Scotland squad for the 6 Nations

First topic message reminder :

Scotland squad for training camp in Glasgow (January 20-23) ahead of RBS 6 Nations Championship:

Backs: Peter Murchie*, Stuart Hogg, Sean Maitland*, Tommy Seymour*, Sean Lamont (all Glasgow Warriors), Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby), Max Evans (Castres), Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby), Alex Dunbar* Peter Horne*, Duncan Weir, Ruaridh Jackson (all Glasgow Warriors), Tom Heathcote (Bath Rugby), Henry Pyrgos, Sean Kennedy* (both Glasgow Warriors) and Greig Laidlaw (Edinburgh Rugby).

Forwards: Alasdair Dickinson (Sale Sharks), Ryan Grant, Dougie Hall, Pat MacArthur* (all Glasgow Warriors), Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby), Euan Murray (Worcester Warriors), Geoff Cross (Edinburgh Rugby), Moray Low, Alastair Kellock (both Glasgow Warriors), Richie Gray (Sale Sharks), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester), Grant Gilchrist* (Edinburgh Rugby), Kelly Brown (Saracens), Robert Harley, Ryan Wilson* (both Glasgow Warriors), Johnnie Beattie (Montpellier), David Denton (Edinburgh Rugby), Richie Vernon (Sale Sharks), Chris Fusaro* (Glasgow Warriors).

* = Uncapped.

Invited to be with the squad as they recover from injury: Chris Cusiter, John Barclay and Jon Welsh (all Glasgow Warriors) Nick De Luca and Ross Rennie (both Edinburgh Rugby) and Scott Lawson (London Irish).

Note to editors: Alasdair Strokosch (Perpignan) will miss the camp for family reasons as his wife is expecting their second child.

EWT Spoons wrote:

NeilyBroon wrote:Cairns is in the Edinburgh lineup though, if he has a stormer against sarries there is a good chance he'll be called up, seeing as a lot of the England team are a Sarries contingent.

I'd disagree, he's only played roughly 3 (pro team) games in over a year after recovering from injury. There is no way he's ready for international rugby yet, even if he plays out of his skin against Sarries I would say at best there is a very, very slim chance he'd be called up.

Which is roughly two and a half games more than Kennedy ever, what are the options?

Dunbar- Off form and not playing regularly
Sean Lamont - Injured apparently
Hogg - Hasn't played 13 recently or regularly
Grove isn't in the squad
Bennett hasn't played for Glasgow yet

I'd start Dunbar if Sean Lamont's injured, although I'm not sure how Evans is playing, Evans is a player who can spark something which is useful but then so is Hogg, also Barritt and Tuilagi vs Evans and Scott seems like a physical mismatch which will end horribly.

P16

Hopefully Alex Grove will be hot footing it up from Worcester as we speak, with a couple of cans of Fosters to hand to bribe SJ with...

123456789 wrote:Barritt and Tuilagi vs Evans and Scott seems like a physical mismatch which will end horribly.

Nothing wrong with Scott on the power front. Have you seen the chap lately. He's been on the Lance Armstrong training regime by the looks of it!

I agree on Evans though. He's not an enthusiastic tackler at the best of time, and I don't think he'll fancy chopping down Tuilagi. Grove would be a much smarter selection, assuming Lamont isn't fit.

Evans can't possibly start at 13, quite apart from his lack of recent form there's the small matter of being half the size of Tuilagi and the additional need to have a good defender helping compensate for Visser's poor tackling. Still can't understand why Grove wasn't called up in the first place.

Evans is playing on the wing for Castres vs Ulster so I can't see him getting the 13 jersey ahead of anyone else. Added to the fact that he's gash at 13... Why oh why was Thom the one to get injured..... (Not that I'd wish a vertebral fracture on anyone!)

As was mentioned on the Warriors/Saints thread, there is always the possibility that Schlong and Fozzy are being held back for Scotland... And Dunbar has played quite a few of Glasgow's recent games so I can see the point in resting him for a dead rubber...

Heathcote's starting for Bath again tomorrow, good to see him getting decent gametime at present. Also Montpellier v Toulon is on Sky tomorrow so a good chance to see Johnnie Beattie.

