Glasgow and Edinburgh 21st Century Banter

First topic message reminder :

Something is going on this year

Both Glasgow and Edinburgh are playing quite well!

Is it a dream, am I imagining it, am I going to wake up in a cold sweat and find out that we are really cr*p again?

Someone please reassure me!!

RDW_Scotland wrote:

tigertattie wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:You're welcome Glasgow!  

They’ll still be hiding under their rocks.

Bit harsh!

Ok, under their bridges (and I don’t mean Kevin)

Have Scotland ever got two quarter finalists before. I think we can now say that Scottish Rugby is now good enough to beat anyone on their
Day.

The bad news is Edinburgh will most likely have Munster at home, though will be a big enough crowd. While Glasgow don't have any great choice.

Still Scottish Rugby is doing great and we might get a winner (esp if Glasgow can do the impossible and beat Sarries away).

Last night got me thinking back to before the start of the season when the Edinburgh rebranding was announced. There was uproar from a pretty large section of the fanbase, I remember trying to explain to some of them on twitter why I felt rebranding was necessary for Edinburgh to achieve Cockers vision for the club and they just wouldn't have it. I'm genuinely interested to know how those people are feeling about the blue and orange of Edinburgh now. Are they still harking back to the black and red days, or can they see now what they couldn't before - that this is so much more than a new coach coming in?

The way the team is playing is such a testament to all the hard work that has been put in. From their discipline (only giving away 4 penalties last night), the speed at which players get up off the ground and back into the defensive line, and something I'm particularly enjoying is the support lines that people are running whenever we make a break and always having players on their shoulder. This is a club transformed, and massive credit to Cockers and those at the SRU who are supporting him in delivering his vision

Excellent post llama.

I was a fan of the rebranding and I completely agree that it was necessary. It's a shame we didn't move into mini Murrayfield at the same time but that's an exciting thing to come next season. It is the final piece of the puzzle and I really hope they don't mess it up! 

People fear change though so it was inevitable it was met with resistance. I suspect you'll struggle to find anyone who thinks it was a mistake now.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Excellent post llama.

I was a fan of the rebranding and I completely agree that it was necessary. It's a shame we didn't move into mini Murrayfield at the same time but that's an exciting thing to come next season. It is the final piece of the puzzle and I really hope they don't mess it up! 

People fear change though so it was inevitable it was met with resistance. I suspect you'll struggle to find anyone who thinks it was a mistake now.

After last night attendance the two teams average home attendance over the three games are as follows
Edinburgh 8.5k
Glasgow 7.4k

So seems like they are doing good things off the field aswell as erstanding on it.  If they get Munster at home there will be a large traveling support so hopefully there will be over 35k there.

What will be the size of the new stadium.  Also any talk of making Glasgow's home a 10k, they would surely fill it it for 50% of the games

Brendan wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:Excellent post llama.

I was a fan of the rebranding and I completely agree that it was necessary. It's a shame we didn't move into mini Murrayfield at the same time but that's an exciting thing to come next season. It is the final piece of the puzzle and I really hope they don't mess it up! 

People fear change though so it was inevitable it was met with resistance. I suspect you'll struggle to find anyone who thinks it was a mistake now.

After last night attendance the two teams average home attendance over the three games are as follows
Edinburgh 8.5k
Glasgow 7.4k

So seems like they are doing good things off the field aswell as erstanding on it.  If they get Munster at home there will be a large traveling support so hopefully there will be over 35k there.

What will be the size of the new stadium.  Also any talk of making Glasgow's home a 10k, they would surely fill it it for 50% of the games

It is definitely positive but I don't read much into attendances for the big games - we have always got big crowds for the big games around this time of year and Glasgow are limited by their stadium size. The big test of extra support are the standard pro 14 games - we tend to get less than 4k for most games and really we should be getting 5k+ as a minimum each week. If we got that at mini Murrayfield it will make a big difference.

Edinburgh's new stadium will be 7.5k to start with but there's plenty room to expand in the future.

Glasgow have got plans to expand which is definitely needed.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Excellent post llama.

I was a fan of the rebranding and I completely agree that it was necessary. It's a shame we didn't move into mini Murrayfield at the same time but that's an exciting thing to come next season. It is the final piece of the puzzle and I really hope they don't mess it up! 

