Scotland v Argentina Saturday 24th November 2018

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Scotland v Argentina
Saturday 24th November

BT Murrayfield Stadium
Edinburgh

KO 14.30

Well Scotland head to another almost full house at Murrayfield with a slightly mixed bag of results from the AIs so far.

A sluggish performance against Wales

A very good win against a strong Fiji

A what might have been loss against a strong SA side.

We have probably improved game on game if we are honest but so have the opposition. We will very much be looking to end our campaign on a high note.


Argentina are not SA, thery have lost their first two games of their tour, but they are no pushovers either and will no doubt still be smarting a little at the shellacking they took from Scotland down south over the summer, when they were given a bit of a lesson. However since then they have had a new coach come in, the legendary Super Mario Ledsema, who over the course of the rugby championship, had them playing back in their old style. It has been a long season for them though and it remains to be seen if they can raise themselves one last time before going on their summer holidays.

The Scotland selection will be interesting. Toonie stated that it was unlikely that anyone would play more than three games, though it was not clear if that counted bench appearences. It is also his last chance to do any tinkering and have a look at anyone. Surely in the 6N, he will be playing what he considers his strongest team.

For the squad, WC places are up for grabs and some players may not get another chance and so Scotland need to put on a good performance.

I think he will role the dice a little bit for this one, in many ways he has to. My stab at the team:

1. Allen
2. Brown
3. Berghan
4. Gilchrist
5. Gray
6. Skinner
7. Watson
8. Strauss
9. Horne G
10. Hastings
11. Graham
12. Dunbar
13. Jones
14. Maitland
15. Kinghorn

Reid
Turner
McCallam
Cummings
Graham G
Laidlaw
Russell
Harris

tigertattie wrote:Ah jimbo, how I’ve missed your spouts of wordy gibberish of late.

A few things I’d respectfully disagree with you on

1. Horne the younger/faster/better cant start all the 6ns as we’ll need to use this a platform to build for for World Cup so it’s Frodo for the majority. Now take heart that I agree that wee George is the future for us at 9. But his future starts after the World Cup.

Ps, everyone saying Frodo was instrumental in the try on Saturday are getting a bit carried away. Frodo was all set to ponderously pass the ball down the line again at it was only Hogg’s Shout that made him change his mind. That try was all Hogg.

2. Horne Furra linee/slower/shoiter is not and never should be our go to 12. He’s just too crap/inconsistent. He’ll have shockers in 4 out of 5 games. The 6ns will hopefully have Matt Scott (12) or his Taylorness ready to rumble. Otherwise it’s sunny Dunny everyday to provide much needed go forward physicality at centre.

The good news is that as we live and die at the breakdown, getting Barclay back will make a massive difference and hopefully Thomson will be that ball carrier we’re missing to keep opposition defences honest (which we sorely lacked this AI)

The good news is that the AI will have folk thinking we’re not up to much. Meanwhile England and Wales will be strutting about thinking they are god’s gift to NH rugby while Ireland continue to be the overall consistent performers that they are.

I’m really hoping that this AI series was just an experiment too far and that toonie knows what he wants and how the team can do it.

Ok your tattieness, I shall respond to you just as if you're a grown up and your ideas about rugby aren't just the result of too many lonely evenings at The Library.

1. What is the point of starting Frodo in the 6N's? To give him and Dancer time to get used to each other? I accept that the way things stand he will be our starting 9 at the World Cup, but let's imagine that at the first ruck of the tournament he shows a hitherto unexpected turn of pace and snipes up the blind-side. As light travels faster than sound we will be stunned by the sight of it for about 30milliseconds before being deafened by the twang of his hamstring snapping after decades of inactivity. We both know that there is no substitute for experience at international level, if Horne The Quicker is to play in the WC he needs to get minutes under his belt.


2. I can see why you would have Spacey as your number one 12. A fit, healthy and on form Duncan Taylor is a wonder to behold: but so is a unicorn with Nigel Farage riding sidesaddle while chewing a brie and marmite butty. Both are equally as likely, sadly. Some players are never the same after serious injury. I'm not convinced Alex Dunbar is back to his best yet. Nor am I convinced that DR sees the choice between him and the ScottyCrotty in the simplistic binary terms you seem to. "it’s sunny Dunny everyday to provide much needed go forward physicality at centre" Graham Morrison had lots of that, would you want him back? Again, I would play Sam Johnson as much as possible between now and the squad announcement for the same reasons as I would play Horne The Quicker: experience.


Breakdown and dynamic carrying will cause many a harsh word on here in the coming months.

Thompson-Bradbury-Watson
Wilson-Barclay-Hardie
Ashe-Bluto-Ritchie
Graham-the dumpling who played 8 for the Luvvies today-Brown/Mcinally
Oh and Harley.

Which five go? Well Fagerson, Thompson and Graham need to be given a chance to show what they can do: opening match of the 6N's? Why not?


I think Toonie knows his first choice 23. Does he need to play them during the 6N's? I would use that tournament to look at players who might be needed in the event of injury or loss of form.

The time for experimenting is over - we've got to play our best 23 each 6N game so that by the end of it we know who our best 23 are.

The first 2 warmups in the summer can be used to test out the rest of the squad picks.

I think pains me but I'm with Admin boy

We need to work on the fine tuning now. The only exception for me is to give blade a run out or two as we desperately need a player like him in the backrow.

Even Nel, who hasn't been in full flight, needs to be maintained over the fringe players now as it's all about the little tweaks and not wholesale changes.

By all means, Horne the rugby player needs to be in the squad for the 6ns but he's benching now unless he hits top form and forces his way into the starting berth.

For me it's:

Dell, Allan (Marfo or bhatti)
McInally, Brown, Turner
Nel, Berghan (Macallum)
Gray x2, Toolis, GG
Barclay. Blade. Watson. Skinner. Ritchie (prob wilson but I'd take Bradbury)

Frodo. Wee Horne. Backward Price
Dancer. Hastings.
Dunny. Duncy. Huw. Scott
Mainland. Seymour. Kinghorn. Hogg.

That's yer core. The main squad for the 6ns and those going to Japan.

There will be room on the plane for a few squad fillers (Horne the crap, Matt Fagerson and maybe Darcy G) but involvement won't be high.

Is there a cap on the number of players you can take???

RDW_Scotland wrote:we've got to play our best 23 each 6N game so that .....we know who our best 23 are.

Even for an engineer that's doublethink of the highest order.
If we play them because they're our best 23 what do we learn by playing them?

jimbopip wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:we've got to play our best 23 each 6N game so that .....we know who our best 23 are.

Even for an engineer that's doublethink of the highest order.
If we play them because they're our best 23 what do we learn by playing them?

 
Because it's unlikely to be the same 23 for each game given injuries/tactics/form etc. My point being we need to pick the best 23 we think will win each game - that will inevitably mean 28/29 players getting gametime over the 5 games.

Ah, right you are Ted. It's Schroedinger's 23. It is the best 23 except for the players who aren't.

Down with this sort of thing

Careful now.

For me Townsend has done the experimenting in these 4 matches.  Its now time for the best team to play together simply to gel and knit together to become the best team they can be.  time spent playing together is important.  chopping and changing unsettles players.  Together means they can know what each other are doing instinctivly.

I think Townsend was right to experiment in the AIs but now he should know the best team.  so play the best team.  We need a good 6N to springboard to the WC