I'm not the biggest max Evans fan but perhaps he might actually work well at 13. In the past he has been the quickest player on the pitch for Scotland and no one has been able to keep up with him to provide support. With Maitland, visser and Hogg playing perhaps he'll have support and will manage to pass and offload? Also, if laidlaw manages to make use of some crafty chip kicks and grubber kicks we would have a lot of good chasing options. In other words he may be a good attacking option but I think he'll fall short in defence. i would rather we had big physical centre who can pass the ball and provide good support lines.

I think Dunbars last game for Glasgow he played well actually. I see he's on the bench vs Northampton as Townsend says he is giving players who didn't start last week a chance. But I would still have him ahead of Evans at the moment.

Something tells me though that Johnson will go with either Horne at 12 and Scott at 13 or Scott at 12 and Evans at 13. Lets just hope lamont gets better.

I can't remember Max Evans being too bad defensively, and maybe we should focus on stopping England getting the ball to Tuilagi by running a blitz defence, if Evans can get up between their 12 and 13 and hopefully play to Barritt's cautious approach who'll not risk an interception. If we get whoever's playing openside flanker to rush up on the ten causing him to offload it quickly to the inside centre, onen the ball if gone from the ten then Jackson/ Weir/ Heathcote can sweep round and help the outside centre with Tuilagi. We can also see how Tuilagi reacts to someone a lot smaller and agile than him, I'm clutching at straws now but it might work.

Ok time to submit something productive to this thread. I had a look at who in the squad will be playing this weekend and for those who aren't playing, when their last game was. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Glasgow
Starts
Stuart Hogg
Tommy Seymour
Sean Maitland
Ruaridh Jackson
Pat MacArthur
Moray Low
Alastair Kellock
Ryan Wilson

Bench
Dougie Hall
Ryan Grant
Sean Kennedy
Alex Dunbar
Peter Horne

Not in squad
Peter Murchie last game 11/01/2013 22 days before England game
Sean Lamont last game 29/12/2012 35 days before England game
Duncan Weir last game 11/01/2013 22 days before England game
Henry Pyrgos last game 11/01/2013 22 days before England game
Robert Harley last game 11/01/2013 22 days before England game
Chris Fusaro last game 21/12/2012 43 days before England game

Edinburgh
Starts
Tim Visser
Matt Scott
Greig Laidlaw
Grant Gilchrist

Bench
Geoff Cross
David Denton

Not in squad
Ross Ford last game 21/12/2012 43 days before England game


Exiles
Starts
Max Evans
Tom Heathcote
Kelly Brown
Johnnie Beattie
Richie Vernon
Jim Hamilton

Bench
Richie Gray
Euan Murray

Not in Squad
Alasdair Dickinson last game do/nt/care

From this Fusaro and Ford surely can't start. They won't have played for 43 days and Ford only lasted 11mins on the 21st. I'd say Lamont is also a doubt with 35 days without any gametime.

bsando wrote:I'm not the biggest max Evans fan but perhaps he might actually work well at 13. In the past he has been the quickest player on the pitch for Scotland and no one has been able to keep up with him to provide support. With Maitland, visser and Hogg playing perhaps he'll have support and will manage to pass and offload? Also, if laidlaw manages to make use of some crafty chip kicks and grubber kicks we would have a lot of good chasing options. In other words he may be a good attacking option but I think he'll fall short in defence. i would rather we had big physical centre who can pass the ball and provide good support lines.

I think Dunbars last game for Glasgow he played well actually. I see he's on the bench vs Northampton as Townsend says he is giving players who didn't start last week a chance. But I would still have him ahead of Evans at the moment.

Something tells me though that Johnson will go with either Horne at 12 and Scott at 13 or Scott at 12 and Evans at 13. Lets just hope lamont gets better.

Its not that no one can keep up with evans, its that he has this knack of running in the opposite direction from them.

And his strike rate for castres speaks for itself. 1 try in a season and a half and hes played more wing for them than centre. Hes not like Lamont in that he offers something despite his shockingly poor strike rate, so I just dont see what value he is going to bring?

Imperialbigdave wrote:

bsando wrote:I'm not the biggest max Evans fan but perhaps he might actually work well at 13. In the past he has been the quickest player on the pitch for Scotland and no one has been able to keep up with him to provide support. With Maitland, visser and Hogg playing perhaps he'll have support and will manage to pass and offload? Also, if laidlaw manages to make use of some crafty chip kicks and grubber kicks we would have a lot of good chasing options. In other words he may be a good attacking option but I think he'll fall short in defence. i would rather we had big physical centre who can pass the ball and provide good support lines.

