Scotland 6N lookahead

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Scotland 45 – Japan 10

Hardie, Bennett (2), Seymour, Russell

Scotland 39 – USA 16

Visser, Maitland, Nel, Scott, Weir

South Africa 34 – Scotland 16

Seymour

Samoa 33 – Scotland 36

Seymour, Hardie, Laidlaw

Australia 35 – Scotland 34

Horne, Seymour, Bennett


Tries this world cup:

Seymour – 4
Bennett – 3
Hardie – 2
Russell, Visser, Maitland, Nel, Scott, Weir, Laidlaw, Horne – 1


6 Nations fixtures:
Scotland V England
Wales V Scotland

Italy V Scotland

Scotland V France
Ireland V Scotland

Espn league joined.

Good luck to all

It really grinds my gears that there is nothing on the BBC website about Scotland U20's great victory, yet there is a full article on the front of the international rugby section on the bbc website about the women's game. (I'm not saying that the women's game doesn't deserve attention, it does, but surely more people would want to know about the historic U20 victory?)

alive555 wrote:

BigGee wrote:That was a fantastic win by the U20s. We have lost these games by 50-60 points to England at this level in the past. Surely a lot of these kids have a future in the game, they played with heart, confidence and no little skill. That first try was something else and the tackling was just awesome.

Very, very impressed. We have never beaten England at this level before!

agree . plenty of real talent there . im sure many are going to go on to be capped in a  few years or less. we do needs more props though !

Was delighted with that - our pack looked like a bunch of tyros who never stopped running.

Great to see some big units in there too - I was tired of watching our boys get squished by much bigger kids in past years. Young Hastings does look like a prospect, as did our openside. Surely to god these kids will be protected by the SRU now. I would be absolutely happy if London Scottish became a formal feeder club, rather than merely a historically informal one.

Lookout looks bleak.

Same mistakes and lack of ability as every year

Wooden spoon for us an almost certianty on the games so far

We could have played another 80 minutes and not scored a try

Nematode wrote:It really grinds my gears that there is nothing on the BBC website about Scotland U20's great victory, yet there is a full article on the front of the international rugby section on the bbc website about the women's game. (I'm not saying that the women's game doesn't deserve attention, it does, but surely more people would want to know about the historic U20 victory?)

Why would they other?
Few if any of those young talented Scottish players will get a chance for Edinburgh or Glasgow and nearly all will drift off into obscurity.  Click back on the Scotland U20 squads from past world cup, you'll almost of not heard of most of them, yet the players they played against particularly if welsh or Irish would of had the chance of professional career.

Link to a torrent of the match if anyone wants it:
https://userscloud.com/tyzciobutrfd

I'll offer my usual regrets to the Scottish fans, feel so sorry for you guys, you deserve better than the garbage that is in your rugby team. every time my partner started screaming at the telly when Scotland attacked, I pointed out they'd screw it up (and they did).

Play the under 20s.

Kick chases urinated me off the most. Brown was unchallenged for 98% of our high kicks.

I wasn't able to watch the game which was a good thing by the sounds of it as it sounds incredibly bloody irritating to have been subjected to.

I can ask on this thread rather than the match day one - what happened, exactly? What was our problem? No platform? No ball? Poor decision making? Sh!te execution? Or all of these?

George Carlin wrote:I wasn't able to watch the game which was a good thing by the sounds of it as it sounds incredibly bloody irritating to have been subjected to.

I can ask on this thread rather than the match day one - what happened, exactly? What was our problem? No platform? No ball? Poor decision making? Sh!te execution? Or all of these?

We had a decent set piece generally and produced some quick ball but did hee haw with it. Every time we got in their 22 we knocked it on or gave away a penalty. We had the odd individual glimpse of attacking flair but didn't look like even coming close to scoring a try.

I mean what I said when I say we could have played another 80 and not scored!

One of our best chances was when defending our line and Russell intercepted and broke clear - he had Hogg outside him and acres of space in front of him to kick in to but booted it straight into touch having shanked the kick.

I'm assuming he was intended to boot it long and make it a foot race with Hogg chasing - England would have been
n under huge pressure if he'd managed it.

He was laughing it off after but the whole (Scottish) stadium wasn't laughing!

Scotland lost their own line out in Englnds 22 on 3 occasions . That can be the difference between winning and losing but England seemed to have another gear to go to if required

Watching the game again and just got to Russell's interception / mindless punt down field. Russell has to be dropped and Jackson brought in. His utter lack of composure in that breakaway cost us the game.

And worse instead of being angry,  he looked like this



That look angered me more than anything else. My head was in my hands and I screamed myself hoarse.  He should have been as angry as I was at himself. Dancing in the dugout is one thing but his cheesey grin after butchering a certain score in a tight calcutta cup clash at Murrayfield is starting to shake my confidence in Russell's temperament for the game.

