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.

IanBru wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

tigertattie wrote:I'll try to simplify it.

Teams take or lose points against whoever they play.

The points at stake depends on the margin of difference between the two ranked teams so Scotland would get more points if we beat NZ that if we beat Wales. Likewise the reverse is true. We'd lose less points if we lost to NZ than if we lost to Wales.

You also win or lose more points if the score is 15 or more points between you and the other team.

15 points is the only cut off. Losing by 15 points has the same effect as losing by 100 points!

What that smart feller said ^.

Just to put it in context:
- when Italy beat the Springboks, they gained 2 whole points.
- when the All Blacks beat any sides ranked 10th in the world or higher, they risk losing points if the margin of victory is less than the huge amount that their points differential would suggest.

Not quite - no matter which team is playing, they don't lose points if they win a match. i.e. New Zealand wouldn't lose points by only beating Scotland by five.

Sorry - you're right - not World Rugby points - I was thinking about the different scoring given by the Economist in this interesting piece:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11752006

Tattie Scones RRN wrote:

tigertattie wrote:My rankings (the order in which I'd pick someone in each position if each were fully fit)

Blindside
CDP
Bradbury
Barclay
Strauss
Harley

No 8
CDP
Strauss
Bradbury
Barclay
Denton

Openside
CDP
Watson
Barclay
Cowan

SH
CDP
Laidlaw
Pyrgos

FH
CDP
Russell
Jackson

FB
CDP
Hogg

He still has a chance but it's not looking overly good!

God.....get a room will you.

Yer just jealous coz he always runs over little Josh each time they meet in the Edinburgh cup!

playing CDP at 10 though! You could be onto something there!

I thought Tattie was an Edinburgh fan?

well he should love CDP too then!

There are many type of love though and your is bordering on the type of love Mrs RDW has for Tim Visser....

She has a similar love for Chris Robshaw but I told her there would be divorce if she ever mentions that again.

I quite like Robshaw. Seems link a nice fella!

A girl at my old work used to pester me to get her a date with Hugo Southwell! Apparently because I'm a rugby fan I'm supposed to be close personal friends with every single player in the land!

tigertattie wrote:I quite like Robshaw. Seems link a nice fella!

A girl at my old work used to pester me to get her a date with Hugo Southwell! Apparently because I'm a rugby fan I'm supposed to be close personal friends with every single player in the land!

When we lived in Edinburgh Mrs RDW had dealings with a letting agent through her work that looked after properties for a lot of rugby players - they knew how much she loved Tim Visser so when he was in their office took a picture of him holding up a sign saying hello to her! She obviously would have preferred they warned her he was coming in so she could come up with a reason to be there, but that would have violated the terms of the restraining order...

I hope for your sake that Tim Visser's appeal is that he lies at the opposite end of the 'big jessie' scale to yourself, and she's just looking for a bit of balance in life!

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:I hope for your sake that Tim Visser's appeal is that he lies at the opposite end of the 'big jessie' scale to yourself, and she's just looking for a bit of balance in life!

We are certainly opposite ends of the scale, but more because of his rugged good looks and impressive physique! Her words not mine!

I know a lot more about concrete than he does so that must be the reason why she's still here...

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:I hope for your sake that Tim Visser's appeal is that he lies at the opposite end of the 'big jessie' scale to yourself, and she's just looking for a bit of balance in life!

Yes, Mrs RDW is looking for a bit of rough. She says if she can't get Ian Bru Visser will have to do.

Could we move up to 6th if we beat Georgia and Wales lose? Someone posted that somewhere, but I've not checked the scoring guidelines

Checked here

https://rawling.github.io/wr-calc/

And apparently yes, if we win and Wales lose we move up to 6th.

EDIT: As long as France don't beat NZ. If France win, they romp up the rankings and we stay 7th.

EWT Spoons wrote:Checked here

https://rawling.github.io/wr-calc/

And apparently yes, if we win and Wales lose we move up to 6th.

"If we win"?? We'd better sodding beat Georgia. Given the power of their pack, this really ought to be a game where we seek to keep the pace high. Take a leaf out of the Eddie Jones coaching manual and get set piece restarts moving really quickly. We really ought to be winning this one by more than a score.

