Six Nations round 4 Scotland vs Wales

First topic message reminder :

Sat, 9 Mar, 14:15
Murrayfield Stadium

Scotland.

Kinghorn, Seymour, Grigg, Graham, Horne, Russell, Price; Dell, McInally, Nel, Gilchrist, Gray, Bradbury, Strauss, Ritchie.

Reps: Brown, Reid, Berghan, Toolis, Watson, Laidlaw, Hastings, McGuigan



Wales.

Liam Williams; George North, Jonathan Davies, Hadleigh Parkes, Josh Adams; Gareth Anscombe, Gareth Davies; Rob Evans., Ken Owens, Tomas Francis; Adam Beard, Alun Wyn Jones; Josh Navidi, Justin Tipuric, Ross Moriarty.

Reps: Elliot Dee, Nicky Smith, Dillon Lewis, Jake Ball, Aaron Wainwright, Aled Davies, Dan Biggar, Owen Watkin.



Referee Pascal Gauzere (France)
Assistant Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant Federico Anselmi (Argentina)
TMO Marius Jonker (South Africa)

Scotland v Wales is on BBC One

Watson coming on after 60 mins will be brutal for the Welsh pack.

But thats all I've got.

Our Centres are utterly utterly garbage, and dispite the Welsh fans lamenting the selecton of Hadleigh Parkes, he'll have a field day running right at Horne who (sorry jimbo) simply is not an international quality player.

I'd rather see Gary Graham playing at 12

Anyway..................

The rest of the team is as expected though. Strauss is a lucky lucky boy so lets hope he puts in a masive shift The forwards are going to need to be on top of thier game to provide as much of a platform as possible for the backs who wil likely be playing side to side all day again.

NeilyBroon wrote:

jimbopip wrote:Well gentlemen, the Tombola has spun.


Shrek on the bench? probably a good thing, he will keep up the abrasiveness when he comes on.

Bluto continuing at 8? Not as mobile or dynamic as Fagerson, Toonie going for the Claymore as opposed to the rapier.

Ickle Jonny playing at all? He really looked cream crackered at times in Paris, although I think he may well feel he has a point to prove to Gats. Let's hope he proves it: if he does we win, because it'll mean he puts AWJ in the shade and if that happens Wales lose. This is as big a compliment as I can pay AWJ. The corollary is that if Jonny comes off second best then he really needs to consider whether his game needs to be dismantled and reconstructed rather like a golfer learning a new swing.

Barry McGuigan to cover centre and back three? I'd rather have taken a punt on Lord Stafford, who could also cover the back row. And prop.

I think 6/4 in Wales' favour now.

To be fair I think Richie V has that one as he covers the starting 15 and the bench simultaneously. God I'd love to see a battle between Prof Vernon Emeritus of speed and Lord Stafford of the universe.

Obviously Stafford would win but I'd like to think it'd be a hard fought affair.

Richie V was an odd one, he had like 2 seasons for Glasgow where he was unbelievably good, dislodging Johnnie Beattie in his prime from the starting team, what went wrong? he was hella fast for an 8 and was a good link man but then he just kinda... stopped?

Tramptastic wrote:

NeilyBroon wrote:

jimbopip wrote:Well gentlemen, the Tombola has spun.


Shrek on the bench? probably a good thing, he will keep up the abrasiveness when he comes on.

Bluto continuing at 8? Not as mobile or dynamic as Fagerson, Toonie going for the Claymore as opposed to the rapier.

Ickle Jonny playing at all? He really looked cream crackered at times in Paris, although I think he may well feel he has a point to prove to Gats. Let's hope he proves it: if he does we win, because it'll mean he puts AWJ in the shade and if that happens Wales lose. This is as big a compliment as I can pay AWJ. The corollary is that if Jonny comes off second best then he really needs to consider whether his game needs to be dismantled and reconstructed rather like a golfer learning a new swing.

Barry McGuigan to cover centre and back three? I'd rather have taken a punt on Lord Stafford, who could also cover the back row. And prop.

I think 6/4 in Wales' favour now.

To be fair I think Richie V has that one as he covers the starting 15 and the bench simultaneously. God I'd love to see a battle between Prof Vernon Emeritus of speed and Lord Stafford of the universe.

Obviously Stafford would win but I'd like to think it'd be a hard fought affair.

Richie V was an odd one, he had like 2 seasons for Glasgow where he was unbelievably good, dislodging Johnnie Beattie in his prime from the starting team, what went wrong? he was hella fast for an 8 and was a good link man but then he just kinda... stopped?