I think that's just Russell's personality and we have to accept it - it would have been just as bad if he was shouting and swearing and raging about it then did something stupid the next phase to over compensate for it.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I think that's just Russell's personality and we have to accept it - it would have been just as bad if he was shouting and swearing and raging about it then did something stupid the next phase to over compensate for it.

Bull plop, we don't have to accept it. He made a massive error and was smiling. That was a significant turning point.

It seems Weir is further up the pecking order than either Jackson or heaven forbid Adam Hastings, but to be honest Russell really angered me. I can't imagine Vern will see the funny side either.

Hog was smiling too, and he is a Mr Angry.

I saw them as resigned, ah feck smiles rather than amused smiles.

RDW_Scotland wrote:I think that's just Russell's personality and we have to accept it - it would have been just as bad if he was shouting and swearing and raging about it then did something stupid the next phase to over compensate for it.

Hogg was smiling too it's just one of those things and I wouldn't be too critical. It just typified the lack of composure when it mattered. Whilst Scotland were not the best team that penalty against them for the ball squirting out just before half time when an England hand was at the bottom of the ruck was a momentum changer . 9-7 up at HT would have been interesting but it's fine lines and the better team won

George Carlin wrote:I wasn't able to watch the game which was a good thing by the sounds of it as it sounds incredibly bloody irritating to have been subjected to.

I can ask on this thread rather than the match day one - what happened, exactly? What was our problem? No platform? No ball? Poor decision making? Sh!te execution? Or all of these?

Mistakes and turnovers mainly. 2 lineouts ruled ( harshly) not straight, one missed. Too many knock ons. It just sucked the momentum out of us as we went from an attacking platform to defending our line. Backs looked rusty as well - hardly surprising. England were slow and predictable but we still couldn't stop them

I'm surprised Russell didn't try a little dink over the top for the centres to run onto as there was no way Scotqland were getting through a well organised defence no matter how they tried.

RubyGuby wrote:I'm surprised Russell didn't try a little dink over the top for the centres to run onto as there was no way Scotqland were getting through a well organised defence no matter how they tried.

#Apart from we did - 5 clean breaks and 15 defenders beaten. We needed to keep the ball in hand and use our pace although the odd chip over is always good to keep them guessing

Defences double up TJ for all the clean breaks they never looked like getting over the gain line. A lack of composure and some basic mistakes but there was little subtlety involved and Scotland have 2 great centres IMO. Slow ball and a lack of depth in the back line who were too flat and relatively easy pickings for that defence

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Watching the game again and just got to Russell's interception / mindless punt down field. Russell has to be dropped and Jackson brought in. His utter lack of composure in that breakaway cost us the game.

And worse instead of being angry,  he looked like this



That look angered me more than anything else. My head was in my hands and I screamed myself hoarse.  He should have been as angry as I was at himself. Dancing in the dugout is one thing but his cheesey grin after butchering a certain score in a tight calcutta cup clash at Murrayfield is starting to shake my confidence in Russell's temperament for the game.

I could not understand why he kicked the ball from the intercept, especially when he had Hogg "SCREAMING) for the ball on his left shoulder...If he had pass3ed to hogg, no one would of stopped him and Scotland would have got their first try against Englang in the 6ns.

majesticimperialman wrote:

RuggerRadge2611 wrote:Watching the game again and just got to Russell's interception / mindless punt down field. Russell has to be dropped and Jackson brought in. His utter lack of composure in that breakaway cost us the game.

And worse instead of being angry,  he looked like this



That look angered me more than anything else. My head was in my hands and I screamed myself hoarse.  He should have been as angry as I was at himself. Dancing in the dugout is one thing but his cheesey grin after butchering a certain score in a tight calcutta cup clash at Murrayfield is starting to shake my confidence in Russell's temperament for the game.

I could not understand why he kicked the ball from the intercept, especially when he had Hogg "SCREAMING) for the ball on his left shoulder...If he had pass3ed to hogg, no one would of stopped him and Scotland would have got their first try against Englang in the 6ns.

.....at murrayfield.....since 2004!

Regarding Scotland, for ninety percent of the game you missed your centres, used them as decoys. They are the two best players in your backline. That was a huge mistake, meaning Hogg was the only threat and he was too easy to defend against.

Finn Russell had a bad day, kicked very poorly to England and as I said didn't use the centres enough. Laidlaw does nothing to scare the opposition back row. Pack looked OK, line out and scrum will get better. Back row really need to nail first up tackles around the ruck and scrum, Billy V had an easy ride.

