The average age of a Scotland Front row is nnnnnnnnn19 - A thread for Glasgow and Edinburgh go to banter war…..

[R!skysports]

First topic message reminder :

Bicker away......

A nice video to start with

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds9dwHAfy_M


Glasgow Warriors are one of the two professional rugby union sides from Scotland. The team plays in the Pro14 league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014-15 season they won the Pro12 title and became the first Scottish team to win a major trophy in rugby union's professional era. #theyrock

Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners and a real rugby team) is one of the two professional rugby teams from Scotland, although hard to determine if they play rugby. The club competes dances in the Pro14, along with Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Since January 2017, Edinburgh plays most of its home games at Myreside Stadium with selected matches at BT Murrayfield.

[RDW]

KO time for 28 April 1945 hrs.   Wonder what brain donor came up with this ?   Surely it gives both (especially Edinburgh) an unfair advantage over their top 3 rivals.  Causes all sorts of problems for the Warrior Nation i.e. 75 % of the crowd, getting home  with the last train at 2330.   Really poor decision and a slap in the face to the very many Warrior fans travelling.  The SRU just don't get it do they ?    They remain the biggest bunch of erseholes in rugby.

Game will finish around half 9 - plenty time for a few pints before the last train home!

[21st Century Schizoid Man]

Yes but many (i'm not included ) live outside Glasgow . How do they get home for example to Ayrshire etc ? Really poor decision by the usual suspect numpties at the SRU

[NeilyBroon]

Ryan Grant is finally calling it a day at the end of the season and retiring to concentrate on his gin business,

Was a really good loosehead in the day of the hit but unfortunately never really seemed to recover from the disappointments of his Lions experience and that od kebabgate. I still maintain that the Lions coaching staff treated him abysmally. After the tour, injury and a change in the engagement rules seemed to get the better of him but he was a bit of a star in a poor Scotland side around that time and I am sure will have some good memories to take into retirement with him. Not least of all winning the title with Glasgow!

A shame his career went the way it did. We seem to have had a few cases of that with our forwards. Simon Taylor, Johnnie Beattie, CdP, Euan Murray (though admittedly in the very latter stage of his career) all seemed to suffer from post-injury decline.

[George Carlin]

Ryan Grant is finally calling it a day at the end of the season and retiring to concentrate on his gin business,

That's a fabulously discrete way to describe a move to being a full time alcoholic.

Lots of competition in that space in Glasgow. He shouldn't assume he can make a career out of it in that crowded market.

[Tramptastic]

Yes but many (i'm not included ) live outside Glasgow .  How do they get home for example to Ayrshire etc ?   Really poor decision by the usual suspect numpties at the SRU

It's an initiative by the SRU to engage with the clubs (you know the people the SRU are supposed to represent?) Seen as it's silver saturday all the men's and women's cup finals (most likely including World Class Ayr) are being played prior from 11am onwards. As somebody who plays rugby in Scotland I'm really keen on this, local club fans all coming to murrayfield cheering on the best the amateur/semi-pro teams can produce all day followed by Scotlands pro teams going hammer and tongs at each other

I think it's incredibly smart. I've been to the finals days before to watch my sister play and its a brilliant day out - even watched the likes of Duns playing and they were brilliant (they even brought on the standard club "ancient wise man" held together entirely by tape stereotype)

If you've never been to the amateur finals I'd encourage it, my team was too cr*p to advance in the bowl competition so we will be going en-masse wearing our club colours and getting drunk from 11am.

[Majestic83]

Think we're set at hooker.  
1. Rambo
2. Ford
3. Fenton
4. Cherry

Ford and Rambo are likely to be away with Scotland, which will still leave us Fenton and Cherry, plus if we get this SA prop, he's played at hooker a bit as well so could cover in a pinch.

Johnny Matthews the Boroughmuir hooker has been with Edinburgh all season and has been 24th Man a few times. Was out in South Africa for the cheetahs and kings games. Sounds like he will be on the books next season.

