Scotland v Georgia, 26 November

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SCOTLAND v GEORGIA
26 November 2016
KO: 14:30 GMT
Rugby Park, Kilmarnock

Live on [BBC Two]

Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Mathieu Raynal (France), Dan Jones (Wales)
TMO: Simon McDowell (Ireland)

A. Head to Head

1 Played 1
1 Won 0
0 Drawn 0
0 Lost 1
15 Points 6

B. Recent Form

14 September 2011
Scotland 15–6 Georgia
Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill

C. TEAMS:

SCOTLAND 

15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 Alex Dunbar, 11 Tommy Seymour, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Greig Laidlaw(c), 8 Ryan Wilson, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Rob Harley, 5 Jonny Gray, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Zander Fagerson, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Allan Dell

Replacements: 16 Fraser Brown, 17 Alex Allan, 18 Moray Low, 19 Grant Gilchrist, 20 John Barclay, 21 Ali Price, 22 Pete Horne, 23 Rory Hughes

GEORGIA

15 Merab Kvirikashvili, 14 Giorgi Aptsiauri, 13 Merab Sharikadze, 12 Tamaz Mtchedlidze, 11 Sandro Todua, 10 Lasha Malaghuradze, 9 Vasil Lobzhanidze, 8 Beka Bitsadze, 7 Mamuka Gorgodze(c), 6 Vito Kolelishvili, 5 Giorgi Nemsadze, 4 Kote Mikautadze, 3 Levan Chilachava, 2 Jaba Bregvadze, 1 Mikheil Nariashvili

Replacements: 16 Badri Alkhazashvili, 17 Kakha Asieshvili, 18 Dudu Kubriashvili, 19 Lasha Lomidze, 20 Giorgi Tkhilaishvili, 21 Giorgi Begadze, 22 Beka Tsiklauri, 23 Shalva Sutiashvili

***

In the recent international series, Georgia posted the following results, having travelled to the Pacific Islands for the first time:

- 11 June 2016: Samoa 19 - 19 Georgia (Apia Park, Samoa)
- 18 June 2016: Tonga 20 - 23 Georgia (Suva, Fiji)
- 24 June 2016: Fiji 3 - 14 Georgia (Suva, Fiji)
- 12 November 2016: Georgia 22−28 Japan
- 19 November 2016: Georgia 20–16 Samoa

This now means that:

- Georgia have now beaten all of the Tier 2 rugby nations (Fiji, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, Canada, USA, Uruguay, Namibia, Portugal, Romania, Russia and Spain)
- Georgia are now ranked 11th in the world
- This ranks them higher than Japan, Italy, Samoa, Tonga and the USA
- Georgia has now played in 4 RWCs and has automatically qualified for Japan 2019
- They have now won the European Nations Cup (i.e. the Tier 2 version of the 6 Nations) nine times in 2001, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.

If everyone is fit and firing I would have Taylor and Jones. Both have pace , vision and are strong defensively.

Dunbar would be there but he hasn't recaptured his pre injury form. Bennett doesn't have as good a skill set as Jones. Matt Scott needs to hire a hit man to get back into contention at the moment.

I heard Morrison and Henderson were thinking of coming out of retirement now that Scotland are playing a bit better!

Taylor and Jones. Wowee. 

Who on earth would have believed that we'd be thumbing our noses at Dunbar and Bennett as not quite being as good as the competition? 

I think that both Dunc and Shuggy are outside centres but it's still a combination that I would love to see 

I agree about Dunbar - he was solid rather than brilliant in this series. What do we expect from him though? I don't even know any more.

Heuer27 wrote:If everyone is fit and firing I would have Taylor and Jones. Both have pace , vision and are strong defensively.

Dunbar would be there but he hasn't recaptured his pre injury form. Bennett doesn't have as good a skill set as Jones. Matt Scott needs to hire a hit man to get back into contention at the moment.

On a more serious note, I would agree with that and go Taylor and Jones as our best combo, though neither of them may be fit. The others are strong options as well, even if just a tad off their best form atm.

Our week link is at back up for Finn at FH, which always brings Horne into the mix, despite him not being able to be selected as a centre in his own right. Longer term, Kinghorn may fill that gap covering FB/FH from the bench. I almost wish we had given him the chance this time around. I suspect he will have to wait until the summer tour though.

George Carlin wrote:

I think that both Dunc and Shuggy are outside centres but it's still a combination that I would love to see 

Taylor plays right across the back line, he has been 12,13 or wing for Sarries in various games. I am pretty sure that Jonesy does as well.