I think his versatility killed his chances. That and all the speed.

In all seriousness he got massively injured for a long time which didn't help, and he was around at a time where our desperation for centre meant we were resorting to retraining BR forwards. Ironic as it now looks like we'll have to put a back in at 8. It's Rory Hughes' time to shine!

He was busy cloning himself in the lab to give us RVMK2, designation future Lion's captain "Stafford McDowall".

Is it just me, as I am a little bit underwhelmed by this team.

Grigg seems to be in the team as there is no-one else who can be trusted to play 13 and it is not clear who would take his place if he gets injured or has another mare!

Gary Graham is unlucky

JG is lucky still to be in the side, he owes us a performance, maybe Skinner is not up to match speed yet.

Some of the selections are likely dictated by injury, but to me it looks as if Toonie , very uncharacteristically, has played it safe.

I am not sure if that will be good enough against Wales.

BigGee wrote:Is it just me, as I am a little bit underwhelmed by this team.

Grigg seems to be in the team as there is no-one else who can be trusted to play 13 and it is not clear who would take his place if he gets injured or has another mare!

Gary Graham is unlucky

JG is lucky still to be in the side, he owes us a performance, maybe Skinner is not up to match speed yet.

Some of the selections are likely dictated by injury, but to me it looks as if Toonie , very uncharacteristically, has played it safe.

I am not sure if that will be good enough against Wales.

Not just you.

Think this will be similar to the France game where I Sky+'d it, saw the result and subsequent comments from mates who were there, then deleted it without watching.

BigGee wrote:Is it just me, as I am a little bit underwhelmed by this team.

Grigg seems to be in the team as there is no-one else who can be trusted to play 13 and it is not clear who would take his place if he gets injured or has another mare!

Gary Graham is unlucky

JG is lucky still to be in the side, he owes us a performance, maybe Skinner is not up to match speed yet.

Some of the selections are likely dictated by injury, but to me it looks as if Toonie , very uncharacteristically, has played it safe.

I am not sure if that will be good enough against Wales.

I think we're all a bit underwhelmed, but given the disappointment of this tournament we're tempering it with the positives. At least Laidlaw's been dropped to the bench and Graham is getting a deserved start. Disappointed for Johnson and G Graham but there you are. Couple of lucky players there too but how many times do we say that anyway?

I think Toonie coaches like a player plays. If he's on a good streak he is confident and that is reflected in his decision making, until he becomes complacent, then things like Wales last year happen, or USA and now we're very much suffering second season syndrome. I'm hoping he'll learn to balance pragmatism with adventure, as it seems he's lost the latter somewhat - probably through pursuing the wrong tactics on too many occasions recently. In my opinion, he's not an international coach and he'd do better at another club but my fingers remain crossed. If we get mullered this weekend then perhaps we'll see a bigger roll of the dice in Twickenham.

A roll of the dice at Twickenham That's like going to the pub with your wedding tackle hanging out just on the off-chance you get lucky. Seldom ends well. Even in Cardiff after a Six Nations match.


I think Johnson (deffo) and Mad Mental Macro Graham (just to upset Eddie Jones) are being kept for Twickers.


Tiger, Furra Linee is a much better 10 than he is a 12: last year at Cardiff he was one of the few Scotland to leave the pitch with anything approaching pass marks (he did actually score a try). But even I would admit that on paper Parkes-JD2 looks slightly better than Furra- Battleship Griggtempkin. I use the word "slightly" with tongue firmly in cheek.

Minor point, but Darcy G has played all his pro rugby on the right wing (apart from his cameo last week) - I know you neanderthal forwards struggle to know the difference but I hope he's not caught out of position. He's also against George North...

To give Toonie his dues, I think that other than Horne at 12 (which even Jimbo would agree is teaching us nothing), the selection is logical (which we often don't attribute to Toonie)

I really think that had this been in the middle of the World Cup cycle, he'd probably have chucked McDowell out there, maybe Hutchison. Strauss would be binned and Graham (Macro) playing at 6.

It isn't though, we're merely months away from it and now it the time for fine tuning execept where injuries have forced our hand.

Sure I'd have Toolis starting with JG benched if not dropped, but all in all, it's about what we would all do (except Horne at 12, no one knows why he's there)

RDW wrote:Minor point, but Darcy G has played all his pro rugby on the right wing (apart from his cameo last week) - I know you neanderthal forwards struggle to know the difference but I hope he's not caught out of position. He's also against George North...