Ideally yes, just didn't want to count any chickens. Supporting Scotland in any sport has taught me (repeatedly) not to take anything for granted

I'm in two minds!

Give Laidlaw the game to show last week was blip form him or give Price his chance!

Price would certainly get things moving more and I can;t help but think if we want to beat Georgia well, we need to play the Glasgow way!

Price - Russell - Seymour - Dunbar - Bennett - Maitland - Hogg

basically the Glasgow backline with Maitland re-uniting with his old mates!

Going to be an interesting weekend rankings wise.

Scotland, Wales, France, SA and Argentina are all now around the same level which is interesting. Ireland and Australia are a slight step up and England and NZ are undoubtedly best in the world at the moment.

6N 2017 is going to be another hard fought one excluding England who I would expect another GS to be honest.

Careful there lad. Don't let the Irish hear you saying that England are better than them! Apparently Ireland are now the best team in the world and can only be beaten by the all blacks if the all blacks cheat and use rough tactics!

EWT Spoons wrote:Checked here

https://rawling.github.io/wr-calc/

And apparently yes, if we win and Wales lose we move up to 6th.

EDIT: As long as France don't beat NZ.  If France win, they romp up the rankings and we stay 7th.

Really? Wales are 1.2 points ahead of us.

Don't the sheepbotherers need to get a monumental spanking for that to happen?

Not according to the link I used. I used the same 10-5 score for both us and them, and it moved us up.  Not saying it's right, but it seems like we could be in luck.

EWT Spoons wrote:Not according to the link I used.  I used the same 10-5 score for both us and them, and it moved us up.  Not saying it's right, but it seems like we could be in luck.

Agree - it's a good calculator and I hope that its right because if we win 7-0 and Wales lose 7-0 then apparently we will jump to 6th.

These boards will melt into infinity if that sh!t happens, you can be quite sure.

George Carlin wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:Not according to the link I used.  I used the same 10-5 score for both us and them, and it moved us up.  Not saying it's right, but it seems like we could be in luck.

Agree - it's a good calculator and I hope that its right because if we win 7-0 and Wales lose 7-0 then apparently we will jump to 6th.

These boards will melt into infinity if that sh!t happens, you can be quite sure.

I fully expect lots of chat about how the rankings don't matter, which for 99% of the year is true.

The challenge will be to stay in the top 8 after the 6 nations, but given Argentina won't be playing again until after the rankings are confirmed, I think we're ok.

George Carlin wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:Not according to the link I used.  I used the same 10-5 score for both us and them, and it moved us up.  Not saying it's right, but it seems like we could be in luck.

Agree - it's a good calculator and I hope that its right because if we win 7-0 and Wales lose 7-0 then apparently we will jump to 6th.

These boards will melt into infinity if that sh!t happens, you can be quite sure.

I would absolutely feicing love that and would demand that MD and Glwad enter a Hebridean wicker man as a token of defeat.

George Carlin wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:Not according to the link I used.  I used the same 10-5 score for both us and them, and it moved us up.  Not saying it's right, but it seems like we could be in luck.

Agree - it's a good calculator and I hope that its right because if we win 7-0 and Wales lose 7-0 then apparently we will jump to 6th.

These boards will melt into infinity if that sh!t happens, you can be quite sure.

When it does can i start the conversation about allowing lesser teams to remain in the 6 Nations

cakeordeath wrote:

George Carlin wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:Not according to the link I used.  I used the same 10-5 score for both us and them, and it moved us up.  Not saying it's right, but it seems like we could be in luck.

Agree - it's a good calculator and I hope that its right because if we win 7-0 and Wales lose 7-0 then apparently we will jump to 6th.

These boards will melt into infinity if that sh!t happens, you can be quite sure.

When it does can i start the conversation about allowing lesser teams to remain in the 6 Nations

Let's start it now. My contention is that only proper countries with their own Parliament should be allowed to compete in the 6 Nations. Principalities with talking shop Assemblies don't count.

Discuss.

Oh, and do the Irish get bonus points for the moral victory against the ABs at the weekend??