Yeh we would have to take Pete Horne. Taylor and Jones can play on the wing, Maitland and Seymore can play FB, so there would be room for another centre on the bench in case it goes wrong.
Taylor has played inside centre for Scotland I think. Might be wrong though.

Russell, Seymore, Taylor, Jones, Maitland , Hogg.

Now that would give defensive coordinators cold sweats.

Was disappointed by Dunbar with ball in hand, just didn't seem to make the busts he used to but he's still the best defensive centre by a distance.

Hopefully he'll stay injury free and be fully firing come 6 Nations.

I wouldn't mind seeing Jones on the wing ahead of Maitland with Taylor or Bennett at 13.

Wouldn't have Bennett before the other centres. He never passes, he's like a poor mans Hogg. Until he learns to use his teammates he will be behind the others for me.

BigGee wrote:So to sum up this conversation:

Wilson has grudgingly earned a bit of respect from the Scotland forum fans and none of us can agree what our best back row should be!

No one ever said that selection was easy!

I certainly had no revelation watching his performance - he was solid, worked his arse off and gave his all for the jersey, as expected. For that alone he should probably have some more respect from the fans.

The point here is one I regularly go back to - if we're going to be a regular Top 3/4 team in the 6N we need a better number 8 than Ryan Wilson!

RDW_Scotland wrote:Nah nah you lot all know nothing

6 Bradbury
7 Hardie
8 CDP

Sub - Barclay

Too many Glasgow players. Swap Barclay for Watson. More hygienic.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Nah nah you lot all know nothing

6 Bradbury
7 Hardie
8 CDP

Sub - Barclay

Too many Glasgow players. Swap Barclay for Watson. More hygienic.

I presume as an Edinburgh fan you mean 'fragrant'. 

Not sure how that sits with CDP though. The man looks like he smells like pee.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Nah nah you lot all know nothing

6 Bradbury
7 Hardie
8 CDP

Sub - Barclay

Too many Glasgow players. Swap Barclay for Watson. More hygienic.

If they are handing out massages and manicures then crack on but we are trying to win rugby matches here. You need a bit of dirty.

I thought Scotland were pretty useful yesterday. Nice attacking game plan and very accurate in the first half. Best players in the pack were Ford and Watson, and in the backs Laidlaw and Hogg. Hogg or the Georgian 9 would have been my MOTM choices. Wilson was busy, as he always is. No more no less. Not particularly impactful.

Decent AI series. A couple of finds in Dell, Watson, Price and, most notably, Huw Jones. Huw Jones even sounds like a Welsh name, so Gatland may pick him for the Lions by mistake.

Heuer27 wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Nah nah you lot all know nothing

6 Bradbury
7 Hardie
8 CDP

Sub - Barclay

Too many Glasgow players. Swap Barclay for Watson. More hygienic.

If they are handing out massages and manicures then crack on but we are trying to win rugby matches here. You need a bit of dirty.

This is true, although that's my rationale for allowing Jonny Gray and Stuart Hogg into the side.

I'd let Strauss in, but he appears to have upset Vern Cotter in some way.

Do you think Dell has done enough to usurp Sutherland as second choice loosehead?

Faegerson has cemented his place as WP's understudy. We were visibly worse in the scrums when he wasn't there.

Fair point about Gray and Hogg though.

RDW_Scotland wrote:

BigGee wrote:So to sum up this conversation:

Wilson has grudgingly earned a bit of respect from the Scotland forum fans and none of us can agree what our best back row should be!

No one ever said that selection was easy!

I certainly had no revelation watching his performance - he was solid, worked his arse off and gave his all for the jersey, as expected. For that alone he should probably have some more respect from the fans.

The point here is one I regularly go back to - if we're going to be a regular Top 3/4 team in the 6N we need a better number 8 than Ryan Wilson!

Ryan Wilson will earn a lot more respect if he manages to stop taking himself out of the game when we need him, either through picking up dumb yellow cards or, like yesterday, messing around cuddling opposition players on the floor while we're in a strong attacking position but he wants to act hard.

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

BigGee wrote:So to sum up this conversation:

Wilson has grudgingly earned a bit of respect from the Scotland forum fans and none of us can agree what our best back row should be!

No one ever said that selection was easy!

I certainly had no revelation watching his performance - he was solid, worked his arse off and gave his all for the jersey, as expected. For that alone he should probably have some more respect from the fans.

