6N Round 2: Scotland v Wales, 15 February

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SCOTLAND v WALES
Sunday 15 February 2015
KO 15:00 (GMT)
BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh

Live on BBC1

Referee: Glen Jackson (NZR)
AR1: George Clancy (IRFU)
AR2: Dudley Phillips (IRFU)
TMO: Simon McDowell (IRFU)

A. Teams:

1. SCOTLAND

15 Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors);
14 Sean Lamont (Glasgow Warriors);
13 Mark Bennett (Glasgow Warriors);
12 Alex Dunbar (Glasgow Warriors);
11 Tim Visser (Edinburgh Rugby);
10 Finn Russell (Glasgow Warriors);
9 Greig Laidlaw CAPTAIN (Gloucester);

1 Alasdair Dickinson (Edinburgh Rugby);
2 Ross Ford (Edinburgh Rugby);
3 Geoff Cross (London Irish);
4 Richie Gray (Castres);
5 Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors);
6 Rob Harley (Glasgow Warriors),
7 Blair Cowan (London Irish);
8 Johnnie Beattie (Castres);

16 Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors);
17 Gordon Reid (Glasgow Warriors);
18 Jon Welsh (Glasgow Warriors);
19 Jim Hamilton (Saracens);
20 Alasdair Strokosch (USA Perpignan);
21 Sam Hidalgo-Clyne (Edinburgh Rugby);
22 Greig Tonks (Edinburgh Rugby);
23 Matt Scott (Edinburgh Rugby);

2. WALES

15 Leigh Halfpenny (Toulon)
14 Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues)
13 Jonathan Davies (ASM Clermont Auvergne)
12 Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro)
11 Liam Williams (Scarlets)
10 Dan Biggar (Ospreys)
09 Rhys Webb (Ospreys)

01 Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues)
02 Richard Hibbard (Gloucester)
03 Aaron Jarvis (Ospreys)
04 Jake Ball (Scarlets)
05 Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys)
06 Dan Lydiate (Ospreys)
07 Sam Warburton (Cardiff Blues, CAPT)
08 Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons)

16 Scott Baldwin (Ospreys)
17 Paul James (Bath Rugby)
18 Scott Andrews (Cardiff Blues)
19 Luke Charteris (Racing Metro)
20 Justin Tipuric (Ospreys)
21 Mike Phillips (Racing Metro)
22 Rhys Priestland (Scarlets)
23 Scott Williams (Scarlets)

B. Form (last 4 games):

1. SCOTLAND

07/02/15 - France 15 - 8 Scotland

22/11/14 - Scotland 37 - 12 Tonga

15/11/14 - Scotland 16 - 24 New Zealand

08/11/14 - Scotland 41 - 31 Argentina

2. WALES

06/02/15 - Wales 16 - 21 England

29/11/14 - Wales 12 - 6 South Africa

22/11/14 - Wales 16 - 34 New Zealand

15/11/14  - Wales 17 - 13 Fiji

C. Head to Head:

120 Played 120

48 Wins 69

69 Losses 48

3 Draws 3

180 Tries 227

80 Conversions 112

130 Penalties 142

30 Drop Goals 25

1,204 Points 1,578

Weegie Wizard wrote:I notice Strokosh is in the papers talking about last year's game.

I worry that means he will be starting and Harley hasn't made it

I wondered if anybody else had noticed it. Not really newsworthy, but there you go.

If Laidlaw's words are anything to go by, Scotland want revenge for last year's rout... Reckon you'll get it?

The Saint wrote:If Laidlaw's words are anything to go by, Scotland want revenge for last year's rout... Reckon you'll get it?

To be fair, when asked about it by the media he's not exactly going to say much else!

It was an absolute embarrassment for Scottish rugby.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

The Saint wrote:If Laidlaw's words are anything to go by, Scotland want revenge for last year's rout... Reckon you'll get it?

To be fair, when asked about it by the media he's not exactly going to say much else!

It was an absolute embarrassment for Scottish rugby.

I know, just trying to add to the build-up a bit! I'm sure they'll give a far better account of themselves on Sunday.

At home, with 15 men on the pitch, an excellent coach in charge, and players playing well - I think I can safely say we'll see a much better Scotland.

I'n not feeling very confident at all for this. I think the only thing we can hope for is the Welsh players' 'backlash'. But Scotland are doing one of those too so it's going to be backlash city.

'Battle of the Backlash' - that's how they should market this!

