Scotland Player Ratings for 6 Nations

Well. Thank goodness that's over - the 6 nations, Scott Johnson, and unbalanced backrows. Through the car crash that was the past 5 matches I thought I'd have a stab at rating the players on their performances. Please add your own opinions and let me know if I've been too nice!

PROPS

RYAN GRANT - Solid enough, but to be honest I only really noticed him in the France match. 5/10
MORAY LOW - Mullered in the Italy game. Pretty rank before that. 3/10
ALASDAIR DICKINSON - Held up well in the scrum and put himself about in the loose. Good back-up. 6/10
GEOFF CROSS - Good 6N. Shored up the scrum, strong carries. 6/10
EUAN MURRAY - Didn't play enough to rate.

HOOKERS

ROSS FORD -  2/10
SCOTT LAWSON - Better throws. Hooked at lineout. Nice hands in open play. Pick of the front rows although scrum not quite as strong when he is on. 7/10

SECOND ROWS

RITCHIE GRAY - Made the decision to drop him look as ridiculous as it was - top tackler in all 3 games he started. Came out of this competition in credit and not many others can say that. 7/10
JIM HAMILTON - Meh. Pretty poor in the first two games. Pretty good in the next two. As I think RDW said, good when the game is slow, exposed when other teams play at pace. 5/10
TIM SWINSON - Played nowhere near his potential. Disappointing as he had definitely earned his time in the shirt. Should NOT be cast aside, but needs to get back playing well for Glasgow. 4/10
JOHNNY GRAY - Not enough to rate. But I do hope to see him and Ritchie playing together this summer.

FLANKERS

KELLY BROWN - Yes he was out of position. Yes SJ mucked him about. But when he was on the pitch I was a bit disappointed. 5/10
RYAN WILSON - 3rd choice 8. 4th (at best) choice 6. Looked a bit out of his depth at this level, but gave his all. Don't get rid, play again for Glasgow, see Swinson. 4/10
CHRIS FUSARO - Decent when he played. Unceremoniously dropped. Not as good as Barclay/Rennie but good to know he can play at this level. 6/10
ALASDAIR STROKOSCH - Should have played more.

NO. 8s

DAVID DENTON - Good. Definitely has limitations and needs to work on offloads but can be happy with performances. 6.5/10
JOHNNIE BEATTIE - Good. Slightly better player than Denton in my mind. Would have liked to see more of them together in the backrow. Hope injury is not too bad. 7/10

SCRUM-HALVES

GREIG LAIDLAW - Poor. Slow service. Rubbish box kicks. Average at best place kicks. 3.5/10
CHRIS CUSITER - Much better. Quick service. High tempo. Better box kicks. Should start. 6/10

FLY HALF

DUNCAN WEIR - I'm delighted we got to see him for every game of the 6 nations as I think consistency of selection at 10 is very important. Less delighted with overall performances. Hadn't played much for Glasgow this year and I think it showed at points. Personally I would like him to continue in the summer and I hope he gets regular game time in the Rabo. 4.5/10

CENTRES

MATT SCOTT/ALEX DUNBAR - THE pairing for the future. Good tries for Dunbar lovely hands from Scott. Both strong in defence and pretty decent in attack. Hopefully no injuries and they can continue on the summer tour. 6/10
DUNCAN TAYLOR - Solid if unspectacular back-up that won't let anyone down. 5/10

WINGERS

SEAN MAITLAND - Injured early and we missed him throughout.
SEAN LAMONT - Does what he does. I like him and the strength/experience he brings, though I do appreciate his lack of pace being a problem. 5.5/10
TOMMY SEYMOUR - Took his try well and some nice touches but was a bit quiet outwith these moments. Want to see him go looking for the ball more. 5.5/10
MAX EVANS - Just... fine... ok... pretty uninspiring. He always looks like he should beat players but never seems to. 5/10
DOUGIE FIFE - Baptism of fiiiiiiiire. Didn't do too badly and to be honest I would rather he was in the squad ahead of evans/lamont. 5/10

FULL BACK

STUART HOGG - He is marked very tightly now, but it wasn't his greatest tournament even before the red card. I like him coming into first receiver and coming into the line at pace but please please please keep him at full back! Huge boot in defence and would like to see him take the kicks to touch. By far our most naturally talented player but needs to keep frustrations in check during game time. 5.5/10

COACH

SCOTT JOHNSON - Confused selections, rambling interviews, questionable tactics. The players must take responsibility as well but he certainly did not help in any way shape or form. So after a season of failure, surely a demotion would be expected. Orrrrr in the weird and wonderful world of the SRU, how about a promotion...     1/10

So, too generous? Too harsh? As ever keen to hear from you all, and from other nations. Any Scottish players look even...half-decent?   

Thought Scott Lawson played out of his skin, covered loads of ground, passed well in the loose and threw consistently in the line out. Getting a bit old unfortunately but might be good for 2-3 more seasons until an obvious replacement comes through. Ford should convert to prop as others have suggested. Other than that I feel your marks are generally fair, though I would put Weir as around 3-3.5 and Hogg 6.5. Horrendous brain-fart today but will learn from it. Big Vern will have sorted things out by this time next year.

RYAN GRANT - 7
ALASDAIR DICKINSON - 6
GEOFF CROSS - 6
ROSS FORD - 2
SCOTT LAWSON - 7
RITCHIE GRAY - 6
JIM HAMILTON - 7
TIM SWINSON - 4
KELLY BROWN - 5
RYAN WILSON - 6
CHRIS FUSARO - 7
ALASDAIR STROKOSCH - 4
DAVID DENTON - 8
JOHNNIE BEATTIE - 7
GREIG LAIDLAW - 5
CHRIS CUSITER - 8
DUNCAN WEIR - 5
MATT SCOTT 7
ALEX DUNBAR 8
DUNCAN TAYLOR - 4
SEAN MAITLAND - 5
SEAN LAMONT - 6
TOMMY SEYMOUR - 7
MAX EVANS - 5
DOUGIE FIFE - 5
STUART HOGG - 5

SCOTT JOHNSON - 2