Scotland World Cup look ahead and squad

BigGee wrote:The championship playoff is really in the balance and you would have to say slightly favours Worcester now.

There are Scottish benefits whatever the result, with either Eadie/Traynor or Grove/Heathcote getting some AP game time to show us what they can offer. I follow Bristol a bit as my daughter is at university there and I have a passing interest. Eadie has been playing well all season and has pushed himself into the starting lineup, no mean feat considering some of the imports they have had. Still it is a little bit hard to see him as a genuine international class 8 though but also hard to see him very high on Englands radar either. I am sure he would get a look at an A cap if that opportunity comes along next year.

Rob Harley's fall from grace seems to have gone largely uncommented on though. He is not even getting into the Glasgow game squad at the moment, after being an ever present for the past few years and this cannot be doing his WC chances any good at all and I would have said that he was nailed on 6 months ago.

Dare I say it, but could he be someone as well who could do with a bit of reinvention and a chance of scenery at the end of this contract. He is going to have an interesting choice to make next year!

RDW_Scotland wrote:Looshead - Dickinson, Reid, Grant, Sutherland
Hooker - Ford, Brown, McInally, McArthur
Tighthead - Nel, Cross, Welsh, Cusak, Low
Lock - Gray, Gray, Toolis, Hamilton, Swinson, Gilchrist, McKenzie
6/8 - Harley, Denton, Ashe, Strauss, Wilson, Brown
7 - Watson, Cowan, Barclay, Fusaro

9 - Hidalgo-Clyne, Laidlaw, Pyrgos, Cusiter
10 - Russell, Weir, Jackson
12/13 - Scott, Horne, Bennett, Taylor, Vernon
11/14 - Seymour, Visser, Maitland, Fife, Lamont
15 - Hogg, Tonks, Murchie
Wasn't actually that difficult - centre is still a worrying position though. I've assumed Dunbar will be crocked.

There are far too many locks and backrows in there, but was running out of players!

RDW_Scotland wrote:I'm sure I'll get shot down for this, but Harley would probably be more suited to Edinburgh's style of play!

beshocked wrote:Taylor is starting for Saracens at outside centre this weekend. If he plays well then he could well become an option for Scotland in the RWC.

Brown in contrast is not even in the 23. Hamilton on the bench.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:I'm sure I'll get shot down for this, but Harley would probably be more suited to Edinburgh's style of play!

Sorry GLove, but I don't think my eyes could cope with Harley on one flank and Grant on the other!!

Carving out a professional rugby career around the disruption and discipline of four daily insulin injections fostered a meticulous streak in Jason O'Halloran he likes to call his "perfectionist gene".

Diagnosed with diabetes at 21, the slight midfielder learned to plan his meals and listen to his body.

He had to think faster, read the game better than his bigger, stronger rivals; All Blacks like Eroni Clarke and Frank Bunce. He became established as an astute, dependable cog in a Wellington Hurricanes backline that sparkled with the talents of Jonah Lomu, Tana Umaga and Christian Cullen.

"I had to be a bit better at picking up early cues around how they were going to defend or attack to give myself a head start," he says.

"I always saw myself as an advocate for those guys - my job was to provide them with quality ball so they could do their thing. What I really appreciate in rugby is selflessness; you need to build that by having a good time off the field too."

Rugby took him from New Zealand's capital to Japan, overcoming the death of his mother to win a solitary All Blacks cap, before he dipped his toe into the turbulent waters of coaching.

Opting not to dive headlong into a top role, he served a shrewd apprenticeship under Dave Rennie and Chris Boyd, two leading lights of Super Rugby, and former Ulster boss Mark Anscombe, with the Manawatu Turbos and New Zealand Under-20s, gathering knowledge and insight from each.

"It's that perfectionist gene," he says. "I wasn't keen to jump in at a level where I was going to be learning on the job and be a mediocre coach at (provincial) ITM Cup level. I wanted to be in the top third of that group."

