Scotland Post AIs

First topic message reminder :

So overall a pretty disappointing series for us, performances weren't great and we missed a great opportunity to beat Australia.  But we were short a number of our best players in Rennie, Hogg, Scott & Visser, so some perspective is perhaps needed considering we were playing two of the top sides in the world.

Personnel wise there were some positive performances;

Dickinson & Low both performed, solid back-ups to Grant & Murray
MacArthur and Gilchrist both showed they are more than capable of playing Test level rugby
Jonny Gray looks a gem of a player and it was a shame we didn't see Swinson again
Denton carried willingly and got his hands on the ball but wasn't as effective as hoped
Beattie showed glimpses of his old self, needs a run with out injuries for Montpellier
Laidlaw was poor against SA but has a good game against Oz, and great to see Cusiter back in blue
Weir had a decent run against Oz, definitely has the cojones to play Test matches but needs to settle
Taylor had a tough one against SA but better against Oz, not a long-term 12 option but maybe 13
Seymour looked lively but struggled to find space, decent back-up though
Maitland is a classy player, looked comfortable at 15 but never really broke free in attack

Negatives;

Line-out seems to have imploded under pressure, not sure who's at fault but GET IT SORTED
Directionless in attack, no-ones seems to know what we're trying to do
Territory, pretty much played both games in our own half for 70 minutes and paid the price
Concentration, we switched off once or twice in defence and got punished ruthlessly
Didn't turnover much ball to play off, odd penalty but not many chances to hit on the break
No tries, rarely got into positions to score and when we did the ball was slow and ideas sparse
Didn't get a chance to see Welsh, Harley, Fusaro, Bennett

So Johnson has now had 6 Test matches to look at a lot of players, it's now time to get our perceived strongest XV out and start building some consistency.  I firmly believe at full-strength we have a XV capable of competing with the best but it needs a chance to develop, not getting mixed about every week.

Get the core of our RWC 2015 in place so when Cotter comes in he doesn't have to start from scratch.

1 - Grant
2 - ? (MacArthur or Ford)
3 - Murray
4 - ? (Swinson, Gray or Gilchrist)
5 - ? (Hamilton or Gray)
6 - Brown
7 - Rennie
8 - ? (Beattie or Denton)
9 - Laidlaw
10 - ? (Weir, Jackson or Heathcote)
11 - Visser
12 - Scott
13 - ? (Dunbar, De Luca, Taylor, Grove or Bennett)
14 - Maitland
15 - Hogg

Hooker and lock needed to get sorted out pronto, hardly surprising our line-out has misfired with the constant turnover in those two positions.

Johnson needs to nail his colours to the mast and stick with a fly-half for more than 2 games at a time, personally I'd like to see Weir get the entire 6 Nations to settle and see how he goes.  

Outside centre is the dilemma position; with Scott, Dunbar and Horne we're well stocked at 12, plus Scott looks like he could develop into a very handy player indeed.  Outside is tougher, had we not had injuries to both Scott & Dunbar I'd have been confident Bennett would have played at somepoint.  But would Scott & Dunbar have been considered 1st choice to begin with or is De Luca perceived to be ahead of Dunbar.

Need to start playing with some confidence, we've always had a decent pack but for the 1st time in over a decade we've got some genuinely exciting backs.  But that doesn't mean we should throw it about aimlessly hoping someone will do something good and break a defence.  Play sensible rugby in the right areas, put pressure on the opposition rather than ourselves and the chances will come, our pack is good enough to create opportunities and the backs are good enough to take them.

I'm confident we're heading in the right direction but Johnson can't waste this 6 Nations, Cotter will only have 14/15 Tests before RWC 2015, so he needs the foundations in now.  Set-piece, defence & effective kicking game.

What's everyone elses assessment of where we are right now?

OMG FES, that was actually really really poor!

as punishment you need to cheer on the soap dogers this weekend!

I will certainly be cheering on the soap dodgers. Big game for them, needing to get some momentum back into the league campaign.

Glasgow should win, Mr  will be desperate to show Scotland what we missed during the 6 Nations.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

Riskysports wrote:Is that Kelly Brown - No 6

Absolutely - I'm quite keen on this whole specialists playing in specialist positions malarky.

I know our players are all world class (well the Glasgow ones anyway) and each have a skillset enabling them to try their hand at any position on the park, but I still think there's some merit in letting players wear the same jersey at international level as they do week in week out at club level.

There must be a reason why the ABs don't play McCaw at number 8, Read at 7 and Whitelock at 6.

That's so very true and I'm surprised I've never thought of that.

funnyExiledScot wrote:I will certainly be cheering on the soap dodgers. Big game for them, needing to get some momentum back into the league campaign.

Glasgow should win, Mr  will be desperate to show Scotland what we missed during the 6 Nations.

Careful sir, you'll set off ASBO

Positive results this weekend.

Some good performances too: J Gray will surely be 1st choice come Feb if he keeps this up, Hogg had a couple loose kicks but looked good, sounds like Rennie had a strong 60 minutes, Seymour made a couple decent breaks, Cusiter was busy and I thought Harley tackled well in 1st half.

The m had a shocker for their try and never really got his hands on the ball.  Shame about Lamont, comes across as good guy and it'd be a pity if this curtailed his career.  Real problem at 12 for Glasgow now with Dunbar, Horne, Gabrielle, Lamont & Vernon injured. I hope he Russell gets a chance, heard good things and it might force the m to do something in attack, we're all waiting with baited breath for that first searing break.

Huge couple of fixtures, need to come out of these games with something to play for in the new year. Both teams need to win at least one.

scotland should resign on massessssssssss quoting celtic fibromyalgia

wife says hits kick doooooooog

Scratch, me ole mucker, bit early to be on the sauce, eh?

not where i live

sincere apologies to all fro my drunken drivel

i was ejected from the bowling alley last night for taking the ball down the lane to get a strike at a key moment of the game, it was my kids 10th birthday party so important to make a good impression on everyone