Difference?

Both stand on the wing, refuse to tackle and keep thier kits clean.

Left and right should make no difference!

I knew you'd be first to comment on that!

He's a picture of RDW on the left wing



And here is RDW on the right wing



Exactly the same!

Jimbo, get on line. I did it; peter at 12, Hairy josh at 8, put Grigg in against the best 13 Wales have had in a long time, dropped the only man who actually got under the French pack's skin, and gave two players who everyone thinks have been flogged to death, and need a rest, their 50th caps.

So, get on line and watch Tigertattie go supernova on us.


Mind what I said now: England skelp Italy, Wales turn us over and next week I make twelve changes, the English think we're panicking and by the time they realise they're in a game it's too late.


Don't forget to delete this email.


Best wishes


Gregor.

jimbopip wrote:Jimbo, get on line. I did it; peter at 12, Hairy josh at 8, put Grigg in against the best 13 Wales have had in a long time, dropped the only man who actually got under the French pack's skin and gave two players who everyone thinks have been flogged to death and need a rest their 50th caps.

So, get on line and watch Tigertattie go supernova on us.


Mind what I said now: England skelp Italy, Wales turn us over and next week I make twelve changes, the English think were panicking and by the time they realise they're in a game it's too late.


Don't forget to delete this email.


Best wishes


Gregor.

It's true! It's all true!!!

tigertattie wrote:To give Toonie his dues, I think that other than Horne at 12 (which even Jimbo would agree is teaching us nothing), the selection is logical (which we often don't attribute to Toonie)

I really think that had this been in the middle of the World Cup cycle, he'd probably have chucked McDowell out there, maybe Hutchison. Strauss would be binned and Graham (Macro) playing at 6.

It isn't though, we're merely months away from it and now it the time for fine tuning execept where injuries have forced our hand.

Sure I'd have Toolis starting with JG benched if not dropped, but all in all, it's about what we would all do (except Horne at 12, no one knows why he's there)

And Strauss at 8...

I'd actually have started McGuigan and had Seymour benching, to me that makes more sense with Seymours current form. At least then we can send the experience on if it all goes Pete Tong, unlike Cardiff last year, it also means we have back-up for 15 on the bench as opposed to on the field.

Because we have Horne and given the likelihood of Russell playing the 80 or at least 75 minutes, why not put McDowall on the bench over Hastings? We have 3 people in the 23 already who can play fly half in a pinch, and Russell isn't on bad form right now so it's unlikely we'll need to hook him and put Hastings on.

It's subtle differences which would improve this selection and just a little bit of bravery. This is the problem with Scotland's gameplan or lack of gameplan right now, it doesn't allow for a rotating squad to play effectively, we just depend on individual talents which is a far cry from what we were working towards 2 years ago. This is fine if we have four SBWs in the centres, 2 B Vunipolas at 8, and 2 Nathan Hines enforcing the second row but we don't. The best Scotland performances I've seen have included individual brilliance, but ultimately have been an outstanding team effort. Something that doesn't seem to have happened since England last year.

jimbopip wrote:Jimbo, get on line. I did it; peter at 12, Hairy josh at 8, put Grigg in against the best 13 Wales have had in a long time, dropped the only man who actually got under the French pack's skin, and gave two players who everyone thinks have been flogged to death, and need a rest, their 50th caps.

So, get on line and watch Tigertattie go supernova on us.


Mind what I said now: England skelp Italy, Wales turn us over and next week I make twelve changes, the English think we're panicking and by the time they realise they're in a game it's too late.


Don't forget to delete this email.


Best wishes


Gregor.

Brilliant

jimbopip wrote:...That's like going to the pub with your wedding tackle hanging out just on the off-chance you get lucky. Seldom ends well. Even in Cardiff after a Six Nations match.

You've obviously been going to the wrong pubs....


On a serious note... What's the general reaction in Scotland to your captain being dropped to the bench. Personally, I've never ranked Laidlaw much, but thats me. Wondered how it sits with you Scots, as its kick up the ar$e for him. When coaches drop their captain, its usually a statement to say time to hang up your international boots.

No9 wrote:

jimbopip wrote:...That's like going to the pub with your wedding tackle hanging out just on the off-chance you get lucky. Seldom ends well. Even in Cardiff after a Six Nations match.

You've obviously been going to the wrong pubs....


