Pleased to see Johnson is at least being realistic in his coaching

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/20956761

Whilst I'm not convinced he's the right coach to take us further I respect what he's saying and its a lot better than the we can win ALL THE TIME, or we're aiming to win.

A few pragmatic comments I think to be honest, which IS something Scotland have needed for a while. Better than Matt Scott, good player, but who frankly should've just kept his mouth shut because its the same comments from the players every year and no cigar!

aw snap! Was just about to post this! I like Johnson's last comment "We will go with what we have got. That is all we can do.", reassuringly realistic! Also his comments on us needing to sort out our defence is so so good to here - defence first questions later!

Matt scott's comments are naive, but he's a young bloke and probably thinks he can take on the world.

Nothing wrong with johnson's comments. Happy to see such pragmatism and honesty, although to be fair, robinson wasn't bad on that front either.

Players have got to believe they can win. Its the coaches job to be realistic and mould a strategy to bring out the best of the players.

Matt Scott isnt the first, and wont be the last scotland player to give an interview like that. Im glad to see he believes, but id rather they just kept it to themselves and did the talking on the pitch.

NeilyBroon wrote:http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/20956761

Whilst I'm not convinced he's the right coach to take us further I respect what he's saying and its a lot better than the we can win ALL THE TIME, or we're aiming to win.

A few pragmatic comments I think to be honest, which IS something Scotland have needed for a while. Better than Matt Scott, good player, but who frankly should've just kept his mouth shut because its the same comments from the players every year and no cigar!

Realism is all well and good but its hardly inspiring.

I don't think press statements are the place to be inspiring players.

Play things down in public, wind players up in private.

Good interview. Great to hear that defence is a big part of johnsons plans. It was definitely the most important issue. The good thing is Scotland on their day can have one of the best defences in the world and therefore hopefully it will not take much to at the very least improve it. If it could get back to a standard that is close to what it was when winning against SA and Australia then hopefully our new and improved backs and forwards will do the rest.

"We've got to work hard on the things we need to improve before we start chasing rainbows,"

Couldn't have put it better. We have some fantastic attacking players, they won't suddenly become crap at attacking if the focus in training is mostly n defence. I think a little more focus on off loading as well as perhaps linking play between backs and forwards better wouldbe nice to see.

If we can get our line out back to he standard it was a year r so ago that would b great too!

Nice to hear such level headed stuff and we must remember that young Matt Scott finished his law degree last year. He clearly thought it would be good for his future career by getting some practice talking total bo**c*s!

Nice to see Johnson recognises that our defence hasnt been up to stratch, (we conceded on average just over 30 points per game in the autumn.) Also quite canny move from an old hand at the PR game, as he isnt the defensive coach. Matt Taylot will be able to take the plaudits/ fall depending on how our D goes in the next 5 games.

sensisball wrote:Nice to hear such level headed stuff and we must remember that young Matt Scott finished his law degree last year. He clearly thought it would be good for his future career by getting some practice talking total bo**c*s!

I resent this. It is a fine and noble professional.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

sensisball wrote:Nice to hear such level headed stuff and we must remember that young Matt Scott finished his law degree last year. He clearly thought it would be good for his future career by getting some practice talking total bo**c*s!

I resent this. It is a fine and noble professional.

FES, I second that.

Sincerely,
IanBru LLB (Hons)

Law is a fine and noble profession. So is politics. And yet...

Don't lump us together with the politicians! Too far!

Sorry. Politicans aren't as bad as lawyers.

I'm glad he has his feet on the ground. No more of this we're going to win the 6N rubbish. Get that out of the players minds and have them concentrating on each game individually. We should be aiming for 2 wins and at least a good showing in the others. That would be a considerable improvement over Robinsons record.

Beating Italy at Murrayfield would frankly be an improvement on Robinson's record!

Sorry to preach the doom and gloom. But all Scots should hold onto their sporrans'. Expect very little, Johnson is a coaching fraud!

I wish Scotland well, rugby is poorer without a strong Scotland, but my glass is half empty when it comes to Johnson.

You are probably right offload. I suspect that we Scots dont think he is going to turn us into a winning team overnight particulalry as there is a strong prospect that Glasgow and Edinburgh will be bringing a European record this year of played 12 lost 12!

But at least we arent having to endure the verbal nonsense peddled by Robinson such as its all about momentum, win the first game and the championship is ours for the taking or if we can impose our game plan for the full 80 minutes we can beat any opposition.

IanBru wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:

sensisball wrote:Nice to hear such level headed stuff and we must remember that young Matt Scott finished his law degree last year. He clearly thought it would be good for his future career by getting some practice talking total bo**c*s!

I resent this. It is a fine and noble professional.

FES, I second that.

Sincerely,
IanBru LLB (Hons)

Thirded.

George Carlin,
L.LB Hons (First )

Why do lawyers make good fetchers?

Because they're great at stealing possession(s) and always know how to bend the laws to their favour.

Kia Kaha Aotearoa BA LLB (Hons) PhD (French)

Q: What does a lawyer get when you give him Viagra?
A: Taller

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Why do lawyers make good fetchers?

Because they're great at stealing possession(s) and always know how to bend the laws to their favour.

Kia Kaha Aotearoa BA LLB (Hons) PhD (French Kissing)

Lucky Mrs Kia.

Lucky French women more likely.

What did Matt Scott say? Link?

RDW_Scotland wrote:What did Matt Scott say? Link?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/20949898

I’m not too fussed about those comments – when a journalist asks ‘can you win the 6N?’ he’s obviously not gonna say ‘no, we’re crap!’

He’s put a lot of caveats in there as well saying it is dependant on how the first game goes and so on, but obviously the journo only sees the headline.

So I don’t see what the big deal is on here really, it looks a fairly mature interview from a young guy to be fair.

And hell I want them to have the desire and drive to want to win the 6N – there’s no point in us competing if they all think we stand no chance!

aye its fair game but I just wish our players would do more of their talking on the pitch and less of the time saying 'we can win' and not delivering, it seems to be tied with a loss of focus in the Scottish game!

I understand we can't crush these players optimism but right now Johnson is right in that we need to be focusing on our own game rather than winning the 6Ns. If they can self-improve then the wins will come, we focus far too much on 'who we can beat', because frankly Scotland could beat anyone, its not a time for fighting talk, its a time for delivering 80 minutes of high quality performance. Flashes of which we saw against NZ and SA.

This 6 nations is going to be a disaster for Scotland.

Wales and the Ospreys were in chaos with him at the helm. With moral on the floor.

NeilyBroon wrote:aye its fair game but I just wish our players would do more of their talking on the pitch and less of the time saying 'we can win' and not delivering, it seems to be tied with a loss of focus in the Scottish game!

I understand what you're saying, and I agree for the most part.

However, it wouldn't surprise me if it was simply Scott's turn to get interviewed - the SRU PR bods almost certainly have a rota of available players to be trotted out in front of the Beeb/Herald/Hootsmon journos, to be asked the stock questions and give the stock answers.

One of the things I like about Johnson is that he doesn't seem to bothered about giving these pre-set pattern replies.