France v Scotland, 5 September

123456789 wrote:There's an article either in the Scotsman or on the BBC website in which Graeme Morrison reckons John Barclay hasn't made it, now "G-Dog" is Barclay's best mate so he may know something we don't.

123456789 wrote:I was but it appeared someone else got there first

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/11834143/South-Africa-party-in-court-bid-to-bar-Springboks-from-Rugby-World-Cup-over-racism.html

Also Sean Lamont's been telling everyone we're going to win it again, apparently not seeing the irony that the fact we have a 34 year old winger with a less than 1 in 5 try scoring rate is exactly one of the reasons we won't be winning the World Cup.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I’m going to take the SRU to court for a chronic under-representation of people entirely lacking any kind of skill, fitness, ability, strength, pace and determination.

George Carlin wrote:

123456789 wrote:I was but it appeared someone else got there first

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/southafrica/11834143/South-Africa-party-in-court-bid-to-bar-Springboks-from-Rugby-World-Cup-over-racism.html

Also Sean Lamont's been telling everyone we're going to win it again, apparently not seeing the irony that the fact we have a 34 year old winger with a less than 1 in 5 try scoring rate is exactly one of the reasons we won't be winning the World Cup.

That SA court challenge is never going to stand up. No court is going to make a public pronouncement that its national sport has managerial problems with race. The quotas are also non-legally binding, so the whole thing rests on a spurious bastardisation of a public interest argument. Not a chance in hell that will stand, much as I would love to believe that we should start preparing for a match with Kenya.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Well to keep us going to tomorrow how about making some bold predictions and seeing who gets them all right.

So do you think the following players will be in or out? Not what you want to happen, but what you think VC will do.

Barclay - out
Hardie - in
Wilson - out
Dunbar - out
Maitland - in
Jackson - in
Tonks - out
Vernon - in

Only 8 calls to make, but I suspect not many of us will get it right!

RDW_Scotland wrote:Well to keep us going to tomorrow how about making some bold predictions and seeing who gets them all right.

So do you think the following players will be in or out? Not what you want to happen, but what you think VC will do.

Barclay - out in
Hardie - in
Wilson - out in, hopefully in place of Cowan. Hardie, Barcs, Denton, Wilson, Bluto are the five back rows.
Dunbar - out
Maitland - in
Jackson - in
Tonks - out
Vernon - in

Only 8 calls to make, but I suspect not many of us will get it right!

Majestic83 wrote:

123456789 wrote:There's an article either in the Scotsman or on the BBC website in which Graeme Morrison reckons John Barclay hasn't made it, now "G-Dog" is Barclay's best mate so he may know something we don't.

It's on the bbc website but it's the Scotsman "journalist" Iain Morrison who has been interviewed.
For being an ex internationalist and one of the Scotsman's main rugby writers he isn't always the most clued up when it comes to rugby.

TJ wrote:Barclay must play - his performance against Italy was enough surely

funnyExiledScot wrote:I think Tom English probably has it right with that squad. I'd be pleased were that the outcome, despite being disappointed for McInally.

RDW_Scotland wrote:You can, but why does that make any difference between 2 hookers yet 3 scrum halfs?

If there are 2 hookers then one will have to pretty much play 80 minutes of the first game then 4 days later sit on the bench for the next, which Kent ideal as it could easily turn into another full game if there's an early injury.

123456789 wrote:I just think that Dunbar would have been ruled out by now if he wasn't going, Tom English has had a guess and he's gone for:

TOM ENGLISH'S WORLD CUP SQUAD

Prop: Alasdair Dickinson, Ryan Grant, Gordon Reid, Willem Nel, Jon Welsh

Hooker: Ross Ford, Fraser Brown

Lock: Grant Gilchrist, Jonny Gray, Richie Gray, Rob Harley

Flanker: Blair Cowan, Ryan Wilson, John Barclay, John Hardie

No.8: David Denton, Josh Strauss

Scrum-half: Greig Laidlaw, Henry Pyrgos, Sam Hidalgo-Clyne

Fly-half: Finn Russell, Duncan Weir

Centre: Mark Bennett, Peter Horne, Matt Scott, Richie Vernon

Wing: Sean Lamont, Sean Maitland, Tommy Seymour, Tim Visser

Full-back: Stuart Hogg

George Carlin wrote:I just noticed that Wales are only taking 2 hookers and it does seem to be a massive risk given how attritional the position is. I would rather have 3 hookers in the squad and happy with all the calls than a third scrum half whose position is far less technical and not the key to any set piece.

Allan Massie: Let’s not downplay Scotland victory
 
Some were quick to say that Italy were very poor on Saturday. Perhaps they were, but a team often looks poor when the opposition play well. In any case Italy looked no worse than they have on occasions when England, Wales and Ireland have beaten them by a similarly wide margin and been pretty happy to have done so..