People fear change though so it was inevitable it was met with resistance. I suspect you'll struggle to find anyone who thinks it was a mistake now.

Yes, absolutely. The thing about a new coach is that you never know how players will respond to him or whether he has the nous to read the level of talent in his squad cold and decide how best to use what he has. I associate Cockerill with being a forwards coach principally (as Andy Robinson was) and this is certainly where the steel spine of the team has sprouted from.

The thing I like about Cockers is that he's constantly downplayed expectation and hyperbole. He's just quietly got on with his job. Only now are the press realising that Edinburgh has not been beaten at home in Europe this season and commenting on it.

Well gents, Princess Daughter's due date is today and so at just gone one o'clock this morning her waters broke. Feckless Rogue has driven her to the hospital and MrsPip and I should be grandparents pretty soon.

And they're on their way home...without the baby. Well, with the baby but still internally.

Ooft late night Jimbo for not a lot to happen. Hope all is well.

jimbopip wrote:And they're on their way home...without the baby. Well, with the baby but still internally.

Told you you should have gone to the game!

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/edinburgh-s-focus-and-belief-earns-them-place-at-top-table-xk6pffk37

The one sour note on an otherwise excellent evening was the suspected broken hand suffered by Hamish Watson, which threatens at least a decent chunk of the flanker’s Six Nations. Better news is that the 27-year-old looks increasingly likely to sign an extension to the contract that expires at the end of the season despite interest from Clermont, Toulouse and Harlequins. Graham, who has been in brilliant try-scoring form, is also understood to be close to agreeing a new deal.

BigGee wrote:

jimbopip wrote:And they're on their way home...without the baby. Well, with the baby but still internally.

Told you you should have gone to the game!

Yes, when I got up (again) at 7:30 to take Pipetto to football princess Daughter was having contactions every three minutes and was leaving for the hospital... again.

Still no word. Pipetto's team lost and he played with all of Tim Visser's ferocity and none of his scoring ability.

Unfortunate for Watson. but a broken hand may not be to bad and we are hopefully talking weeks rather than months. He may even get back for the next round of matches. I expect Hardie might come back in and we might finally see Gary Graham get capped to put an end to that saga.

Good bit of business to get him and Graham signed up if that is the case. If people have been wayching them recently, they will have been in demand.

jimbopip wrote:

BigGee wrote:

jimbopip wrote:And they're on their way home...without the baby. Well, with the baby but still internally.

Told you you should have gone to the game!

Yes, when I got up (again) at 7:30 to take Pipetto to football princess Daughter was having contactions every three minutes and was leaving for the hospital... again.

Still no word. Pipetto's team lost and he played with all of Tim Visser's ferocity and none of his scoring ability.

No rushing a first baby unfortunately. Hope all goes well.

If Watson does sign it will be a massive statement, he's been immense week in week out this season and you can bet there was some money on the table from those French sides. Delighted that it sounds like we've managed to keep him!

All this talk of Edinburgh topping their group and Glasgow managing to scrape through second in theirs. Watson re signing and graham looking to put pen to paper.

But what if the important news?

Has jimbo been promoted from grumpy old git to grumpy old grandad git ?

Good news about Watson - I bet he was in demand. We've probably been helped by him just having a baby - it's not the best of times to be uprooting to a new country especially France.

He's right in his prime now at 27 and staying in Scotland will help him keep at the highest level. If he signs a 2 year deal he'll be in a good position to be looked after around the world cup and push on to the Lions tour (although if Gatland is coach he night as well forget that). After that at 29 no one could blame him for cashing in.

As an aside, Edinburgh and Glasgow will get a big cash boost from the QFs and an even bigger one if we make the SF. Hopefully we can use it to try and keep hold of Mata and maybe Jonny Gray (although I'm coming round to thinking he needs to move on as his career has really stalled).

Tiger, Mrs Pip is now officially Mumma Bear and I shall be Pops. Young Xander is doing fine and all is well with the Pip household.
Watson; a decent mid season rest pre world cup won't do him any harm.
The Luvvies can beat Munster at The Library: the silence will unnerve them.
Alas, it is MrsPip's birthday the weekend of the quarter finals and I have booked a hotel in Bath for the Saturday and Sunday. So I shall miss Allianz AGAIN.

