Scotland Fans' 2014 6N of hell Post-mortem

• We have an interim coach (for over a year!!!)who is more worried about what he says on camera than apparently coaching a sensible game plan
  
• Our breakdown is awful
  
• We have the psychological hardness of my nan - you don't know my nan but that's not good
  
• Our best players are either never played in position, not allowed to play in the XXIII at all, or are just awful at the moment. Not making the injury excuse because frankly it doesn't apply with exception of 2 key players that might be back in time. Happens in every squad
  
• etc, etc (feel free to add to this list)
  

tigertattie wrote:Hold on. Why can't we men go make with blond saffa girls and exotic kiwi girls?

RDW_Scotland wrote:Broke his leg before Christmas. As excuses go, we'll let him off.

Scotsman wrote:SCOTLAND’S rugby players expect Scott Johnson to retain a coaching role with the national side when he moves into his permanent role of director of rugby...  he is keen to remain part of Cotter’s management team and continue in both roles for this summer’s tour and through to the World Cup, which would effectively put Cotter in a situation where he is issuing instructions to the man he reports to.

SCOTLAND’S rugby players expect Scott Johnson to retain a coaching role with the national side when he moves into his permanent role of director of rugby, despite the fact he has overseen a series of wounding results as head coach.

On Saturday, Scotland endured their most embarrassing defeat in the RBS Six Nations, a seven-try, 51-3 defeat to Wales.

That left them with an overall points concession of 138 for the championship, compared with a modest aggregate of 47 of their own – the lowest of the six competing nations.

Johnson agreed to take over the team temporarily after Andy Robinson quit in 2012, but was asked to stay in charge for another year when new coach Vern Cotter failed to secure release from his club contract with Clermont Auvergne.

Johnson had by then agreed to take over as SRU director of rugby, a position he has held alongside that of Scotland coach. However, he is keen to remain part of Cotter’s management team and continue in both roles for this summer’s tour and through to the World Cup, which would effectively put Cotter in a situation where he is issuing instructions to the man he reports to. Greig Laidlaw, who has captained Scotland underneath Johnson and took over as skipper in Saturday’s humbling in Cardiff after Kelly Brown suffered an early head injury, insisted that the players wanted Johnson to stay on the coaching staff.

Laidlaw said: “The players definitely like Scott and he has brought a different edge to us in the way we play and train, and some of the performances we’ve put in while he’s been in charge.

“As a group of players we’re disappointed to almost let him go [as head coach] with this one [performance against Wales]. We’re gutted at how this turned out and we have to look forward now to the summer tour, but Johnno will still be involved in that even with the crossover of Vern coming, and we have to look forward and pick it up from there.”

Johnson finishes with a record of five Test wins in 16 and this tournament with statistics that read one win, snatched in the dying seconds against Italy, four tries scored and 15 conceded, and the worst discipline record of all six teams.

In blooding 16 new caps, Johnson said from the start this his year at the helm would be more about developing a stronger squad to help Scotland’s bid to be competitive and consistent leading into the 2015 World Cup, where the realistic target is to return to the quarter-finals after the 2011 pool exit, but the SRU have set the aim of a trophy win.

“There’s no doubt I’d have liked to have finished it better,” he acknowledged.

“I’m a bit sore. I’ll worry about that [championship review] later.

“It was a difficult game for them [Scotland players]. You look for your major callers and the thrust, and we lost Hoggy [Stuart Hogg, who was sent off], as a strike-runner as well. Players are looking around for a bit of spark and he provides that, so it [red card] was a double blow.

“We saw things against Wales that they need to improve on under pressure, but when some of them haven’t played much at this level and are still learning, and you throw a different situation at them, then they’re going to make mistakes, and they did.”