The cash-strapped Turbos were, O'Halloran admits, a "massive salvage job"; a squad assembled and cultivated the hard way, with no marquee stars and a strong reliance on local talent.

After four years nurturing the region's academy players, producing a handful of All Blacks, his perfectionist gene was satiated and he was ready to plough his own furrow.


He took over from Rennie as head coach and, in 2014, with an intelligent, incisive brand of rugby, secured Manawatu's first title for over three decades with Scotland supremo Vern Cotter's brother Jeremy, his trusted lieutenant.

O'Halloran recently knocked back two offers to join Super Rugby coaching set-ups, but when Cotter Snr came calling, he decided the chance to work with an international backline was too good to pass up.

"I see a lot of similarities between Scotland and the challenge I took on when I first came to Manawatu," begins O'Halloran, who moves to Murrayfield as backs coach in November after the Rugby World Cup.

"And there are a lot of comparisons I can make with the cattle you guys have got and what I've got. The underdog tag is one I quite enjoy, but at the same time, if we get Scotland to where we want to get to, we're going to have to get comfortable with that favourites tag. We've got to snap out of that."

His analysis on the players he soon inherits has begun, spooling through footage of the Scots' Six Nations Championship whitewash.

"I'm really excited by the group of talent you've got there," he says. "Stuart Hogg was one of the leading players in the Six Nations in terms of attack stats, line breaks, defenders beaten, offloads, metres made; he's an outstanding talent.

"Likewise, I think Mark Bennett's an outstanding talent, he's really good on his feet, always looking to attack.

"I like the look of Dougie Fife on the wing. Although Finn Russell's got some rough edges, I like his intent in attack and he uses those blindside wingers and inside channels pretty well."

It may not require astounding tactical genius to identify freneticism as detrimental to Scotland's efforts to cross the whitewash, but O'Halloran has a plan to refine his new recruits.

"What I'd like to do is add a little more composure to the group once they get in behind the opposition," he says. "Throughout the games I watched, there were times where Scotland were really dominant but didn't get any points."

Wallaby Joe Roff, scoring here against Scotland in 2004, was a major influence on O'Halloran
O'Halloran favours a co-ordinated but holistic approach to the game, influenced by Australian stalwarts Joe Roff and Toutai Kefu he worked with in Japan, and thrives on strong bonds with his playing group, tuning in to what makes them tick. His expertise is likely to prove invaluable to the development of Scottish rugby's flagship regional academies and schools set-up.

"The Australians opened my eyes to a different style of footie; I think we're quite insular in New Zealand and we think our way's the only way," he says. "But, when I was talking to them, I thought, if I can amalgamate some of that with what we do in New Zealand, I can come up with a reasonably exciting style of footie.

"We need to work on accuracy - offloading is a really important weapon, but inaccurate offloads kill you. My team in the ITM Cup last year had the fewest offloads in the competition but the most line breaks.

"Being selective with our offloads is going to be key - that's probably where Scotland do let the pressure valve off the opposition. They throw a couple of dusty offloads and enable opposition to escape."

It is most intriguing to hear O'Halloran talk of the pitfalls of "endless drills" - perhaps a trait of past Scottish teams has been a rigid adherence to flagging game-plans, backline play without freedom that represents sheer sacrilege in the Kiwi heartlands.

"We need to give them as much game-relative training rather than doing everything via drills," he says.

"I think more game awareness stuff at training would be really good for Scottish guys so they're making more decisions in training rather than running through drills endlessly. That's how I look to develop my players; they certainly have more fun and they're competing more regularly.
"I guess I'm making a few assumptions based on what I'm seeing in games."

Engineering Scotland's attack has long proved an onerous task, but an hour in O'Halloran's company, together with disgruntled rumblings over his departure in the New Zealand media, leads one to make the assumption that Cotter has chosen his perfectionist wisely.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Good article from Scotland's new backs coach on the Beeb.  I'm pleased that he has noticed that Scotland needs to work on their offloads - annoys the hell out of me when we throw pointless offloads that mess everything up.  A bad offload messes up an attack just as much as a good offload breaks open a defence!