George Carlin wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:Checked here

https://rawling.github.io/wr-calc/

And apparently yes, if we win and Wales lose we move up to 6th.

EDIT: As long as France don't beat NZ.  If France win, they romp up the rankings and we stay 7th.

Really? Wales are 1.2 points ahead of us.

Don't the sheepbotherers need to get a monumental spanking for that to happen?

It's fascinating actually (OK, maybe it isn't.), but as South Africa are only 0.72 ranking points ahead of Wales, the home-field adjustment means that for the purposes of the points calculation of this match, Wales are actually 2.28 points ahead of South Africa, so if the Boks win it'll harm Wales's points badly - they'll lose 1.23 or 1.84 points depending on the result.

So yeah, we really do need to beat Georgia.*

*This statement of the bleeding obvious was brought to you from a totally baltic Newcastle.

I was talking with my Dad last night about this. I want Scotland to beat the Welsh more so than the English (due to being a mixed breed) but I hate the racist quotas that are ruining SA (not purely rugby). Zuma is turning into a Mugabe-lite ("All our problems are due to racist white people not the endemic corruption and poor governance"). The SARU has been a mess for a while and the regional rugby associations have suffered badly.

I think I want a 0-0 draw.

I'm absolutely bricking it about this match. We were great against Australia and wildly mediocre against the Pumas.

Our scrum will be under all kinds of pressure and if the forwards can't create a decent platform I'll be very surprised if our backs get a chance to cut up this 4G pitch that is supposedly going to be our great advantage.

This could be a long afternoon for us. Georgia have shown their intent by beating a very capable Samoan side and this fixture has me concerned.

Rumours (from the terrible Scottish rugby podcast I mentioned previously) are that harley is at 6, watson at 7 and Wilson at 8.

Plus Bennett in at 13.

They're probably wrong, but if not, it's not a great backrow

there is absolutely no way on god's green earth that Bradbury shouldn't be starting again this week (barring injury)

Why is Wilson constantly getting picked. He's had maybe one good game for Scotland. I appreciate losing Hardie is a bit of a pain but Wilson isn't the answer.

tigertattie wrote:there is absolutely no way on god's green earth that Bradbury shouldn't be starting again this week (barring injury)

I agree with this. Bradbury has a great game against Argentina, one of the few positives on an otherwise unremarkable performance.

6. Bradbury 7. Watson 8. CDP would be my choice to take on Georgia. There is an Edinburgh familiarity and they are 3 capable operators when it comes to tackling, carrying and breakdown work.

Hope that's wrong, no Barclay or Bradbury would be nonsense considering how they've played but wouldn't surprise me if Wilson starts, he seems to be a coach's favourite. Townsend will probably keep playing him as well.

As i say they're probably wrong, but I can semi understand Barclay being dropped, on the basis he's probably had a hard couple of shifts against Oz and Argentina. Form wise, he deserves to keep his place, but I can see him getting a rest this week.

Bradbury did well I thought and should be in the team. Harley, he's a good player, but he's very one dimensional. If you want someone to tackle all day long then great, he's your man, but he's not much of a ball carrier, or at least hasn't been for Scotland. Wilson is a mystery, in that it's a mystery he's still getting picked. He did ok when he came on last weekend, but was hardly a standout. Certainly didn't do enough to justify his continued selection.

BUT, let me reiterate again, this is a terrible rugby podcast who are tipping these picks from 'sources' chances are they're going to be wide of the mark.

Why are you still listen to that shower of idiots??

is the team out tomorrow lunchtime again?

I suspect so

RDW_Scotland wrote:Why are you still listen to that shower of idiots??

I'm not, they seem to have infiltrated my twitter feed as well. They're a devious bunch of halfwits

EWT Spoons wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Why are you still listen to that shower of idiots??

I'm not, they seem to have infiltrated my twitter feed as well.  They're a devious bunch of halfwits

That's no way to speak about yes voters!

(too soon?)

I wonder if the clubs (Glasgow & Edinburgh) have asked for players to be made available, Edinburgh's backrow is quite thin on the ground, so perhaps they have requested CDP & Bradbury back. Whereas Glasgow have insisted Scotland keep Wilson.

tigertattie wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Why are you still listen to that shower of idiots??