On a serious note... What's the general reaction in Scotland to your captain being dropped to the bench. Personally, I've never ranked Laidlaw much, but thats me. Wondered how it sits with you Scots, as its kick up the ar$e for him. When coaches drop their captain, its usually a statement to say time to hang up your international boots.

It's happened before but he's come back. Prior to this tournament he was valued for giving great leadership, but he really hasn't shown that recently, with the whining about the ref, waving at the back of the ruck, poor decision making. When he's on-song he's an invaluable calming influence, at the moment he's a liability. I think most of us would rather see Barclay as captain, provided he regains form post-injury.

I agree with Nelly, Laidlaw has not been setting the heather on fire this tournament and Price deserves his shot. It is a shame Horne Junior has been injured as he may well turn out to be our best SH of the lot!

This tournament and the WC is no doubts GL international swansong and he will want to go out playing well and with Scotland achieving something. He may actually be more use closing a game out these days but we are starting so slowly with him playing just now that a change was inevitable.

He still brings a lot to the squad and has a lot of credit in the bank, so will stay there or therabout till the WC is done. Hopefully he has a few cards still to play.

Horne and Grigg at centre.

Horne and Grigg. The only 3 words more boring than ‘gluten free crackers’.

George Carlin wrote:Horne and Grigg at centre.

Horne and Grigg. The only 3 words more boring than ‘gluten free crackers’.

How do you rate them defensively?

mikey_dragon wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Horne and Grigg at centre.

Horne and Grigg. The only 3 words more boring than ‘gluten free crackers’.

How do you rate them defensively?

As defensively solid as ice cream in direct sunlight

Tramptastic wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Horne and Grigg at centre.

Horne and Grigg. The only 3 words more boring than ‘gluten free crackers’.

How do you rate them defensively?

As defensively solid as ice cream in direct sunlight

  - in which case I have to say I don't see where Scotland have an advantage in this fixture? I think their pack can contain ours, and if so we'll make changes which should give Wales the advantage. The Scottish back-row will probably cause us a lot of trouble, and they have some good attackers in the back 3; but again I don't see a distinct advantage for Scotland there.

mikey_dragon wrote:  - in which case I have to say I don't see where Scotland have an advantage in this fixture? I think their pack can contain ours, and if so we'll make changes which should give Wales the advantage. The Scottish back-row will probably cause us a lot of trouble, and they have some good attackers in the back 3; but again I don't see a distinct advantage for Scotland there.

Looking at the respective form of the 2 sides were you expecting to see something different? Wales are clear favourites in this match, and the Welsh midfield will have Horne and Grigg's pants down multiple times over the course of 80 minutes. Sad but true

I don't think anyone in Scotland thinks we are favourites - firm underdogs in this one, where we feel most comfortable

mikey_dragon wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Horne and Grigg at centre.

Horne and Grigg. The only 3 words more boring than ‘gluten free crackers’.

How do you rate them defensively?

About the same as gluten free crackers

TheMildlyFranticLlama wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:  - in which case I have to say I don't see where Scotland have an advantage in this fixture? I think their pack can contain ours, and if so we'll make changes which should give Wales the advantage. The Scottish back-row will probably cause us a lot of trouble, and they have some good attackers in the back 3; but again I don't see a distinct advantage for Scotland there.

Looking at the respective form of the 2 sides were you expecting to see something different? Wales are clear favourites in this match, and the Welsh midfield will have Horne and Grigg's pants down multiple times over the course of 80 minutes. Sad but true

It was why I questioned the numerous predictions of Scotland beating Wales (as I did last year), to which people replied by throwing their toys out of the pram (which they also did last year). Then again most of those predictions came from the English so that would probably explain it.

I wasn't aware of too many, if any, of the regular Scottish posters predicting a home wine on Saturday.

No9... Laidlaw is a bit Rupert Moonish; it's easy to list all the things he is not good at, or at least not as good as you would expect from a top international scrum half. He NEVER makes sniping runs around the ruck or base of the scrum. He seldom makes the kind of support runs Horne the Younger does. His pass is not lightning quick. BUT, he does exert a noticeable positive effect on the team. When we win it's easy to say that his "leadership" and "control of the game" were important factors: when we lose it's even easier to say if we had a 9 who could run/pass/move the ball without checking his Facebook page first then we might have won. He isn't called Frodo The Ponderous for nothing.
In short, he is a good scrum half and sometimes he is worth his weight in gold, sometimes the Toonie gameplan is too fast for him and then he isn't worth his weight in Betamax video recorders.