I think Dunbars last game for Glasgow he played well actually. I see he's on the bench vs Northampton as Townsend says he is giving players who didn't start last week a chance. But I would still have him ahead of Evans at the moment.

Something tells me though that Johnson will go with either Horne at 12 and Scott at 13 or Scott at 12 and Evans at 13. Lets just hope lamont gets better.

Its not that no one can keep up with evans, its that he has this knack of running in the opposite direction from them.

And his strike rate for castres speaks for itself. 1 try in a season and a half and hes played more wing for them than centre. Hes not like Lamont in that he offers something despite his shockingly poor strike rate, so I just dont see what value he is going to bring?

His girlfriend?

He would give you 'hauners' in the bar afterwards it would seem !

Okay. Now I'm worried. And very sympathetic to the Welsh injuries.

I think only really France and England are really untroubled by injuries at present.

Denton has a knee injury and is out of Edinburgh's squad for this weekend.

He's failed a fitness test so at least it wasn't so serious he was ruled out completely, so hopefully it is just precautionary

Jackson walked off injured during the first half against Saints...

This is why we need a third team by 2015 and a fourth by 2019, our first choice is better than for years, our second is competitive, our third is ok and our fourth is pish.

My first choice fit and on form: Grant, Ford, Murray, Hamilton, Gray, Brown, Rennie, Beattie, Cusiter, Weir, Visser, Scott, Cairns, Maitland, Hogg
Second choice: Welsh, MacArthur, Low, Kellock, Gilchrist, Harley, Barclay, Denton, Laidlaw, Jackson, Lamont, Dunbar, De Luca, Seymour, Tonks
Third choice: Reid, Hall, Cross, Swinson, Ryder, Strockosch, Fusaro, Wilson, Pyrgos, Heathcote, Brown, Horne, Grove, Lamont, Southwell
Fourth choice: Reid, Lawson, Kalman, McKenzie, Campbell, MacInally, Grant, Vernon, Kennedy, Wight, Walker, Morrison, Bennett, Jones, Murchie

Not many of those are playing regularly if we had four teams we cold guarantee that 90% of players in contention for Scotland are playing regularly. This could be achieved by having a player in Scotland contention in each position at each team, as well as an experienced foreigner in key positions and also EDP players and youngsters from the Pacific Islands, Eastern Europe and North America therefore doing our bit to improve rugby in lesser nations.

GLove39 wrote:Jackson walked off injured during the first half against Saints...

Did it look serious?

123456789 wrote:

GLove39 wrote:Jackson walked off injured during the first half against Saints...

Did it look serious?

Not sure, just saw the update on twitter

Great play from Peter Horne and Alex Dunbar means that a Scottish team has finally won a game in the Heineken cup this year!

Great win for the weedge - some definite one upmanship against English rival too. I think it night be too much to ask Edinburgh to do the same though!

What does Weir have to do to get some gametime? Did he steal Robinsons biccies and Poopie in Toonies shoes?

SCOTLAND WATCH!!!

So, Morrison, Horne and Dunbar all played very well today. Perhaps centre issue is not such an issue after all and we're making mountains out of mole hills.

Hogg looked good, Jackson was looking great till he went off (Late tackle by Northampton forward (not Lawes), likely he'll be cited). All in all, I now believe Horne does deserve his place in the Scotland squad and if he can play like he did today he could turn into a fantastic centre for Scotland. His try at the end was out of this world, 50m+ solo effort, handing off Northampton with ease, such a great try.

Kellock looked good too and Pat MacAurthus has to be stating vs England, he was excellent in all areas today.

Very positive stuff! (Apart from Jackson injury)

I said it on the match thread, ill say it here, Im not reading too much into Morrisons performance. He pulls one out of the bag when he gets left out of the scotland squad, but as soon as he gets reinstated, he goes back to his usual terrible self. Considering hes the wrong side of 30 now aswell, bringing him back in is not the right option.

Agreed Imperial, but he still had a great game. But we have so many young Centres to bring through there is no point in having him in squad really. Nice to have him available though incase we have injuries. I know many hate him but I actually rate Morrison as a player, always puts a huge amount of effort into his performances and gets across the gain line. Passing isn't his forte however

I'm quite confused about the decision to bring Bennett back, do they think playing for Stirling will make him better than the Clermont academy? Surely he should have been starting ahead of McGuigan in a dead rubber. Horne and Dunbar looked very good when they came on, Hogg played very well, MacArthur was good, Beattie's playing well for Montpellier, Maitland was decent so things are starting to look promising again.