MacKnocked-on wrote:
Speaking of good mental attitude; Iain Morrison in today's Scotsman asks why the SRU haven't been on the phone to Danny Brough to see if he fancies a shot at Union. I said this when watching Scotland's excellent Rugby League World Cup campaign, he and Matty Russell (and several more) would be very welcome additions to the union squad and would certainly improve the overall mental strength and will to win. As Morrison points out, Brough has all the skills to play 9 or 10 and has one of the best kicking games (both from the tee and hand) that you will see anywhere (he scored 9 kicks at goal this weekend and set up several tries). Obviously all he, and Russell, lack is experience of union but they have the undoubted skill and talent to make it. Come on SRU, sort it out.    

cakeordeath wrote:

MacKnocked-on wrote:
Speaking of good mental attitude; Iain Morrison in today's Scotsman asks why the SRU haven't been on the phone to Danny Brough to see if he fancies a shot at Union. I said this when watching Scotland's excellent Rugby League World Cup campaign, he and Matty Russell (and several more) would be very welcome additions to the union squad and would certainly improve the overall mental strength and will to win. As Morrison points out, Brough has all the skills to play 9 or 10 and has one of the best kicking games (both from the tee and hand) that you will see anywhere (he scored 9 kicks at goal this weekend and set up several tries). Obviously all he, and Russell, lack is experience of union but they have the undoubted skill and talent to make it. Come on SRU, sort it out.    

The SRU seem quite keen at importing players for the SH, so it seems strange to me, in an effort to increase our numbers we haven't approached these people.

cakeordeath wrote:A quick search turned up this
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/super-league-man-steel-danny-6300012

RDW_Scotland wrote:At 30 years old it's probably getting a bit late now - look at what happened with Andy Farrell at England.

The winger on the other hand would be a great steal.

tigertattie wrote:Dave Denton shortlisted as 6ns player of the tournament   

tigertattie wrote:Dave Denton shortlisted as 6ns player of the tournament   

tigertattie wrote:Scott and Dunbar have both been better then one direction Denton.  Beattie (when played at 8) is also far better than Denton. Beattie just hasnt had the game-time perhaps!

I will say this about Denton, he has improved his game over the last 2 months.  He's stil not our best option at 8 though!

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:I have always been a fan of Beatrice Beattie ,  but not sure why he is considered to be so much better than Denton.  

I don't want to degenerate this into baldies fighting over a comb so I'll let it lie.  We have bigger problems than the back row to be honest.

What the hell do we do about a fly half?

GLove39 wrote:On this day, 24 years ago we won the Grandslam.
Where did it all go wrong?

GLove39 wrote:On this day, 24 years ago we won the Grandslam.
Where did it all go wrong?

Ineffable wrote:

GLove39 wrote:On this day, 24 years ago we won the Grandslam.
Where did it all go wrong?

At least I will have lived (just) to see a Scotland grandslam...    

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:I've seen them all

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:I've seen them all

show off.  

Riskysports wrote:
Right, I have stayed away as much as possible, and enjoyed the golf in the sun, followed by a BBQ and some beers with the Misses - did watch the game, but was in a good mood, so did not care

Just a healthy dose of reality here

Cotter may help develop the Scotland team, but I think the levels of assumption that the whole thing will come together may be a little naive - we have had many coaches and while they all having failings, we may have to accept we may not be that good (the only common denominator in the guff we have played for 10 years is the players).

Scott Johnson May actually be a good DOR - that may be where his skills are - we know they are not a team selector - so lets give him some time - he never wanted the Scotland Coach job - so I am prepared to judge him on the job he is hired for - rather than the one he stepped into to fill

I hope that we have an up ward curve and can start to become a force in rugby, but I think with only a few thousand players (and a mildy racist uncle) playing rugby in Scotland, the depth of the hole we are in, should not be ignored

Lets keep a level head, support the changes, and not get carried away that things will change over night - they may not

THE Scottish Rugby Union has embarked on a review of the RBS Six Nations, the Scotland management set-up and plans through to the next World Cup as they assess whether new coach Vern Cotter will have the right team in place to achieve success.

In the wake of the worst finish to a Six Nations Championship and a drop from last year’s third place to the familiar fifth spot, the Scottish Rugby Board and Scottish Rugby Council are seeking clarity on the direction of the national management structure. Cotter, though still leading Clermont Auvergne towards the Top 14 and Heineken Cup titles, will also play a role.

The board and council have backed the changes made since Andy Robinson resigned in 2012, the search for a long-term successor and appointments of Cotter and Scott Johnson as the new director of rugby and interim head coach. It seems absurd, however, to imagine that Johnson could continue as Cotter’s backs/attack coach. In fact, were Johnson to join Cotter on the summer tour to North and South America, and South Africa, it would raise a major question mark over whether he and the SRU appreciate the speed with which change is required.