I do think Scotland will win. I also think Wales might not win a game this tournament. Will be close and maybe a nervy, low scoring affair with both teams keen to win (Scotland keen to make up for last year and Wales for last week).

From a Welsh point of view, I hope players like Lydiate and Cuthbert do step up this week and that if we are struggling, Gatland has the decency to try using his bench better and bring the likes of Tipuric and this week Scott Williams on to at least change the game. I expect Liam Williams to go pretty well and prove a point to Cement Head.

Close and nervy perhaps - But I think we will see a fair few points scored. Scotland will be better than last week - more cohesion - this is still a very inexperienced group of players with little time together.

I jut hope Wales don't play for penalties but try to play and attack. Scotland will attack. they will play a very aggressive defence and I am really looking forward to Scotland strike runners dodging the Welsh defence. I expect Scotland to run every kick back and not to kick the ball away

I think an interesting contrast in styles might happen - Scotland seeking the spaces and Wales seeking contact. Scotland running the counter-attack and Wales kicking deep

As ever breakdown will be a good battle - I just hope Big Vern gets his back row selections right.

So looking forward to this one! Delighted to bave

Huge game for both sides.
Wales win, they're back in contention.
Wales lose, 6 nations over & with a trip to Paris plus Ireland the hot favourites they could potentially go into the last weekend vying with Italy to avoid the wooden spoon..?

As for us.
Well add in 7 straight defeats, including that game in 2010, Gatlands lions selection & last years humiliation & jeeze players & fans alike are gagging for a win over the Welsh!

Win, and apart from putting a lot of demons to bed, we could honestly start to belive we'd turned a corner.

Lose & back to the old familiar rut of the only likely win being against Italy.

A lot riding on the fitness of Dunbar & the ginger tackle monster.
If we're able to field the same team as last week minus Tim turnstile Visser (& the reverend of course) I'll be delighted.

Are Scotland announcing their team today?

Yes

No - we are hiding behind the sofa and keeping very quiet

TJ wrote:Close and nervy perhaps - But I think we will see a fair few points scored.  Scotland will be better than last week - more cohesion - this is still a very inexperienced group of players with little time together.

I jut hope Wales don't play for penalties but try to play and attack.  Scotland will attack.  they will play a very aggressive defence and I am really looking forward to Scotland strike runners dodging the Welsh defence.  I expect Scotland to run every kick back and not to kick the ball away

I think an interesting contrast in styles might happen - Scotland seeking the spaces and Wales seeking contact.  Scotland running the counter-attack and Wales kicking deep

As ever breakdown will be a good battle - I just hope Big Vern gets his back row selections right.

Don't infringe and you won't give penalties away! Very easy to counter that tactic by Wales.

I still don't understand why Scotland haven't recalled Kelly Brown.  Kelly Brown can play 6,7 and 8 to a pretty high standard. He's been consistently one of the best Scottish players even when playing 7. One of the most experienced Scottish players etc.

With Robshaw he's one of the most underrated flankers in the NH.

Seriously it's a no brainer.

Bambam I would say Lydiate is the most overrated flanker on the planet with Strokosch not far behind....

George Carlin wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Both Grays are shown in it, and to be fair Hamilton is too.

Maybe Toolis is one of the reserve reserves, or maybe I'm just looking too much into it!

Surely Matt Scott getting his headshot done suggests he's fit though?

It's perhaps possible that Toolis could end up covering the back row.

A back of the line jumper with a big work rate and likes to tackle?

I smell a Rob Harley replacement.

To be fair Toolis might well have made a better no8 last week than Beattie did.

beshocked wrote:I still don't understand why Scotland haven't recalled Kelly Brown.  Kelly Brown can play 6,7 and 8 to a pretty high standard. He's been consistently one of the best Scottish players even when playing 7. One of the most experienced Scottish players etc.

Preaching to the choir here mate!

RDW Scotland it's slightly worrying when a supposedly decent coach like Vern Cotter makes a howler like that.

I could understand if Scotland had other flankers tearing up trees etc but they don't. Even just having him on the bench and not starting would be better than not having him at all.

Ideed - specifically I am thinking of playing for penalties at the scrum and at the breakdown - 2 or 3 of the pens against scotland in the France game were for not rolling away when the scot was being held in the ruck. the scots need to show more they are trying to get out of the way but what I really mean is I want to see teams trying to score in open play not looking for penalties and scoring from them. I want to see the side that scores most tries winning.