123456789 wrote:I'm quite confused about the decision to bring Bennett back, do they think playing for Stirling will make him better than the Clermont academy? Surely he should have been starting ahead of McGuigan in a dead rubber. Horne and Dunbar looked very good when they came on, Hogg played very well, MacArthur was good, Beattie's playing well for Montpellier, Maitland was decent so things are starting to look promising again.

he not in the heineken cup squad surely?

Imperialbigdave wrote:

123456789 wrote:I'm quite confused about the decision to bring Bennett back, do they think playing for Stirling will make him better than the Clermont academy? Surely he should have been starting ahead of McGuigan in a dead rubber. Horne and Dunbar looked very good when they came on, Hogg played very well, MacArthur was good, Beattie's playing well for Montpellier, Maitland was decent so things are starting to look promising again.

he not in the heineken cup squad surely?

Maybe not but he's not even been on the bench in the rabo yet

I think Bennett is involved in the Scotland U20 side just now. So not available for selection. I think Gray is also.

Cuthbert scored a hatrick today for Bath, maybe a late contender for Johnson's squad?

bsando wrote:Cuthbert scored a hatrick today for Bath, maybe a late contender for Johnson's squad?

Made even better by the fact that it was against the famously good Bucaresti defence

Cuthbert is about as good as brendan laney

Was talking to Ruairidh just after half time, and he said it was a rib injury, didn't look too much in pain although he did get a few tasty pills from Dr Gerry! So I'd expect he'll be back for Scotland!

the blind 6Ns optimism has hit, I'm excited to see a new look Scotland!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqpP-S1Rs4M

This said come the evening of Feb 2nd I'll be sitting in a pub feeling the 6Ns dejection

As I think Massie or Ferguson mention in the Hootsmon today, it's that time of year for Groundless Optimism Syndrome amongst Scottish fans.

Bennett is in the U20s at the moment trying to get into bars without ID, so he won't appear for Glasgow - similarly DTH was called to the Canadian 7s team I think, so he isn't injured.

I don't want to hear from another poster that Morrison should get a look in for Scotland. We have talented centres - they just need to be given a chance. Scott is the best 12 we have, clearly and 13 can be any of Ansbro (hopefully), Schlong, Dunbar, Horne or the Messiah.

I think that there's been too much talk about our centres being terrible, whereas in actual fact we're just trying to work out the best options - same as everyone else. Ireland aren't totally sold on Earls in the centre and England aren't either with Barritt - both sets of fans feeling that they deserve a little bit more.

Maitland is interesting. Very talented footballer who plays 'heads up' and with confidence but he's still getting used to the Scottish game, clearly. I didn't see the game last night (despite the best efforts of TJ and Bsando - thanks for trying) ) but is it possible that on form we should be suggesting that Seymour starts instead of Maitland against England?

Saw Dunky Weir in a suit in the stand yesterday so really not sure what is going on with him and Townsend - particularly with the bizzare replacement of Scott Wight who had come on for Jacko - Townsend obviously does not rate Wight at all or Dunky for that matter. Morrison should be left with Warriors as we need him more than Scotland during the 6Ns

123456789 wrote:

Imperialbigdave wrote:

bsando wrote:I'm not the biggest max Evans fan but perhaps he might actually work well at 13. In the past he has been the quickest player on the pitch for Scotland and no one has been able to keep up with him to provide support. With Maitland, visser and Hogg playing perhaps he'll have support and will manage to pass and offload? Also, if laidlaw manages to make use of some crafty chip kicks and grubber kicks we would have a lot of good chasing options. In other words he may be a good attacking option but I think he'll fall short in defence. i would rather we had big physical centre who can pass the ball and provide good support lines.

I think Dunbars last game for Glasgow he played well actually. I see he's on the bench vs Northampton as Townsend says he is giving players who didn't start last week a chance. But I would still have him ahead of Evans at the moment.

Something tells me though that Johnson will go with either Horne at 12 and Scott at 13 or Scott at 12 and Evans at 13. Lets just hope lamont gets better.

Its not that no one can keep up with evans, its that he has this knack of running in the opposite direction from them.

And his strike rate for castres speaks for itself. 1 try in a season and a half and hes played more wing for them than centre. Hes not like Lamont in that he offers something despite his shockingly poor strike rate, so I just dont see what value he is going to bring?