Admittedly Italy are a lesser side without their captain Sergio Parisse, but this was an experienced Italian XV, and, but for Parisse, pretty close to their first choice one. So we shouldn’t downplay the Scottish performance. A victory by 41 points is satisfactory. We have often enough been pleased to beat Italy at all.

Vern Cotter isn’t of course a man to get carried away. If New Zealanders are, in rugby terms, Scots who have learned to win, then P G Wodehouse’s line about there being no difficulty in distinguishing between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine applies equally to our Kiwi coach. He was quick to remark that three of the Scottish tries came from interceptions, almost as if these tries should be discounted. Well, in a sense of course, these tries are not “created”. They do however testify to a welcome alertness and readiness to seize opportunities. Moreover an interception often becomes possible when an opponent is put under pressure and makes an injudicious pass.


Scoring six tries – of any kind – is good, and, considering how difficult Scotland have often found it to turn pressure into points, more than welcome. Careless or inaccurate passes, and a couple of wrong options taken, may well have cost us other tries. Yet it should be said that the same is true of most teams that play an expansive game. Even the All Blacks usually spurn a few chances, and don’t always make the right decisions. But they win matches because they give themselves more opportunities to score tries than almost anyone else, and take a high percentage of them.

Saturday’s team did well enough to have one thinking that one would be content to see the same XV start the big World Cup matches, though I daresay Richie Gray and Tommy Seymour, to name only two, might have a different opinion about that. The forwards of course built the platform for victory. Insofar as anyone off the pitch can make sense of what goes on in the set scrum these days, the front row of Alastair Dickinson, Ross Ford and Willem Nel, supported by a good push from Grant Gilchrist and Jonny Gary at lock, seemed to have the upper hand. That’s to say, they won more penalties than they conceded, and this, rather than delivering quick ball or making strikes against the head, seems to be the purpose of scrummaging today. The lineout was secure, and a voracious back-row of Ryan Wilson, David Denton and John Barclay helped to ensure that Greig Laidlaw got very much cleaner and quicker ball from the breakdown than he has often been accustomed to.

Finn Russell looked calm and assured. His delicate chip to put Sean Lamont in for the first try and the 20-yard pass off his right hand to allow Tim Visser to stroll over for his first one were beautifully executed. They also offered pleasing evidence of his ability to read the game and see where the space is. Dan Carter or Jonny Sexton couldn’t have done better.

All the outside backs contributed, and , in the likely absence of Alex Dunbar, the question of Mark Bennett’s partner probably remains open. Peter Horne’s ability to play as a second fly-half, and to kick with his left foot, may just get him the nod.

Beating Italy doesn’t, in the present state of Italian rugby, make you a great team, but enough was shown on Saturday to make optimism for the World Cup seem a great deal more reasonable than looked to be the case a few months ago. We no longer need to whistle to keep our spirits up.
 
Nevertheless this is still a fairly inexperienced squad. Most of those who started on Saturday will be playing in their first World Cup. Mark Bennett, Peter Horne, Finn Russell, Willem Nel, Jonny Gray, Grant Gilchrist and Ryan Wilson don’t have a hundred caps between them. Leave out any two or three of Lamont, Laidlaw, Dickinson, Ford, Denton and Barclay, and you would have difficulty in selecting a side with a sizeable body of experience.

And everybody agrees that experience is needed in World Cups. That is why Australia abandoned their policy of not selecting players from European clubs so that they could recall Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell. Conversely it’s why some of England’s 2003 winning team, now turned pundits, are worried because two of the centres picked by Stuart Lancaster have a total of two caps.

MacKnocked-on wrote:Just noticed on the BBC Scotland daily sport gossip webpage that they're quoting the Daily Mail as saying that both Barclay and Cowan haven't made the squad which would surely be surprising if true?

RDW_Scotland wrote:It could mean Denton, Strauss, Hardie, Wilson, Ashe...

RDW_Scotland wrote:It could mean Denton, Strauss, Hardie, Wilson, Ashe...

MacKnocked-on wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:It could mean Denton, Strauss, Hardie, Wilson, Ashe...

Given how much Cotter was talking up Wilson last week I would expect him to be in but could Blake also be in? Daily Mail may of course be talking cobblers.

MacKnocked-on wrote:I'd forgotten about Stroks!....

whocares wrote:what happened to Dumbar ? his partnership with Benêt seemed quite handy in the 6N and yet he doesnt seem to even make the final squad...

my prediction for this weekend : 9-5 for France , 3 penalties from Michalak against an unconverted try from this nice young winger of yours called Lamonte