportunity missed by the Scots.

Morgannwg wrote:On the current form of teams Scotland are looking at 3rd place in the Six Nations. They have Wales, Ireland and Italy at home and should go through the Welsh/Irish forwards like butter.

Bear in mind Scotland have never built on any strong showings in the autumn and performed in the Six Nations.

Surely the Glasgow backline will be given a go against the South Sea Islanders? Particularly given that we are now unlikely to have anything to lose.

Good 20 mins or so in the second half, how did it taks us that long to wake up? In the last ten we went back to ineffective rugby, even though we had all the posession. Unbelievable amounts of carrying the ball straight into the South African forwards, brainless tactics.

Cryptoyourisan wrote:

Morgannwg wrote:On the current form of teams Scotland are looking at 3rd place in the Six Nations. They have Wales, Ireland and Italy at home and should go through the Welsh/Irish forwards like butter.

Bear in mind Scotland have never built on any strong showings in the autumn and performed in the Six Nations.

That's true. We can only hope this time is different.

Pat_Mustard wrote:Good 20 mins or so in the second half, how did it taks us that long to wake up? In the last ten we went back to ineffective rugby, even though we had all the posession. Unbelievable amounts of carrying the ball straight into the South African forwards, brainless tactics.

Any correlation between that and Laidlaw being off the pitch?

Biltong show yourself. Good win for SA. I hope you enjoyed it as you can be too negative a Bok fan.

Morgs another shyte game by us, apart from the ine match when we thrashed Australia this year, I am still waiting for an 80 minute performance, I thought Scotland did really well and looked more enterprising than us, even if for only 30 minutes.

Whats the point in having a guy like Visser in the team if he doesnt get to touch the ball? Far too much bashing up by the forwards and not enough incisive running by the backs.

Imperialbigdave wrote:Whats the point in having a guy like Visser in the team if he doesnt get to touch the ball? Far too much bashing up by the forwards and not enough incisive running by the backs.

I was hoping to see Hogg moved up into 13 by around the 50-minute mark, not out of choice but because we've really been lacking in midfield in these part two games. I'd also have liked to see Lamont and Visser come in field today but it didn't really happen. I definitely think Dunbar should feature next week. Whilst de Luca and Scott haven't done much wrong, they've not really offered much either. Given Laidlaw missed an absolute sitter of a kick today and that we shouldn't expect the Tongan game to be too tight, Jackson ought to start next week too.

George Carlin wrote:

Pat_Mustard wrote:Good 20 mins or so in the second half, how did it taks us that long to wake up? In the last ten we went back to ineffective rugby, even though we had all the posession. Unbelievable amounts of carrying the ball straight into the South African forwards, brainless tactics.

Any correlation between that and Laidlaw being off the pitch?

A wee bit harsh that, he had didn't have a great game but I thought Jackson was poor too. He has shown he can operate at this level, he was good last week. Poor this week. It is all a learning curve for him at 10, he was a scrum half for most of his career and until Weir blossoms he is the best we have.

What is certainly true is there was far too much carrying the ball straight at SA, it is bread and butter for them.

It's not the time to focus on players, even tho there were several weak performances today. Instead, all I'll say is that our tactics were thoroughly naive - no idea who gave the players the idea that they could take SA on at their own game, but what a complete and totally obvious misjudgement. Something is simply very wrong inside the Scotland camp, and needs to be looked at urgently

Well one word to sum that up:

Baws.

A few more words from me you ask? Oh go on then!

That was yet another disappointing performance. Had such a slow start and took a long time to get going. We also gave away far too many penalties and gave South Africa too many 'outs'.

As for the try - the tactic of sitting off the maul to get a truck and trailer pen worked the first time but is massive high risk. Ross Ford should have smashed into that maul, not stand off and wait for the pen that was never going to come. As expected they got the momentum and scored!

The second try, well, if a hooker got an interception you know it must have been fairly obvious.

Anyway we scored a fantastic try, yet again from set piece.

Positives:

Take it all back about Pyrgos - I thought he was Mr average for Glasgow but he did fantastically well when he came on. Raised the tempo, sharp service and kept them honest around the break down with pick and goes - i.e. he varied the play. Deserves to start next week.

Scrum went well - Euan Murray must start whenever he is available.

Um, that's kind of it!

Negatives:

Why do we kick the ball away so much when in their 22?? We went for the wonder score but it was so obviously not on. Instead of keeping the ball and keeping the pressure on we, again, gave South Africa an easy 'out' by using a stupid chip when no one was on the same wavelength to chase it.

Mike Blair was awful.

We don't trust our backs! First half we were pounding away on the line and the ball had to go wide, yet we kept picking and going and got pinged for holding on because there was no support (they were standing watching).

Again dodgy lineouts and free kicks at scrums ruined our attacking paltforms in their 22. The Ford bashers would be delighted to see him throw squint, but I think that was his only one - the rest were drops by the catcher or stupid slap downs

Was Visser playing?




I could go on, but it is a Saturday night! Credit to South Africa for winning, but I'm sure Biltong won't mind me saying they weren't great. Don't remember them getting many chances and other than their rolling maul try didn't overly threaten.

Yet again another chance missed - we weren't far away, but we seem to not be able to make that big step up!

Oh worth noting that the kicker booing stopped - in fact didn't even get started today!

Probably cause the crowed were so depressed and flat from the performance.