RubyGuby wrote:Defences double up TJ for all the clean breaks they never looked like getting over the gain line. A lack of composure and some basic mistakes but there was little subtlety involved and Scotland have 2 great centres IMO. Slow ball and a lack of depth in the back line who were too flat and relatively easy pickings for that defence

They got over the gain line a fair amount - but yes the secondary defence / sweeper / whatever you call it was always there. Lack of depth is very true tho - after a couple of phases we did end up in a static line so further progress was not going to happen.

Englands backs missed far more tackles than the Scotland backs and we should have scored as a result but too many ( sometimes forced)mistakes cost us. Farrell proved to be the weak point as predicted - missing 3 tackles and giving away petulant penalties and quite honestly should have been yellow carded. 13 had to come in to help him defend and thus leaving space ( that we couldn't exploit) on the outside

TJ wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:Defences double up TJ for all the clean breaks they never looked like getting over the gain line. A lack of composure and some basic mistakes but there was little subtlety involved and Scotland have 2 great centres IMO. Slow ball and a lack of depth in the back line who were too flat and relatively easy pickings for that defence

They got over the gain line a fair amount - but yes the secondary defence / sweeper / whatever you call it was always there.  Lack of depth is very true tho - after a couple of phases we did end up in a static line so further progress was not going to happen.

Englands backs missed far more tackles than the Scotland backs and we should have scored as a result but too many ( sometimes forced)mistakes cost us.  Farrell proved to be the weak point as predicted - missing 3 tackles and giving away petulant penalties and quite honestly should have been yellow carded.  13 had to come in to help him defend and thus leaving space ( that we couldn't exploit) on the outside

Slightly off topic here. regards the singing of the national anthems. What ever happend to Larura wright sing England national anthem?


I simply do not understand why there is no proffesional singer at these games like there are in the RWC.

majesticimperialman wrote:Slightly off topic here. regards the singing of the national anthems. What ever happend to Larura wright sing England national anthem?


I simply do not understand why there is no proffesional singer at these games like there are in the RWC.

We don't need professional singers. I would resist that at Murrayfield with a passion

RubyGuby wrote:

TJ wrote:

RubyGuby wrote:Defences double up TJ for all the clean breaks they never looked like getting over the gain line. A lack of composure and some basic mistakes but there was little subtlety involved and Scotland have 2 great centres IMO. Slow ball and a lack of depth in the back line who were too flat and relatively easy pickings for that defence

They got over the gain line a fair amount - but yes the secondary defence / sweeper / whatever you call it was always there.  Lack of depth is very true tho - after a couple of phases we did end up in a static line so further progress was not going to happen.

Englands backs missed far more tackles than the Scotland backs and we should have scored as a result but too many ( sometimes forced)mistakes cost us.  Farrell proved to be the weak point as predicted - missing 3 tackles and giving away petulant penalties and quite honestly should have been yellow carded.  13 had to come in to help him defend and thus leaving space ( that we couldn't exploit) on the outside

As I said above, you neglected your centres in attack until the final quarter, nearly every backline move used both as decoys...

Some strange player ratings in Scotland on Sunday today, they gave Seymour a decent rating when I would say he had one of his poorest games for Scotland with several knock-ons and defensive mistakes. I would think a fit Visser would be worth a chance next game.
Hard to know if some of yesterday's toothless display was down to players not being match fit but considering Vern brought in a new attack coach in O'Halloran things weren't good.
Speaking of coaching, why were Dickinson and then Nel subbed off so early, didn't make any sense?
Thought Laidlaw was poor compared to the WC, reverted to his usual constant box kicking. Russell should have passed to Hogg or at least kept his kick in play, basic stuff for a international 10.
Denton's lack of form for Bath carried on in to this game, perhaps needs dropping for Strauss for next week.

I think it's harsh to criticise Russell for not passing his interception, all happened way too fast to rationalise. But it did comprehensively demonstrate the main problem with Scotland's halfbacks yesterday compared to at the RWC. There first option was to kick aimlessly rather than look for an opportunity to create.

Wales were guilty of this for years, Phillips and Steve Jones/Hook/Priestland. The idea is to pressure the opposition with your attacking defence.

In some ways with the right chasers it is a good tactic, but when you have players like Taylor, Scott, Bennett and Hogg who can cut a defence apart with great angles and offloads, it should be secondary tactic not a primary one.

In all honesty, this is the sort of thing that happens if you get a new attack coach.

Confidence will build between him and his squad and the game will evolve.

I think this is the first time i have ever seen a player bloody kick the ball after an interception, i thought i had seen it all with Parisse pathetic drop goal attempt.

Scotland are utterly hopeless but no worry a win against Italy will raise expectations for next season.

SHC and Jackson were the form outhalves why they didn't get picked, only Cotter knows. There are positives though at least Cotter didn't go for Strokosch on the bench.

I think you guys are being harsh on the team. I would say the halfbacks were an issue, not a great day, I would probably pick a scrum half like SHC who will worry opposition back rows much more. But there is nothing wrong with the rest of the team.