After the 51-3 embarrassment in Cardiff on Saturday, there have been calls for Johnson’s head on a plate, for Dodson to be fired, Lockhead, too, and for the SRU to be stripped from top to bottom and a new structure put in place. New governance, new leaders, new inspiration and more Scottish brains restored to the Murrayfield ship.

The SRU cannot escape the fact that there is a lack of people with a strong knowledge of Scottish rugby going back more than a decade running the ship. Fewer still have experience of success in professional sport. But is the answer wholesale change, once again? Did it work when Jim Telfer moved on in 2003? Or when David Mackay and Phil Anderton were forced out by strong, knowledgeable Scottish rugby men on the union committee, and Ian McGeechan soon followed so disillusioned by it? Did we reap a harvest from the Gordon McKie era?

Some of Scotland’s most celebrated players – Andy Irvine, Ian McLauchlan, Alan Lawson, Gavin and Scott Hastings, Jim Calder and Sean Lineen – have been involved to various degrees with the SRU and/or the pro teams, to what end? Richie Dixon, David Johnston, Telfer, McGeechan, Frank Hadden, Andy Robinson and Johnson all coached the national team and none secured any consistent measure of success. So, is the problem really the chairman, chief executive or head coach? Or are they merely convenient targets for lazy critics?

The real problem, I contend, is the lack of competition for teenage talent, for boys and girls, emerging from youth to senior rugby and then those in the early years of senior and pro rugby. Britain’s first national league brought new, regular, heightening competition to Scotland in 1973-74, and strengthened national squads over the next two decades. But professionalism helped others to catch up by injecting finance into countless teams. With more teams came increased competition. Scotland went the other way, from ten or 12-strong clubs pre-1996 to four and then two provincial teams.

Worse, below that, Scotland failed to invest in the development of youth players and in schools as school sport crumbled and, instead, proceeded to throw ill-equipped, under-prepared players into ever-tougher Test arenas, and hoped for the best. An indication of the poor direction came under Gordon McKie, the former CEO who could not see any requirement for a director of rugby, and the game suffered without that direction. Johnson now has that role and he has two more years in his current contract to make a significant difference.

There are several questions the SRU have not answered well, beginning with why such an important position of “director of rugby” was not advertised. The answer, that they – a group of men not hugely experienced in pro and Test rugby – scoured the world and spoke to several candidates privately before settling on Johnson did not convince. But that has not stopped Johnson from meeting players, coaches, teachers, administrators and supporters across the game, digesting their views on the problems and drawing up proposals.

The proposal for a “Super 8” premier club league is back under consultation after clubs demanded more time to re-shape it. But, once the Six Nations review is written up, Johnson will set about implementing four new academies, at a cost of over £1 million, in a return to a four-district culture that once served Scotland well. A stepped series of age-grade squads will allow young talent to emerge through the South, Edinburgh, North and Midlands/Caledonia and Glasgow, competing with each other, alongside a new schools competition.

Putting aside the fact that he should never have been Scotland’s head coach, I like Johnson and believe that he could be the man to revitalise the game below Test level if given the chance. It has puzzled me how Scottish rugby has waved goodbye to the likes of Telfer, McGeechan and Hadden and then ignored them. I said when he was released in 2009 that Hadden could make a great director of youth rugby with his understanding of the schools and youth game allied to the new understanding of what a pro and Test player required to be successful.

Some people do not like Johnson’s style. It may be the accent or the quips, but the incessant negativity and call for heads that greets any failure is also a rotten part of Scottish sport. Johnson comes from a sporting background none here can match. He saw from the inside the famed Australia institute of sport’s work to turn decades of struggle into Olympic golden glory, and worked with schools, clubs, pro and international rugby in Australia and Wales, two countries that for all their weaknesses – notably the fact that in Australia rugby union ranks about fourth in the list of popular sports and has an ongoing battle to attract numbers while Wales still draws on just 40,000 players – have remained at the top table in world rugby throughout the past decade.

The quips come from an innate desire to ingratiate or entertain, but an hour in Johnson’s company reveals both a deep understanding of rugby and searing passion to make sport work. He has taken to Scotland quickly, his upbringing on the “wrong side” of Sydney battling posh, big neighbours perhaps a factor, and has endeared himself to coaches of different sports across the country in seminars, coaching conferences and dinner appearances.