[quote="jimbopip"]I wasn't aware of too many, if any, of the regular Scottish posters predicting a home wine on Saturday.

quote]

A bit of home wine is what I might be needing to get me through this game on Saturday!

More like 'whine' when those home fans are involved innit?

I’d just like to see Grigg not spill a ball or get a ball ripped in contact, not see Kinghorn out of position or missing tackles, not see Scotland blow lineouts 5m from Welsh line and do see Scotland get 20+ phases without a knock on.

https://theoffsideline.com/scotland-v-wales-changing-of-the-guard/

A bit more depth about Toonie's thought process

Grigg at 13, as the only real option and they feel he deserves another go. Moving Johnson seen as a risk.

Back row playing well, he is very happy with Strauss form and expects a step up from Bradbury this week

A week to soon for Skinner, who may play for Exeter this weekend

Ali Price has earned his chance

Finn Russell is vice captain, so will presumably take the band at some stage in the game whem McInally gets subbed!

For how many more games does Gray the younger need to be to be totally anonymous before he gets benched or dropped? He is usually completely overshadowed by AWJ when we play Wales, so he definitely owes us a big one. Just dont think he looks like he has anything left in the tank. Apparently Rennie has been trying to get him to shift some bulk so maybe a change in his fitness regime is contributing to his current loss of form.

It will be interesting to see if Aldi's proclivilty for flinging all ball at Finn: good, bad and indifferent will help or hinder the Racing man's game management.

Looking cold, wet and windy for the match, chance of snow in the evening too...

To be honest I don't think Toonie had a whole lot of choice with this team. I'd like to applaud him for picking Graham but he had no choice in the end. The one "bold" decision is Price over Laidlaw I suppose, but I've yet to find a Scotland fan who can't see the logic in that. I agree that Gary Graham is unlucky to lose his bench slot, even if it is to the legend that is Hamish Watson. I'd have probably shuffled out Strauss and asked Bradbury to play 8. JG needs a big performance, but we know he has it in him.

I'm going tomorrow, which is probably the worst omen for the team's prospects.

It's certainly not a bad team, but there just seems to be a despondency about our recent performances - since the last England game if truth be told. I have very little confidence that our forwards will be able to step up to the level of intensity required to match Wales.

As for the backline, I think any international team would struggle to win fielding a midfield combo of Horne and Grigg - if you go with Horne at 12, I think you need a physical option outside of him, somebody who be a focal point off set plays. Grigg is great at club level in getting front foot ball, but I have yet to see him step up to the international level.

I think probably a 5-10 point loss, with Wales never really getting out of 3rd gear.

Hows that for positivity?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/47488378

Tom English reopening old wounds with this one! I agree with his final words, Scotland have really just had to sit and take it from Wales for the last decade. 2017 did feel a bit hollow, knowing Gatland was in the stadium, looking angry Wales had lost, but not in the coaching box. Only a spectator. I hope Scotland can some how put what would only be a small smear on his perfect record against us this Saturday, but as Tom English says, you can only be impressed by his ruthlessness during his time with Wales.

Well at the risk of kicking off WW3, here's my take on the head to heads:

Dell v Francis - Francis
McInally v Owens - Evens
Nel v Evans - Nel
Gilchrist v Beard- Gilchrist
Gray v AWJ - AWJ
Bradbury v Navidi - Evens
Ritchie v Tupiric - Tupiric (only just)
Strauss v Moriarty - Evens

Price v Davies - Davies
Russell v Anscome - Russell
Graham v North - North
Horne v Parkes - Evens (mainly because Parkes has been quiet this tournament
Grigg v Davies - Davies
Seymour V Adams - Evens (although Seymour's form hasn't been great
Kinghorn v Williams - Williams


So pretty much as we have all been saying - packs are fairly even with Wales just shading it, in the backs there is a huge difference in class.

EST wrote:It's certainly not a bad team, but there just seems to be a despondency about our recent performances - since the last England game if truth be told.  I have very little confidence that our forwards will be able to step up to the level of intensity required to match Wales.

As for the backline, I think any international team would struggle to win fielding a midfield combo of Horne and Grigg - if you go with Horne at 12, I think you need a physical option outside of him, somebody who be a focal point off set plays.  Grigg is great at club level in getting front foot ball, but I have yet to see him step up to the international level.

I think probably a 5-10 point loss, with Wales never really getting out of 3rd gear.

Hows that for positivity?

You could be more positive about our performance ?