It is a shame he isn't coming until after the WC - looking forward to seeing what he can do.

"I'm really excited by the group of talent you've got there," he says. "Stuart Hogg was one of the leading players in the Six Nations in terms of attack stats, line breaks, defenders beaten, offloads, metres made; he's an outstanding talent.

"Likewise, I think Mark Bennett's an outstanding talent, he's really good on his feet, always looking to attack.

"I like the look of Dougie Fife on the wing. Although Finn Russell's got some rough edges, I like his intent in attack and he uses those blindside wingers and inside channels pretty well."

George Carlin wrote:Two main tough calls in the centre:

1. Is a 60% fit Alex Dunbar a better call than a 100% fit Taylor or Vernon?
2. If not, how can you really compare Taylor and Vernon? Utterly different players.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Two main tough calls in the centre:

1. Is a 60% fit Alex Dunbar a better call than a 100% fit Taylor or Vernon?
2. If not, how can you really compare Taylor and Vernon? Utterly different players.

After so many barren years it's pleasing to have some genuinely tough decisions to make at centre.

My own view is that Dunbar and Bennett should start if able - even if less than 100% fit. They work really well together.

Behind those too you have Scott and Horne covering 12 (in that order) and Taylor and Vernon covering 13 (again, in that order).

Taylor vs Vernon is about as close a call as you can get, but Taylor shades it for me. I think he has a better all round game for outside centre, particularly his passing/link game.

12. Dunbar, Scott and Horne
13. Bennett, Taylor and Vernon

madmaccas wrote:btw, anyone know when the World Cup extended squad is due to be announced?

I'm assuming it'll be after the finals this weekend, but I suppose without any BaBa games it may not be until late June.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Two main tough calls in the centre:

1. Is a 60% fit Alex Dunbar a better call than a 100% fit Taylor or Vernon?
2. If not, how can you really compare Taylor and Vernon? Utterly different players.

After so many barren years it's pleasing to have some genuinely tough decisions to make at centre.

My own view is that Dunbar and Bennett should start if able - even if less than 100% fit. They work really well together.

Behind those too you have Scott and Horne covering 12 (in that order) and Taylor and Vernon covering 13 (again, in that order).

Taylor vs Vernon is about as close a call as you can get, but Taylor shades it for me. I think he has a better all round game for outside centre, particularly his passing/link game.

12. Dunbar, Scott and Horne
13. Bennett, Taylor and Vernon

bsando wrote:Well I don't know about anyone else but I am feeling much more positive about the World Cup. Since the 6N both Edinburgh and Glasgow made it to finals with Glasgow winning theirs. VC has brought in a great backs coach.

Realistically, I think Scotland should be aiming for a QF placing and to play well in said QF. Anything less that that would be disappointing really. I personally want to see Scotland make the semi finals and going by recent international form I probably sound inebriated. 6N was a tough lesson for all involved but the potential is still there and I think Scotland can step it up a notch.

Names in the Scotland frame – for now
COTTER’S ‘big squad’ is about to be revealed but some will have to work hard to earn a final berth writes Iain Morrison

One man who has already ruled himself out of contention is prop Euan Murray but, as if by magic, WP Nel qualifies for his adopted country just in the nick of time and has been earmarked to replace Murray. I wonder how Flower of Scotland sounds in Afrikaans? Geoff Cross is in pole position to back up Nel although the London Irish exile is far from a shoo-in.

It is not impossible that, with the quarter-final that Scotland are targeting falling on a Sunday, someone might have whispered to Murray – who refuses to play on the Sabbath for religious reasons – that he was a luxury the coaches couldn’t afford. On the opposite side of the scrum, Alasdair Dickinson is the leading contender, with a number of others – Ryan Grant, Gordon Reid, Alex Allan – hoping to join him.

Second row is one position where Cotter is picking from relative strength, or at least he will be if Grant Gilchrist and Richie Gray overcome injury problems and throw their hats into the ring as expected. If everyone is fit, it makes for an uncomfortable few months for the likes of Tim Swinson and Jim Hamilton, who may have to rely upon a favourable backs/forwards split if they are to make the final cut.