His girlfriend?

that would do it!

Well after yesterday's performance I have a new Found respect for Peter Horne (previously felt he was a little overrated) and would be happy to see him at centre scoring 50m + try's for Scotland.

Things have slowed down a bit on this thread - come on people, pick it up!!

Really delighted with the Glasgow win yesterday - it's a sad state of affairs that I have to rely on the weedge doing well to put me in a good mood but never mind!

It was a huge win because it means the core of the Scotland squad will be coming into the camp on a high, with confidence going into the England game. And the one thing you need when playing England is confidence.

Let's hope it inspires Edinburgh today. I think we'll struggle with a fairly lightweight pack, but I'd like the boys to throw the shackles off and just go for it.

A good performance and some tries scored and go down with their heads held high.

George Carlin wrote:I don't want to hear from another poster that Morrison should get a look in for Scotland. We have talented centres - they just need to be given a chance. Scott is the best 12 we have, clearly and 13 can be any of Ansbro (hopefully), Schlong, Dunbar, Horne or the Messiah.

I think that there's been too much talk about our centres being terrible, whereas in actual fact we're just trying to work out the best options - same as everyone else. Ireland aren't totally sold on Earls in the centre and England aren't either with Barritt - both sets of fans feeling that they deserve a little bit more.

Maitland is interesting. Very talented footballer who plays 'heads up' and with confidence but he's still getting used to the Scottish game, clearly. I didn't see the game last night (despite the best efforts of TJ and Bsando - thanks for trying) ) but is it possible that on form we should be suggesting that Seymour starts instead of Maitland against England?

Agree with you GC, it is just a case of finding best combos and blooding likes of Dunbar, Horne etc and giving younger ones some game time at Glasgow etc. Morrison had a great game but its all about the future indeed.

I think Seymour is a solid option at 14 but I think Maitland looks like one of those players who will just excel in an international scenario. I also love his style, he has good technique and is just naturally aware of what he has to do in any given scenario. For example, he sucked defender in so well yesterday to allow Hogg lots of room when he eventually passed to him, then Hogg passed ball back to Maitland who very sadly tripped as he received the pass, missing a certain try. He's a bit more physical than Seymour in my opinion too. But Seymour is an excellent wing though and he would be my first choice to come on as a sub for either Maitland or visser.

Will be interesting to see how those one eyed morons at Planet Rugby see Horne's try ? Any player playing for an Aviva side scores a try like that and he is propelled into their team of the week even if they have spent the rest of the game scratching their erse !
Glad to see you enjoyed it yesterday RD - atmosphere amazing throughout -helped by a vocal Saints contingent.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Things have slowed down a bit on this thread - come on people, pick it up!!

Really delighted with the Glasgow win yesterday - it's a sad state of affairs that I have to rely on the weedge doing well to put me in a good mood but never mind!

It was a huge win because it means the core of the Scotland squad will be coming into the camp on a high, with confidence going into the England game. And the one thing you need when playing England is confidence.

Let's hope it inspires Edinburgh today. I think we'll struggle with a fairly lightweight pack, but I'd like the boys to throw the shackles off and just go for it.

A good performance and some tries scored and go down with their heads held high.

Yeah a win today would be fantastic for Edinburgh, hopefully we can be competitive and at the very least score some bloody points!

Edinburgh need 12 points to avoid officially scoring fewer points in any HC pool than the Italian club who currently hold that record - Berlusconi's Nymphet Ladies Second XV or somesuch.

On a side note, 3 years since this great man died

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqIaXLBk5tQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

gives me shivers watching it!

Tonks ya beaut

Edit - wrong thread but never mind

So its going to have to be england vs glasgow

You know what, I no longer care if the scotland squad is made up entirely of weegies and exiles, not one of those w@nkers who call themsleves professionals at edinburgh deserves it. Utter disgrave to their city, their fans and most importantly, themselves.

George Carlin wrote:Edinburgh need 12 points to avoid officially scoring fewer points in any HC pool than the Italian club who currently hold that record - Berlusconi's Nymphet Ladies Second XV or somesuch.

The Edinburgh team are a bunch of invertebrates

yeah let's hope Bradley actually leaves at the end of this season.

Utterly ridiculous, Sarries are a good team but struggle to score tries so are hugely flattered by that scoreline. At least Kelly Brown played well!