Scotland don't tend to play for pens in the same way - form my viewpoint. Scotland try to score tries

RDW_Scotland wrote:

beshocked wrote:I still don't understand why Scotland haven't recalled Kelly Brown.  Kelly Brown can play 6,7 and 8 to a pretty high standard. He's been consistently one of the best Scottish players even when playing 7. One of the most experienced Scottish players etc.

Preaching to the choir here mate!

The Kelly Brown issue is an utter head Scratcher.

It actually makes me very angry. I would say Harley when fully fit is the man to displace for the blind side shirt for Scotland. Kelly's ommision is totally baffling though since he can play across the backrow to a very high standard and we have some issues in that area.

Kellybrows would be a player I would bring into Sunday's match day squad in a heartbeat.

beshocked wrote:

Bambam I would say Lydiate is the most overrated flanker on the planet with Strokosch not far behind....

Nah, that's Steffan Armitage .

Got to agree on Lydiate - he's very good at doing a specific job for Wales, but he is very 1 dimensional. He's an experience pro now so you would have thought he would have worked on his weaknesses (maybe he has).

Take Rob Harley for example, a couple of years ago he was in a similar mould to Lydiate - a tackling demon but fairly average with other parts of his game like ball carrying, support play and impact at ruck time.

He's obviously worked on them though and his carrying is a lot better (although plenty improvement still needed), his link play has improved and he's now a complete pain in the arse around the rucks.

Compare Lydiate to the top modern day 6's and they can do what he can do in defence, but are also much better in other aspects of the game. I'm not saying Bob Harley is one of top 6's in the game just now, but he is at least showing real signs of improvement in other aspects of his game.

RDW - Lydiate is an odd phenomenon. When he first burst onto the scene he was doing all of that, he could even shift to open-side and play very well. When our team plays well he's pretty much one of the top players out there. But in this era of rugby you just need a whole lot more from a blind-side; if you look at ABs embarrassment of riches at 6, every blind-side in the world should be aspiring to those guys!

Exactly. It's not the fact that he's 1 dimensional that bothers me about him - he's very good at what he does - it's the fact that he's not really shown any improvement in the areas that could turn him into a world class blind side to rival the likes of Kaino etc.

He's 27 now - he's had plenty time!

Teams in. Lamont for Seymour, Cross for Murray

IrnBroon wrote:Teams in. Lamont for Seymour, Cross for Murray

The Twitter feed doesn't say anything, and that's the first place they announce it!

On the SRU website

Well I can't see it anywhere on the website - you got a link?

They said it will be announced around midday.

Oddly seems to have disappeared now. But was definitely on there. Also showed Tonks and Scott on bench

Sounds like one of the SRU comms people have been a bit trigger happy with the article!

If that is the case it is a big blow to lose Seymour, especially for Lamont. That's a big dose of creativity and strike running missing.

Also had Welsh on bench, otherwise no other changes.

Who are Tonks and Scott in for? Horne and Fife?

Sorry forgot that part......yes.

Excellent - good spot!

Great username by the way, gives some competition to IanBru now though!

Are you guys related??

So strong defense on the right wing but reduced scoring ability and the same revolving door on the left! At least Dunbar and Harley are fit and Scott can cover 12 if Dunbar breaks down again. Tonks also gives FB cover as well as at 10. Welsh will also be raring to get some game time. Still wanted, as most of us did, Brown instead of Stroker, but it could have been a lot worse.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Excellent - good spot!

Great username by the way, gives some competition to IanBru now though!

Are you guys related??

Would guess we may share at least 1 name.

That was a good spot.

Big blow losing Seymour for Lamont. Basically takes away a potential try scoring threat, and I'd suggest that Fife is a tad unlucky, despite his rather bumpy start to international rugby.

Horne out for Tonks is entirely positive, and I'm obviously please to see Scott involved, a player who could actually make a difference coming off the bench.

Slowest and most disjointed team announcement ever from the SRU. Just make it a single tweet!

Lamont's try scoring record is 12 in 91 - that's 1 in every 7 games, which is just marginally better than Maitland's!

Team confirmed:

1 Dickinson
2 Ford
3 Cross
4 Gray
5 Gray
6 Harley
7 Cowan
8 Beattie

9 Laidlaw
10 Russell
11 Visser
12 Dunbar
13 Bennett
14 Lamont
15 Hogg

Subs - Reid, Brown, Welsh, Hamilton, Strokosh, Hidalgo-Clyne, Scott, Tonks

Once again, no complaints at all given the injuries! Other than Strokosh over Brown of course..