The point here is one I regularly go back to - if we're going to be a regular Top 3/4 team in the 6N we need a better number 8 than Ryan Wilson!

Ryan Wilson will earn a lot more respect if he manages to stop taking himself out of the game when we need him, either through picking up dumb yellow cards or, like yesterday, messing around cuddling opposition players on the floor while we're in a strong attacking position but he wants to act hard.

I don't recall Wilson picking up any cards or getting involved in any handbags in this series. Credit where it is due please!

BigGee wrote:

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

BigGee wrote:So to sum up this conversation:

Wilson has grudgingly earned a bit of respect from the Scotland forum fans and none of us can agree what our best back row should be!

No one ever said that selection was easy!

I certainly had no revelation watching his performance - he was solid, worked his arse off and gave his all for the jersey, as expected. For that alone he should probably have some more respect from the fans.

The point here is one I regularly go back to - if we're going to be a regular Top 3/4 team in the 6N we need a better number 8 than Ryan Wilson!

Ryan Wilson will earn a lot more respect if he manages to stop taking himself out of the game when we need him, either through picking up dumb yellow cards or, like yesterday, messing around cuddling opposition players on the floor while we're in a strong attacking position but he wants to act hard.

I don't recall Wilson picking up any cards or getting involved in any handbags in this series. Credit where it is due please!

Was he not the one left having a cuddle with a Georgian on halfway when we were attacking in the 22??

RDW_Scotland wrote:

BigGee wrote:

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

BigGee wrote:So to sum up this conversation:

Wilson has grudgingly earned a bit of respect from the Scotland forum fans and none of us can agree what our best back row should be!

No one ever said that selection was easy!

I certainly had no revelation watching his performance - he was solid, worked his arse off and gave his all for the jersey, as expected. For that alone he should probably have some more respect from the fans.

The point here is one I regularly go back to - if we're going to be a regular Top 3/4 team in the 6N we need a better number 8 than Ryan Wilson!

Ryan Wilson will earn a lot more respect if he manages to stop taking himself out of the game when we need him, either through picking up dumb yellow cards or, like yesterday, messing around cuddling opposition players on the floor while we're in a strong attacking position but he wants to act hard.

I don't recall Wilson picking up any cards or getting involved in any handbags in this series. Credit where it is due please!

Was he not the one left having a cuddle with a Georgian on halfway when we were attacking in the 22??

In the spirit of the match and of international relationships, having a little cuddle with a Georgian was just a means of making them feel welcome in Killmarnock and Scotland. They did look like they were finding it a bit overwhelming at that point!

My point exactly RDW. We were flooding up the field in attack and him and another (?) Scottish player chose to have a cuddle on the half way line. I'm not having a downer on his performance which was good, but I'm not crediting him for his attitude while he does daft stuff like that. We need 15 players on the field and in the game.

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:My point exactly RDW. We were flooding up the field in attack and him and another (?) Scottish player chose to have a cuddle on the half way line. I'm not having a downer on his performance which was good, but I'm not crediting him for his attitude while he does daft stuff like that. We need 15 players on the field and in the game.

My understanding from what John Beattie was saying was that two Georgians had been holding Wilson down and explaining the facts of life to him, hence the angry reaction of the crowd.

Obviously it was off camera so I didn't see it (in the immortal words of the Arsenal manager), but I'm uncomfortable blaming a player for being the unwilling recipient of Georgian physicality.

IanBru wrote:

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:My point exactly RDW. We were flooding up the field in attack and him and another (?) Scottish player chose to have a cuddle on the half way line. I'm not having a downer on his performance which was good, but I'm not crediting him for his attitude while he does daft stuff like that. We need 15 players on the field and in the game.

My understanding from what John Beattie was saying was that two Georgians had been holding Wilson down and explaining the facts of life to him, hence the angry reaction of the crowd.

Obviously it was off camera so I didn't see it (in the immortal words of the Arsenal manager), but I'm uncomfortable blaming a player for being the unwilling recipient of Georgian physicality.

Nah, it's Ryan Wilson, I'm quite comfortable blaming him!

I honestly thought he put in a good performance, probably his best in a Scotland jersey. I still don't think he'd make a shortlist of 5 for MOTM. Hogg and the Georgian 9 were comfortably better, as were Hamish Watson and Ross Ford (I thought it was Ford's best game for a long time). I'd then have Jonny Gray next on the list.