Bath is not that far from Barnet!

Congrats on your grandadom (Is that a word?)

Glad to here all going good

Congrats Jimbo

Also, apparently if both teams win it will be an Edinburgh v Glasgow semi final!

Congrats Jimbo!

Well done Jim.

I particularly liked the Instagram snap of you celebrating with a fellow grandparent yesterday:

Well as a reward for securing a home QF the Edinburgh squad immediately embarked on a 26 hour journey to South Africa at the weeked (I'm assuming they went the cheap route via Dubai). There's never a good time to have to travel to South Africa, but it is an especially bad time when you have lost all your Scotland squad players - usually the fringe players are released to play for their clubs but I can't imagine they will be flying out on Thursday.

It will certainly test the clubs depth for what is a must win game - we can't have any more slip ups. We should still be able to put out a decent team that should get the win against a poor Kings outfit, although we really need a BP.

1 Schoeman
2 Ford
3 McCallum
4 McKenzie (his return alone makes a huge difference)
5 CHH
6 Hamilton/Millar (don't know if Hamilton has recovered from concussion)
7 Crosbie
8 Mata

9 Fowles
10 VDW/Hickey (he might give Hickey a run)
11 VDM (just give the ball to Duhan)
12 Socino
13 JJ
14 Brown
15 Fife

Subs - Marfo (the mystery man), Fenton, Ceccarelli, Hodgson, feck knows, Sheil, VDW/Hickey, Taylor

You never know Matt Scott or Charmichal might be back, but given there's a rest period to come after this game they may wait until the next block of games. I haven't seen either taking part in pre-match warmups which is usually a sign they're not far away.

Feck me it gets worse - Luke Crosbie has just been called up to the Scotland squad!

Crosbie is very unlikely to be playing, so they may release him on wed/thurs and he could fly out then.

I would imagine that Cockers may be keen on that idea given the lack of alternative back rows.

RDW, have you dropped Pyrgos, or have I missed something?

Woops forgot about him!

Of course Pyrgos will be starting over Fowles.

That helps a bit.
But tbh, it would be good with Pyrgos to start and Shiel as back up. From what I have heard.

Anglobraveheart wrote:That helps a bit.
But tbh, it would be good with Pyrgos to start and Shiel as back up. From what I have heard.

Fowles can bugger off!

I think RDW forgot about Pyrgos in the same way Gregor Townsend did.

If his Frodoness gets injured the Pyrgos would be the scrum half I'd look to replace him with as they play a similar game. Wee Horne is mad as a brush and gives a differnet method of play so is a very handy sub for when plan B is needed. But to stick with plan A, it's Pyrgos for me.

So yeah, lets hope froddo doesnt get banged up.

And Ali Price, well, he's close getting to Fowles' level of ninckumpooppetery

Ali Price played well against Sarries - Rennie picked him over Horne too. His form has definitely improved this year.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Ali Price played well against Sarries - Rennie picked him over Horne too. His form has definitely improved this year.

Price would have been a good shout for Glasgow's MoM

Best gane he has played in a long time.

I see Fowles retains his previous status in the popularity stakes.....
I hope Pyrgos and Price (that sounds like a fashion chain?) keep their form. If they do, they are suitable back up for Frodo and Wee George.

Anglobraveheart wrote:I see Fowles retains his previous status in the popularity stakes.....
I hope Pyrgos and Price (that sounds like a fashion chain?) keep their form. If they do, they are suitable back up for Frodo and Wee George.

Fashion chain or dodgy cheating ambulance chasing money draining parasites solicitors (we have quite a few joiningus on here)

I still say that Froddo is the now and wee George is the future. Pyrgos would need to go some to come between them. There’s also "The Spaniard" who I feel has a far better all-round game than Ali Price. He just doesn’t seem to be in the shop window for Scotland at the moment being down in the land of Llanelli. I still hope that Ali Price gets back to his form as he and Sam H-C are the same age I believe, so they’d be pushing each other on. I just feel that Ali Price has been a bit of a one hit wonder where he was on form for the 2017 AI series but that’s all.