Specifically, Johnson has studied how to develop schoolboys in Australia and Wales, how to make academies work so that the end product is George North-like, able to step straight into a pro club and Test side and make an impact at the age of 19.

Whether it is possible to replicate systems from Australia or Wales in Scotland remains a great unknown, but could we try? Or should we kick him out and wait for the next mug to accept the task of turning 12,000 rugby players into a world force, in a country that really only comes alive for the sport when the national team plays or Melrose Sevens appear?

Johnson has begun the process and needs time and support to effect the radical surgery the Six Nations has again revealed Scottish rugby to require. He must, however, give it his full attention. If Johnson believes that he could operate as both Scotland’s backs coach and the SRU’s director of rugby then he does not grasp the depth of work involved in either, and in that case would not be the man for the role.

Progress by whose standards? Here are five simple ways to improve the game

by Neil Drysdale

Another Six Nations campaign, another few months in purgatory.

With Scott Johnson having talked about Scotland's "progress", following their record 51-3 defeat to Wales, it's surely time some honest solutions were found to the problems crippling the game. Here are five suggestions which might transform the country's ailing fortunes:

1 DENY JOHNSON THE DIRECTOR OF RUGBY ROLE

Jim Telfer couldn't make a success of the job. Neither could Ian McGeechan. If these two majestic coaches were unable to rectify the myriad problems which existed inside Murrayfield, why should we suppose Johnson is in any way equipped to flourish? As things stand, we are in the risible situation where the Australian with the worst international record in the SRU cause since Matt Williams could be Vern Cotter's boss some of the time and continue to coach in some capacity on other occasions.

As the phlegmatic Andy Nicol said: "When Andy Robinson came, he inherited Frank Hadden's backroom team. When Scott Johnson came in, he inherited Robinson's backroom team. Now Vern Cotter is going to come in with a backroom staff already in situ. I just find that bonkers."

He's not the only one.

2 SELL THE PRO TEAMS AND SET UP A THIRD IN THE NORTH It's amazing how sharp-suited capitalist types in Scotland sound like old Politburo members once they discuss flinging cash at Glasgow and Edinburgh, as if the idea of private ownership was heresy. This has to change. The existing pro sides should be put up for sale by the SRU, with a two-year time frame for any investors to act. Aberdeen Asset Management supremo, Martin Gilbert, is talking about his desire to sponsor a third team in the north-east.

The union can't ignore him or, if it does, should be asked to explain their reasons for doing so at the next agm.

3 LET THE CLUBS SET UP A RUGBY-STYLE SPL The club schedule in Scotland is such a dog's dinner it should be sponsored by Pedigree Chum. Every year, the league grinds to a halt before Christmas and then descends into a farcical mix of league and cup matches, interspersed with postponements. The structure is unfit for purpose and, as such, should be replaced by an SPL-style championship, run by the clubs, with sponsorship and TV money going to them. One or two of the more ambitious sides already back the principle but have had their aims thwarted by conservatism and self-interest. Meanwhile, the grassroots game is quietly dying a death.

4 STOP SPENDING MONEY ON SECOND-RATE FOREIGNERS It might, indeed, be the case that Scotland doesn't have 70 players worthy of being called professional. But if it isn't, why does Murrayfield insist on signing all manner of foreigners, the majority of whom are no better than those already plying their trade here? Nobody is denying there haven't been diamonds - Todd Blackadder was a star and the Glasgow scrum-half, Nikola Matawalu, has talent to burn. But when it was announced last week that Izak van der Westhuizen is leaving Edinburgh to return to South Africa, plenty wondered what exactly he has been doing since he arrived in 2012.

5 MOVE THE SEVENS TO THE END OF THE SUMMER There is something almost perverse about continuing with the present determination to have supporters shivering into their beer at Sevens tournaments in early April.

Surely it would make far more sense to stage them in the three or four weeks leading up to the start of the new season. Do it then and there might just be a chance that the sun will shine, the barbecue might just spark into life, and players could use these events as an enjoyable means of sharpening up for the big kick-off.

The Aye-been mentality helps nobody.