[George Carlin]

Think we're set at hooker.  
1. Rambo
2. Ford
3. Fenton
4. Cherry

Ford and Rambo are likely to be away with Scotland, which will still leave us Fenton and Cherry, plus if we get this SA prop, he's played at hooker a bit as well so could cover in a pinch.

Johnny Matthews the Boroughmuir hooker has been with Edinburgh all season and has been 24th Man a few times. Was out in South Africa for the cheetahs and kings games. Sounds like he will be on the books next season.

There must be a camp redneck family somewhere in Virginia who have named their child Rambo Ford Fenton Cherry.

[21st Century Schizoid Man]

Yes but many (i'm not included ) live outside Glasgow .  How do they get home for example to Ayrshire etc ?   Really poor decision by the usual suspect numpties at the SRU

It's an initiative by the SRU to engage with the clubs (you know the people the SRU are supposed to represent?) Seen as it's silver saturday all the men's and women's cup finals (most likely including World Class Ayr) are being played prior from 11am onwards. As somebody who plays rugby in Scotland I'm really keen on this, local club fans all coming to murrayfield cheering on the best the amateur/semi-pro teams can produce all day followed by Scotlands pro teams going hammer and tongs at each other

I think it's incredibly smart. I've been to the finals days before to watch my sister play and its a brilliant day out - even watched the likes of Duns playing and they were brilliant (they even brought on the standard club "ancient wise man" held together entirely by tape stereotype)

If you've never been to the amateur finals I'd encourage it, my team was too cr*p to advance in the bowl competition so we will be going en-masse wearing our club colours and getting drunk from 11am.

No Ayr on Finals day. They play Melrose in the Championship play off. Stirling County v Melrose is the BT Cup Final.

[RDW]

Stirling made it to the final with a massive help from Matawalu who put in a virtuoso performance in the semis!

[Tramptastic]

Yes but many (i'm not included ) live outside Glasgow .  How do they get home for example to Ayrshire etc ?   Really poor decision by the usual suspect numpties at the SRU

It's an initiative by the SRU to engage with the clubs (you know the people the SRU are supposed to represent?) Seen as it's silver saturday all the men's and women's cup finals (most likely including World Class Ayr) are being played prior from 11am onwards. As somebody who plays rugby in Scotland I'm really keen on this, local club fans all coming to murrayfield cheering on the best the amateur/semi-pro teams can produce all day followed by Scotlands pro teams going hammer and tongs at each other

I think it's incredibly smart. I've been to the finals days before to watch my sister play and its a brilliant day out - even watched the likes of Duns playing and they were brilliant (they even brought on the standard club "ancient wise man" held together entirely by tape stereotype)

If you've never been to the amateur finals I'd encourage it, my team was too cr*p to advance in the bowl competition so we will be going en-masse wearing our club colours and getting drunk from 11am.

No Ayr on Finals day.  They play Melrose in the Championship play off.   Stirling County v Melrose is the BT Cup Final.

Ach well that'll still be a good match

I still think its great that theres a day of finals represented by all leagues, mens and womens, from across scotland ending in what could be an extremely important match between the 2 pro sides.

It know you've probably got a Glasgow bias and im sorry you have to travel back to world class ayr but i think its still a good initiative. Im from Dalbeattie (about as far south as you can go in Scotland) so the prospect wouldnt bother me as travelling for anything is just a part of life in Scotland

[EST]

I think it's a great initiative - a real showcase of Scottish rugby at all levels.

[BigGee]

and Lee Jones scores the winning try as Scotland beat England in their opening match in the HK sevens!

What a great start!

[NeilyBroon]

Taylor is back for Sarries! Great great news!

[VinceWLB]

Watched Oyonnax last night to have a look at Ceccarelli and this confirmed my fears that he would be confortably 4th choice next year and would be 5th choice had Shields stayed on.
Also, not sure about the new SA loosehead signing when Edinburgh have already 4 seasoned players in that position and the investment should be made in other positions like 9 and 10..

At this point, i'm starting to doubt the Cockerill appointment and unless he has excellent assistant coaches i don't think he is going to be the man to have Edinburgh playing like say Connacht a couple of years ago.