I'm not, they seem to have infiltrated my twitter feed as well.  They're a devious bunch of halfwits

That's no way to speak about yes voters!

(too soon?)

Seriously....can we give this a rest now.

We've lost some good people from the board cos of this alienation cr@p.

EWT Spoons wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Why are you still listen to that shower of idiots??

I'm not, they seem to have infiltrated my twitter feed as well.  They're a devious bunch of halfwits

They're following me as well, despite me never having instigated any contact. Obviously they were impressed with my brand of uninformed rugby chat, firebrand anti-nationalist politics and bad Star Trek jokes.

IanBru wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Why are you still listen to that shower of idiots??

I'm not, they seem to have infiltrated my twitter feed as well.  They're a devious bunch of halfwits

They're following me as well, despite me never having instigated any contact. Obviously they were impressed with my brand of uninformed rugby chat, firebrand anti-nationalist politics and bad Star Trek jokes.

For god's sake Jim, I'm a doctor, not a door stop!

EWT Spoons wrote:Rumours (from the terrible Scottish rugby podcast I mentioned previously) are that harley is at 6, watson at 7 and Wilson at 8.

Plus Bennett in at 13.

They're probably wrong, but if not, it's not a great backrow

I would be massively urined off with that back row, unless there have been catastrophic injuries that we don't currently know anything about.

What is the point of bringing Du Preez into the squad if he isn't going to be playing. They could just have asked Hodge if he was fit and then put him back in a cab if the answer was 'no'. Why not continue with Bradbury? What is to be learned from playing Wilson and to a lesser extent Harley?

Although given our line out was rubbish against the Pumas, bringing Harley back does make a bit of sense.

There is no way on God's earth we should be contemplating defeat against Georgia, improving as they undoubtedly are. The players need a bit of Glasgow arrogance for this fixture. If we play focused attacking rugby with a bit of confidence, we should win this with something to spare. Attack-wise we are the better team with the better players. Yes, their pack is big and powerful, but get them moving and play some smart rugby and this should not be a problem. No excuses.

I don't think we'll see many changes for this, other than those enforced by injuries. Ali Price may get his debut start, with the mandate to speed things up wherever possible, and I'd love to see CDP involved if fit. He'd be ideal for a fast paced game, his handling skills are better than most of our backs. Jones looks to miss out due to injury, with Bennett a perfect replacement. I assume Ritchie Gray will still be missing but Gilchrist was pretty handy against Argentina. I'd keep Brown at hooker.

We should win by at least 10 points.

Tattie Scones RRN wrote:

tigertattie wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Why are you still listen to that shower of idiots??

I'm not, they seem to have infiltrated my twitter feed as well.  They're a devious bunch of halfwits

That's no way to speak about yes voters!

(too soon?)

Seriously....can we give this a rest now.

We've lost some good people from the board cos of this alienation [email=cr@p]cr@p[/email].

Don't worry. I like to keep my political cards close to my chest.

I do miss Asbo, Schitz, not so much!

We need to really be putting 15 points passed Georgia from a rankings perspective!

RDW_Scotland wrote:Why are you still listen to that shower of idiots??

Bit harsh on Tattie Scones RRN, EWT Spoons and FunnyExiledScot

I wouldn't be surprised if Cotter beefs up the backrow and puts Wilson at 7 or something like that, in an effort to counteract the massive Georgian pack.

It was would harsh on Watson but he has played 80 minutes of the last two games and they have been highly physical - fresh legs might be required. Just not Wilson at 7!

RDW_Scotland wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if Cotter beefs up the backrow and puts Wilson at 7 or something like that, in an effort to counteract the massive Georgian pack.

It was would harsh on Watson but he has played 80 minutes of the last two games and they have been highly physical - fresh legs might be required.   Just not Wilson at 7!

If you go that way RDW, why not start Barclay at 7 with Bradbury at 6 and CDP at 8? Watson can bench for when the Georgians tire. Wilson can go play for Glasgow (who are short of players in the pack). Strauss can as well. Anyway both Glasgow and Scotland teams out in 2.5 hours.