I honestly see Froddo stepping down from international rugby after the world cup so I'm really hoping that wee George spends the rest of this year learning from the ponderous one. Just the game management side that is. Wee George and his nippy runs at the right time coupled with the management skills of froddo would be one hell of a scrummy.

Heard a stat that Glasgow Warriors are the third most supported team in terms of attendance behind Celtic and Rangers.

Is that correct, if so it shows what a good job they are doing

Brendan wrote:Heard a stat that Glasgow Warriors are the third most supported team in terms of attendance behind Celtic and Rangers.

Is that correct, if so it shows what a good job they are doing

In Glasgow maybe, but not across whole of Scotland.

Aye - hibs and hearts will have more at home games I am sure.

I thought it was too amazing

Just checked
Hearts and Hibs are 17.5k
Aberdeen 15k
Then Warriors

Next football clubs Dundee FC and Kilmarnock on 6k

Wonder how much they could extend Scotstoun and still fill it every single game.

If we went to 10,000 we probably would not fill it every game but would for the bigger ones.

There are plans afoot to do that, though not a lot has been said about it recently

Eejit wrote:Wonder how much they could extend Scotstoun and still fill it every single game.

Probably 10k is about right for the next level
I was surprised that Edinburgh seem to have their attendances up to a decent amount

Brendan wrote:

Eejit wrote:Wonder how much they could extend Scotstoun and still fill it every single game.

Probably 10k is about right for the next level
I was surprised that Edinburgh seem to have their attendances up to a decent amount

Winning games attracts fans I guess - certainly did for Glasgow, and that's in a football mad city. Once the fans start going regularly and get a taste for it they very rarely stop going. Just between you and me (and don't tell any of that east coast mob that I said this) but they look a right good side these days and that Edinburgh Munster game is the pick of the round for the quarter finals so I hope it gets a good slot on the Saturday afternoon.

Eejit wrote:

Brendan wrote:

Eejit wrote:Wonder how much they could extend Scotstoun and still fill it every single game.

Probably 10k is about right for the next level
I was surprised that Edinburgh seem to have their attendances up to a decent amount

Winning games attracts fans I guess - certainly did for Glasgow, and that's in a football mad city. Once the fans start going regularly and get a taste for it they very rarely stop going.  Just between you and me (and don't tell any of that east coast mob that I said this) but they look a right good side these days and that Edinburgh Munster game is the pick of the round for the quarter finals so I hope it gets a good slot on the Saturday afternoon.

(Screenshots and files for future use)

Pictures from Glasgow training today showed both Zander Fagerson and Fraser Brown bacvk out on the pitch and running around. ZF also put one out on instagram.

Hard to say just how far down the line they are, but hopefully neither of them is to far away from being match fit again. Both should be playing some part in the 6N as it roles on.

BigGee wrote:Pictures from Glasgow training today showed both Zander Fagerson and Fraser Brown bacvk out on the pitch and running around. ZF also put one out on instagram.

Hard to say just how far down the line they are, but hopefully neither of them is to far away from being match fit again. Both should be playing some part in the 6N as it roles on.

I suppose in the first instance this is good news for Glasgow as it means that they could be available for club games during the 6N period. Fraser Brown hasnt been out too long so could (and is good enough) to be dropped right back into the scotland matchday team, Zander ha sbeen out longer and with other options avilable, there's no point in rushing him back and needs time to get up to speed again.

So,

if Glasgow manage to beat the team who have beaten us three times in a row in Europe then our reward is to (probably) play the team who have beaten us three times in a row THIS SEASON. Fecc.

jimbopip wrote:So,

if Glasgow manage to beat the team who have beaten us three times in a row in Europe then our reward is to (probably) play the team who have beaten us three times in a row THIS SEASON. Fecc.

We’ve only beaten you twice so far this season

tigertattie wrote:

jimbopip wrote:So,

if Glasgow manage to beat the team who have beaten us three times in a row in Europe then our reward is to (probably) play the team who have beaten us three times in a row THIS SEASON. Fecc.

We’ve only beaten you twice so far this season

He's probably preempting the 3rd leg