[TJ]

Scotland U18s won the inaugural U18 Six Nations Festival on Sunday with their third successive win - a 19-17 success over Ireland at Cardiff Arms Park.

really? really?????

https://www.sixnationsrugby.com/en/news/u18/33142.php

[TJ]

Vince - so far cockers has done really well. I doubt he is the man to get them playing fancy pants rugby but he has turned the team right round and deserves benefit of the doubt for now and anyway bells and whistles are a long way down the priority list right now

[RDW]

Scotland have beaten England at under 16, under 18, under 20s, 7s and full international this season - it's all becoming a bit too easy to be honest!

[TJ]

[BigGee]

In another bit of good news over the weekend, Duncan Taylor made his comeback for Sarries. Hopefully he can stay injury free now and go on the summer tour.

[21st Century Schizoid Man]

Yes but many (i'm not included ) live outside Glasgow .  How do they get home for example to Ayrshire etc ?   Really poor decision by the usual suspect numpties at the SRU

It's an initiative by the SRU to engage with the clubs (you know the people the SRU are supposed to represent?) Seen as it's silver saturday all the men's and women's cup finals (most likely including World Class Ayr) are being played prior from 11am onwards. As somebody who plays rugby in Scotland I'm really keen on this, local club fans all coming to murrayfield cheering on the best the amateur/semi-pro teams can produce all day followed by Scotlands pro teams going hammer and tongs at each other

I think it's incredibly smart. I've been to the finals days before to watch my sister play and its a brilliant day out - even watched the likes of Duns playing and they were brilliant (they even brought on the standard club "ancient wise man" held together entirely by tape stereotype)

If you've never been to the amateur finals I'd encourage it, my team was too cr*p to advance in the bowl competition so we will be going en-masse wearing our club colours and getting drunk from 11am.

No Ayr on Finals day.  They play Melrose in the Championship play off.   Stirling County v Melrose is the BT Cup Final.

Ach well that'll still be a good match

I still think its great that theres a day of finals represented by all leagues, mens and womens, from across scotland ending in what could be an extremely important match between the 2 pro sides.

It know you've probably got a Glasgow bias and im sorry you have to travel back to world class ayr but i think its still a good initiative. Im from Dalbeattie (about as far south as you can go in Scotland) so the prospect wouldnt bother me as travelling for anything is just a part of life in Scotland

But you couldn't get back to Dalbeattie on public transport with the schedule on Silver Saturday - that is my point .

[EWT Spoons]

Looks like Denton had a good game at the weekend getting a couple of tries.

[21st Century Schizoid Man]

Despite the horrors of Saturday's game over 2000 turn up at Scotstoun for our open training session yesterday. More than the Luvvies get for a home game

[EWT Spoons]

Yes but many (i'm not included ) live outside Glasgow .  How do they get home for example to Ayrshire etc ?   Really poor decision by the usual suspect numpties at the SRU

It's an initiative by the SRU to engage with the clubs (you know the people the SRU are supposed to represent?) Seen as it's silver saturday all the men's and women's cup finals (most likely including World Class Ayr) are being played prior from 11am onwards. As somebody who plays rugby in Scotland I'm really keen on this, local club fans all coming to murrayfield cheering on the best the amateur/semi-pro teams can produce all day followed by Scotlands pro teams going hammer and tongs at each other

I think it's incredibly smart. I've been to the finals days before to watch my sister play and its a brilliant day out - even watched the likes of Duns playing and they were brilliant (they even brought on the standard club "ancient wise man" held together entirely by tape stereotype)

If you've never been to the amateur finals I'd encourage it, my team was too cr*p to advance in the bowl competition so we will be going en-masse wearing our club colours and getting drunk from 11am.

No Ayr on Finals day.  They play Melrose in the Championship play off.   Stirling County v Melrose is the BT Cup Final.

Ach well that'll still be a good match

I still think its great that theres a day of finals represented by all leagues, mens and womens, from across scotland ending in what could be an extremely important match between the 2 pro sides.