Well it's good to see that Harley is passed fit, that's a bonus, and the bench is better with Scott and Tonks ahead of Horne and Fife. I suppose the Welsh backline is a pretty robust group so having Lamont there to knock them down could prove useful.

I am really concerned with our back 3, more specifically both our wings. Vissers lack of ability to tackle and Schlongs speed.

funnyExiledScot wrote:Well it's good to see that Harley is passed fit, that's a bonus, and the bench is better with Scott and Tonks ahead of Horne and Fife. I suppose the Welsh backline is a pretty robust group so having Lamont there to knock them down could prove useful.

He is slower than a glacier though.

Lamont in there is probably the worst thing that could happen in an attacking sense. Visser better get himself about a lot better than he did against France. Hogg can carry on coming in as first receiver and will hopefully tie up Roberts and Warbs.

Happy with the pack, however we are now really starting to miss Dozer.

Its on Twitter now, just a bit slow!

That's about the best team we could have hopped for given injuries. I expect Lamont would have benched ahead of Fife last week if he had been fit and unfortunately giving away a penalty like that did not do himself any favours. Still our second choice wingers, but the best available. Visser needs to step up this time, or his international career will never amount to much.

It was a bit odd that Tonks did not bench last time, so that seems a sensible option. Dunbar has played wing from time to time, so I guess he would move out if there was an injury. I am sure we will see Matt Scott at some stage as well and hopefully he will rise to the occasion. He will need to if he wants to start again!

We are missing both Seymour and Maitland, so when you consider the lack of depth we've had in the past choosing between Fife and Lamont for the 3rd and 4th choice right wingers isn't too bad. The other option would be to play Scott at 12, Dunbar at 13 and put the Messiah on the right wing.

I haven't even had to mention Max Evans....

BigGee wrote:

It was a bit odd that Tonks did not bench last time, so that seems a sensible option.

I was thinking that too, but suspect Horne was picked to cover centre - Matt Scott returning removes that need.

funnyExiledScot wrote:
The other option would be to play Scott at 12, Dunbar at 13 and put the Messiah on the right wing.

Where is FES and what have you done with him?? First a second row at number 8, then a centre on the wing?!

Actually on second thoughts, you can keep him!

With Seymour and presumably Maitland injured, that is a good backline for me. I'm a lot more relaxed about Lamont up against Williams than if North had made it. Lack of pace is still a problem but at least Lamont can now work to his own strengths a bit more.

The bench forwards is where I am most concerned. I don't fancy the last 20 minutes with the reserve front row and Hamilton and Strokosch behind them. If Wales are within 10 points 1/2p could easily kick them to a win with the penalties that will be given.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:
The other option would be to play Scott at 12, Dunbar at 13 and put the Messiah on the right wing.

Where is FES and what have you done with him?? First a second row at number 8, then a centre on the wing?!

Actually on second thoughts, you can keep him!

Just setting out the options!! Personally I'd have kept Fife on the wing and sent Lamont back to Glasgow.

I am not convinced that Liam Williams is as dangerous on the wing as he can be from full back. Like Hogg he is at his best when he is running the ball back against a breaking midfield. I think Wales have missed a trick by not putting Halfpenny on the wing and Williams at FB.

BigGee wrote:I am not convinced that Liam Williams is as dangerous on the wing as he can be from full back. Like Hogg he is at his best when he is running the ball back against a breaking midfield. I think Wales have missed a trick by not putting Halfpenny on the wing and Williams at FB.

I could see them switching roles, but we shouldn't underestimate Halfpenny's counter-attacking either. Remember what he did to Australia in that 3rd Lions Test.

It's our pack that really needs to front up to this, particularly the back row. Wales present a massive challenge physically. England stood up to be counted and we need to do the same, and that means Harley and Beattie in particular knocking players back and getting us across the advantage line. Harley had an excuse last weekend (and didn't actually play that badly) but Beattie really let us down ball in hand. Time to redeem himself, because in Falateu he's up against a very decent player.

Weegie Wizard wrote:
The bench forwards is where I am most concerned. I don't fancy the last 20 minutes with the reserve front row and Hamilton and Strokosch behind them. If Wales are within 10 points 1/2p could easily kick them to a win with the penalties that will be given.

Agreed on the bench. A fit and firing bench of

Grant (I'm not such a huge fan of Reid)
Brown
Welsh
Gilchrist
Brown

Would be much stronger, with Gilchrist the only one currently injured.