If Cotter selects 17 forwards and 14 backs that only leaves room for four locks (plus a big six/four like Rob Harley who can do a shift in the boiler house). It is difficult to imagine the Kiwi loading the dice any further in favour of the backs, so his only alternative is swing the other way and opt for 18/13, a split that would give him seven front-row forwards (including three hookers), four locks, six breakaways and still have room for one more big lump in the back five.

Cotter, pictured right,may feel better equipped to pick his squad if he boasted a medical degree rather than a coaching certificate. David Denton is giving the coach a selection headache in light of his latest concussion. The No.8 suffered a bad bang on the head when Edinburgh went down to Munster seven weeks ago and it is not clear that he has managed much, if any, contact work since then.

Another professional player retired last week due to concussion worries, the Newport Gwent Dragons’ Ashley Smith. Add to the mix the fact that Denton missed last summer’s tour with a similar head problem and suddenly the big Zimbabwean breakaway becomes something of a liability. If he got a another bang in the opening match against Japan then he’d be goosed for the remainder of the tournament.

Elsewhere in the back row, Bristol’s Mitch Eadie remains a potential “bolter”. The Bristol No.8 did his prospects no harm in last Wednesday’s second leg of the Championship play-off with some strong carries. Still, the gap from England’s Championship to the World Cup is a Grand Canyon-sized chasm and Eadie remains a long shot for the final 31

In slightly better position is John Barclay, who is rumoured to be back in favour and so he should be after a hugely successful season with the Scarlets. He picked up the coaches’ Player of the Season award – it was not only unanimous but the flanker won it playing most of the campaign out of position at No.8.

For all his intelligence, Barclay doesn’t have the carrying heft required to play eight at international level, but he will challenge Blair Cowan for the No.7 shirt. Cowan is probably stronger over the ball than Barclay, who nevertheless is the better defender of the two. Cowan slips off a few too many tackles and in the big World Cup games – Samoa for the optimists, Japan for the pessimists – that can prove the difference between celebrations and commiserations.

I hope that Hugh Blake is in the big squad, if only as compensation for all the brickbats thrown his way. He qualifies to play for Scotland and, as such, his only crime was moving here and adding to the competition. He got almost no game time with Edinburgh, one start to be exact, but the Kiwi flanker deserves an opportunity to show what he can do in one of the warm-up games. Either he is a good player or he is an ordinary one – Edinburgh coach Alan Solomons and Cotter can’t both be right.

Cotter probably has a pretty good idea of who he wants in his inside and outside backs.There is one spot open for a scrum-half and one additional place for a stand-off, but the midfield hinges once again on the medical bulletins. Scotland’s three leading centres, Matt Scott (shoulder, again), Mark Bennett (shoulder) and Alex Dunbar (knee) are all fighting to be fit.

All three are said to be on, or slightly ahead of, schedule but that doesn’t take into consideration the mental scars following a major injury. Some players return to play like they were never away but for others it is a more tentative business, dipping one toe at a time into the Test match waters, and the World Cup is no place for tentative.

Should Cotter’s worst nightmare come true and all of them fail to recover, then players like Max Evans and Richie Vernon come into the coach’s reckoning. Should all of them be fit and healthy then Cotter will probably need just one more centre – Peter Horne and Greig Tonks both bring versatility, Sean Lamont never gives less than his best.

Four centres would leave the coach with five back players for the back three slots, with Tommy Seymour, Stuart Hogg and Sean Maitland (depending upon injury) the front runners and Dougie Fife, Tim Visser and Sean Lamont vying for the spare places.

With four warm-up matches scheduled, there will be opportunities for everyone to stake a claim.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I can't see many backing Ryan Grant as our starting looshead - generally speaking he has been very poor for a while now.

Dickinson has the black mark from the 6N campaign (not really his fault) but has been dominating for Edinburgh, and Shrek will have down himself a lot of good with his recent performances.