It know you've probably got a Glasgow bias and im sorry you have to travel back to world class ayr but i think its still a good initiative. Im from Dalbeattie (about as far south as you can go in Scotland) so the prospect wouldnt bother me as travelling for anything is just a part of life in Scotland

But you couldn't get back to Dalbeattie on public transport with the schedule on Silver Saturday - that is my point .

I'd assume given the game is on Sky Sports that the SRU had little say over when the KO time was. It would have been nicer if the game was on earlier, and it could easily have been achieved, but as I say I think Sky will have dictated the KO time to meet their scheduling needs.

[George Carlin]

Looks like Denton had a good game at the weekend getting a couple of tries.

Pity his club seems to be 7 squillion dibs in debt. But then again, they all are apart from those canny Chiefs.

[Welly]

Interested to see how Tigers use him.

[Tramptastic]

Yes but many (i'm not included ) live outside Glasgow .  How do they get home for example to Ayrshire etc ?   Really poor decision by the usual suspect numpties at the SRU

It's an initiative by the SRU to engage with the clubs (you know the people the SRU are supposed to represent?) Seen as it's silver saturday all the men's and women's cup finals (most likely including World Class Ayr) are being played prior from 11am onwards. As somebody who plays rugby in Scotland I'm really keen on this, local club fans all coming to murrayfield cheering on the best the amateur/semi-pro teams can produce all day followed by Scotlands pro teams going hammer and tongs at each other

I think it's incredibly smart. I've been to the finals days before to watch my sister play and its a brilliant day out - even watched the likes of Duns playing and they were brilliant (they even brought on the standard club "ancient wise man" held together entirely by tape stereotype)

If you've never been to the amateur finals I'd encourage it, my team was too cr*p to advance in the bowl competition so we will be going en-masse wearing our club colours and getting drunk from 11am.

No Ayr on Finals day.  They play Melrose in the Championship play off.   Stirling County v Melrose is the BT Cup Final.

Ach well that'll still be a good match

I still think its great that theres a day of finals represented by all leagues, mens and womens, from across scotland ending in what could be an extremely important match between the 2 pro sides.

It know you've probably got a Glasgow bias and im sorry you have to travel back to world class ayr but i think its still a good initiative. Im from Dalbeattie (about as far south as you can go in Scotland) so the prospect wouldnt bother me as travelling for anything is just a part of life in Scotland

But you couldn't get back to Dalbeattie on public transport with the schedule on Silver Saturday - that is my point .

Getting from anywhere in Scotland outwith the stewarty to Dalbeattie via public transport is incredibly difficult regardless of Silver Saturday and as such is probably an issue for transport Scotland or the lack of public transport investment in rural Scotland surely - this being my point - Entertainment events in Scotland within the Central belt are inherently difficult to attend for rural people, so if ACDC are playing at Hampden is that bad planning on ACDCs part because they havent thought of the people travelling from Inverness? Or is that Transport Scotland's fault or the general geography of Scotland?

I get the SRU could have kept this in mind with kick off times but as is pointed out further down the conversation is that not a broadcasters issue?

[TheMildlyFranticLlama]

Interested to see how Tigers use him.

As Dinner lady if some Tigers fans get their way, there weren't a lot of positive comments floating about when his signing was announced!

[TheMildlyFranticLlama]

At this point, i'm starting to doubt the Cockerill appointment and unless he has excellent assistant coaches i don't think he is going to be the man to have Edinburgh playing like say Connacht a couple of years ago.

I genuinely can't believe you've even said this Vince. What about the change thats happened to this side this year is not giving you faith in Cockers? So we've run out of steam a bit over the last few games, you do remember how utterly mince we were when Cockers came in right?

The impact he's had already has been staggering, and that will only grow in time as talented young players start to feed through into a team that has an identity and a belief in themselves. He's always going to coach a physical side, but that doesn't mean we can't be a team that scores tries. We've seen that already at points this season

[RDW]

Duncan Weir confirmed as signing for Worcester next season on a 1 year deal.