I think what caused that performance was simply pressure and a lack of decent club form.

R Gray hasn't been playing all that much, Denton isn't playing too well, and Glasgow aren't looking to me like the side from last year. Add in a bundle of expectation and you get knock-ons on the 5m line and lineouts going awol.

majesticimperialman wrote:Slightly off topic here. regards the singing of the national anthems. What ever happend to Larura wright sing England national anthem?


I simply do not understand why there is no proffesional singer at these games like there are in the RWC.

The game was at Murrayfield, not Twickenham.

VinceWLB wrote:

SHC and Jackson were the form outhalves why they didn't get picked, only Cotter knows. There are positives though at least Cotter didn't go for Strokosch on the bench.

Since Gopperth has got back from his suspension, Jacko gets 5 to 10 mins off the bench each week, he is undeniably 2nd choice at Wasps, so to say he is the form pick is a little off the mark. Russell did not have his best game, but did not have a howler either. There were no stand out horror stories in fact, it was just a very poor team performance. They played like a bunch of strangers. I tend to agree with VC and will believe there is still more to come. They need to start producing though and it is not going to get any easier from here.

Have to say I agree with VC and Big Gee. It was a poor performance that lacked the go forward ball I think may of us expected from Scotland. I think the pack looked better than they did last year and you could see the potential was there. Unfortunately the accuracy in set piece and the backline was very poor. I also feel England played a high ball game as they know Scotland can be weak under high balls and they seemed to make a conscious effort to limit the opportunities for counter attacking by keeping it tight.

I think Scotland can and will do better in the tournament, but it was hugely disappointing to not even score one try at home vs England. Late in first half they should have scored before time, the drop goal attempt was a bad decision I think.

maestegmafia wrote:I think you guys are being harsh on the team. I would say the halfbacks were an issue, not a great day, I would probably pick a scrum half like SHC who will worry opposition back rows much more. But there is nothing wrong with the rest of the team.

Maesteg their terrible year on year.  
Only Richie Gray and Denton would have any hope of playing International rugby if they were Irish, Welsh or English. Though they don't seem to be on great form either.

Shifty wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:I think you guys are being harsh on the team. I would say the halfbacks were an issue, not a great day, I would probably pick a scrum half like SHC who will worry opposition back rows much more. But there is nothing wrong with the rest of the team.

Maesteg their terrible year on year.  
Only Richie Gray and Denton would have any hope of playing International rugby if they were Irish, Welsh or English.  Though they don't seem to be on great form either.

Absolute rubbish Alan.

Bennett, Smith, Dunbar, Hogg, Nel, Barclay all very good players. Better than there opposition numbers yesterday.

Bad ref, wrong tactics in attack and poor accuracy

That's a bit strong. Hogg would have a chance... Not necessarily first choice ahead of Kearney/Brown/Halfpenny but he'd get plenty of caps definitely.

Bennett is very good.

Jonny Gray is better than Richie as well surely, even if that didn't show yesterday?

maestegmafia wrote:

Shifty wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:I think you guys are being harsh on the team. I would say the halfbacks were an issue, not a great day, I would probably pick a scrum half like SHC who will worry opposition back rows much more. But there is nothing wrong with the rest of the team.

Maesteg their terrible year on year.  
Only Richie Gray and Denton would have any hope of playing International rugby if they were Irish, Welsh or English.  Though they don't seem to be on great form either.

Absolute rubbish Alan.

Bennett, Smith, Dunbar, Hogg, Nel, Barclay all very good players. Better than there opposition numbers yesterday.

Bad ref, wrong tactics in attack and poor accuracy

They haven't beaten England in 9 games.
They have beaten France just once in the last 18 games.
They have beaten Wales once in 13 games.
They lose 1 in every 3 games to the Italians.

Their record is shocking.

Shifty wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

Shifty wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:I think you guys are being harsh on the team. I would say the halfbacks were an issue, not a great day, I would probably pick a scrum half like SHC who will worry opposition back rows much more. But there is nothing wrong with the rest of the team.

Maesteg their terrible year on year.  
Only Richie Gray and Denton would have any hope of playing International rugby if they were Irish, Welsh or English.  Though they don't seem to be on great form either.

Absolute rubbish Alan.

Bennett, Smith, Dunbar, Hogg, Nel, Barclay all very good players. Better than there opposition numbers yesterday.

Bad ref, wrong tactics in attack and poor accuracy

They haven't beaten England in 9 games.
They have beaten France just once in the last 18 games.
They have beaten Wales once in 13 games.
They lose 1 in every 3 games to the Italians.  

Their record is shocking.  

There was a point not too long ago when we couldn't beat England, France or Ireland. Really don't understand why a Welshman needs to come on a thread about Scotland and be a complete arse

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