[Welly]

At this point, i'm starting to doubt the Cockerill appointment and unless he has excellent assistant coaches i don't think he is going to be the man to have Edinburgh playing like say Connacht a couple of years ago.

I genuinely can't believe you've even said this Vince. What about the change thats happened to this side this year is not giving you faith in Cockers? So we've run out of steam a bit over the last few games, you do remember how utterly mince we were when Cockers came in right?

The impact he's had already has been staggering, and that will only grow in time as talented young players start to feed through into a team that has an identity and a belief in themselves. He's always going to coach a physical side, but that doesn't mean we can't be a team that scores tries. We've seen that already at points this season

Yep, and it isn't like the connacht thing was sustainable either.
Went
8th
10th
7th
Won it
8th
currently 11th overall

In the long run who wants that?
Cockers is setting up more of a foundation than Lam ever did IMO and that foundation is built around the pack which tends to work for any game plan.

It's not even his team yet, he's been working with a team that finished 9th last year with 6 wins and a whooping 1 Try bonus point!!!

[BigGee]

So Duncy gets a year with Worcester to prove himself down south.

The state of Worcester's finances and his patchy form and injuries over the past two seasons probably did not merit much more. He is likely to be in a dogfight both to get some game time and for the team to stay up.

Still the pressure may focus him and bring the best out of him. I think he probably needs that at this stage of his career. If he does not get it back on track now, it is probably going to fizzle out.

[jimbopip]

Duncan Weir confirmed as signing for Worcester next season on a 1 year deal.

As I may have said elsewhere....

£8million squid in debt and they triple the annual pie budget.

I'm no economist but even I see that they could have signed Dan Carter and Big Naka and still have had change.

[Hazel Sapling]

As maligned as Solomons for failing to develop beyond the basics, he is a pretty good coach (in the mold of Sam Allardyce in football). Cockerill is an improvement on that (although his next evolution is improving as a backs coach or knowing what to look for in one) 

Worcester are going to have to cut the budget a bit over time and will lose top players year to year (bet they wish they could have Te'o's contract back). They can't really afford an average 10 (such as AJ McGinty) let alone a good one (e.g. Cipriani). Taking a flier on a guy who has a form guide like a roller coaster is probably the best they can do.

Besides, Solomons relies on the forwards not the backs so spending money on a 10 would be a waste.

Edit: Looked at their signings and they are getting Jono Lance who should be first choice. Not sure what will happen to Heathcote who made his comeback from concussion issues this week in an academy game (Taylor, Reid, Brown, Heathcote...not been a good season for Scotland with severe head knocks).

[VinceWLB]

At this point, i'm starting to doubt the Cockerill appointment and unless he has excellent assistant coaches i don't think he is going to be the man to have Edinburgh playing like say Connacht a couple of years ago.

I genuinely can't believe you've even said this Vince. What about the change thats happened to this side this year is not giving you faith in Cockers? So we've run out of steam a bit over the last few games, you do remember how utterly mince we were when Cockers came in right?

The impact he's had already has been staggering, and that will only grow in time as talented young players start to feed through into a team that has an identity and a belief in themselves. He's always going to coach a physical side, but that doesn't mean we can't be a team that scores tries. We've seen that already at points this season

Edinburgh got the rub of the green in more than a couple of games and to be honest havn't been has good as their results suggest. Also i think Cockers has much better backs at his disposal than Solomons ever had (remember Atiga and Strauss?).
I fear that with better weather, Edinburgh may come unstuck but i hope to be proven wrong.

Generally, there are coaches who have instant results and then a marked stagnation and other who build over a few seasons like Pivac and Lam did. We will have to wait at least till the end of next season to tell how big an impact Cockerill has had.

[TJ]

its pretty much the same squad for edinburgh as previously - the only new backs signings I can remember who played much were the SA 10 and 11

I credit Cockerill with a large part of ~Edinburghs improvement

[RDW]

Mark Bennett too, although he was injured half the season.

On Bennett, he has looked solid but has lost his spark in attack - he even admitted that himself in an interview recently. Hopefully it comes back in time as that was the best part of his game.

Of course it may not help playing in a Duncan coached backline!

[EWT Spoons]

I wonder if Cockers will look to bring in a new backs coach.  I, like most Edinburgh fans, wasn't convinced by Hodge from his last few years and despite some individual improvements (Dean & Kinghorn) the backs don't really look up to the same standard as the rest of the team, especially the halfbacks.

Also glad you called out Bennett RDW, I’ve not seen the interview you are referring to, but he’s not looking like the player he’s been in the past.  At the moment I’d say he’s largely playing off reputation.  He’s got the talent and he’s not playing badly, he’s just not showing the same kind of form he’s displayed previously.  Hopefully it’s just him getting up to speed again following a long injury layoff.

Cockerill has done a brilliant job at Edinburgh, considering this is his first season at the club.  Is he going to get us playing silky free flowing, Glasgow/Scarlets style rugby?  Probably not.  Is he going to make us a hard to beat, physical team? More than likely.  He’s doing something similar to what Solly was trying, except he’s doing it well and has got us winning.

In terms of getting a “rub of the green”, as Gary Player said “the harder I practice the luckier I get”, I have no doubt that the work Cockers and the team are putting in on the training field is helping us get that bit of “luck” needed to secure results.  If Edinburgh get to a position where we are constantly challenging for the playoffs and have a solid base to work from, then we can start looking at throwing the ball about a bit more, but at this time we are a long way back from the teams challenging for the title (in terms of consistency) and need to get that solid platform first.

[RDW]

Here's the interview

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/43632736

[EWT Spoons]

Thanks, good honest interview from Bennett and I'd agree with his comments that it's his attack that still needs to come back.

[Hazel Sapling]

Quite a bit of Scots interest for Sale vs Newcastle

McGuigan and Strauss start for Sale with Cameron Redpath on the bench

Lawson, Graham (now English), Hogg, Socino (Edinburgh bound) and Harris all starting for Newcastle

[EWT Spoons]

https://www.606v2.com/t67426-edinburgh-rugby-vs-scarlets-14-04-pro14

Edinburgh vs Scarlets chat

[RDW]

Greetings from Sydney Australia! Off to see the Tahs v Reds tomorrow night - pretty excited to be seeing my first SR game.

33deg here having left London at 11deg - I'm gonna melt.

[BigGee]

Greetings from Sydney Australia! Off to see the Tahs v Reds tomorrow night - pretty excited to be seeing my first SR game.

33deg here having left London at 11deg - I'm gonna melt.

It's going to be in the 20s in London next week, you should have gone in March!

[George Carlin]

Greetings from Sydney Australia! Off to see the Tahs v Reds tomorrow night - pretty excited to be seeing my first SR game.

33deg here having left London at 11deg - I'm gonna melt.

Enjoy. I'll look out for you on the TV.

I'm assuming that you're be the bright red one with a confused look and a Richard Cockerill fanboi t shirt.

[RDW]

Scotland 7s were pumped by SA, ending our chances of a medal. Rauridh Jackson really didn't cover himself in glory with his performance!

[Eejit]

What planet did Edinburgh find Duhan Van Der Merwe from and do they have any others that Glasgow could have.

Van Der Merwe-bowl on the 28th will be mega entertaining.

[TJ]

He is ours. Far to beautiful for the great unwashed

[RDW]

He has been brilliant - he missed the first half of the season through injury so was like a mid season signing when he came back in January.

He's like Tim Visser but much less of a jessie - big, strong, top flat out pace and a natural finisher. He needs to work on his high ball takes but that's quite common with big wingers.

He could become a star of the league if he's looked after well - good thing he's got Duncan Hodge coaching him then...

[21st Century Schizoid Man]

He was up against Tom 'Cannot Tackle' Varndell tbf. DTH and Tommy S will take care of him a week on Saturday

[des]

He's not just a strong runner though. He skipped through a couple of tackles in midfield mid way through the second half to create a half break.

His pick up from SHCs kick through was also very good.

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