RDW wrote:Well at the risk of kicking off WW3, here's my take on the head to heads:

Dell v Francis - Francis
McInally v Owens - Evens
Nel v Evans - Nel
Gilchrist v Beard- Gilchrist
Gray v AWJ - AWJ
Bradbury v Navidi - Evens
Ritchie v Tupiric - Tupiric (only just)
Strauss v Moriarty - Evens

Price v Davies - Davies
Russell v Anscome - Russell
Graham v North - North
Horne v Parkes - Evens (mainly because Parkes has been quiet this tournament
Grigg v Davies - Davies
Seymour V Adams - Evens (although Seymour's form hasn't been great
Kinghorn v Williams - Williams


So pretty much as we have all been saying - packs are fairly even with Wales just shading it, in the backs there is a huge difference in class.

I don’t overly disagree, we could speculate on players us welsh supporters know better, countered by our own reasonable lack of insight to their Scottish opponent.

Some players for example Nelly and Rob Evans are completely different players, Nelly a 9/10 scrummager RE a 7/10 on a good day, around the park Evans turns over ball tackles and carries well, can pass off both hands and I’ve even seen him drop a little grubber kick before as well, Nelly is not the greatest ball handler.

I hope it’s a great game. It has always been a wonderful encounter through out my life time.

Yeah we could argue the individual merits of both players and we will have our bias (for example not only is Nel a world class scrummager he also puts in a big shift around the park) but utlimately it is how they come together as a collective, and Wales as a collective are certainly far greater than the sum of their parts. The same can't be said of Scotland just now.

Wales seem to be in a decent place form wise at the moment. The depth in the larger squad is pretty good and we still have some very useful players to come back in before the RWC.

I think the biggest on paper mismatch is outside centre. I don’t rate Grigg very highly. So in saying that he is bound to prove me wrong with an awesome performance, a hat trick of tries and mom award..!

RDW wrote:Well at the risk of kicking off WW3, here's my take on the head to heads:

Dell v Francis - Francis
McInally v Owens - Evens
Nel v Evans - Nel
Gilchrist v Beard- Gilchrist
Gray v AWJ - AWJ
Bradbury v Navidi - Evens
Ritchie v Tupiric - Tupiric (only just)
Strauss v Moriarty - Evens

Price v Davies - Davies
Russell v Anscome - Russell
Graham v North - North
Horne v Parkes - Evens (mainly because Parkes has been quiet this tournament
Grigg v Davies - Davies
Seymour V Adams - Evens (although Seymour's form hasn't been great
Kinghorn v Williams - Williams


So pretty much as we have all been saying - packs are fairly even with Wales just shading it, in the backs there is a huge difference in class.

Bit generous to Strauss, I'd say Moriarty is well ahead of him. Also Seymour is definitely well below Adams form at the moment. Otherwise fairly accurate. As I've said before Scotland perform best when they put in a team effort. They'd do well to learn from Wales successes.

Given the weather I can't see this being much more than a 5-7 point game but unless Scotland have really had a rocket put up them I can only see it being a Wales win.

Grigg has been a real start player for Glasgow but has shown defensive weakness at Champions Cup and Scotland level - he is a hell of an explosive carrier who flies into gaps so if the defence isn't aware he will cause you trouble.

RDW wrote:Grigg has been a real start player for Glasgow but has shown defensive weakness at Champions Cup and Scotland level - he is a hell of an explosive carrier who flies into gaps so if the defence isn't aware he will cause you trouble.

His scramble defence is excellent though. I think if we had Hogg at fullback I'd be less worried about it but we've got Blair who's been caught out a couple of times, for all his attacking brilliance.

Yeah it's a strange one - for such a small guy large parts of his defence are pretty good, however my comment was referring to his tendency to lose concentration and be caught in no-mans's land occasionally. I've seen it happen a few times for Glasgow and during the summer tour last year that led to tries.

NeilyBroon wrote:

RDW wrote:Well at the risk of kicking off WW3, here's my take on the head to heads:

Dell v Francis - Francis
McInally v Owens - Evens
Nel v Evans - Nel
Gilchrist v Beard- Gilchrist
Gray v AWJ - AWJ
Bradbury v Navidi - Evens
Ritchie v Tupiric - Tupiric (only just)
Strauss v Moriarty - Evens

Price v Davies - Davies
Russell v Anscome - Russell
Graham v North - North
Horne v Parkes - Evens (mainly because Parkes has been quiet this tournament
Grigg v Davies - Davies
Seymour V Adams - Evens (although Seymour's form hasn't been great
Kinghorn v Williams - Williams


So pretty much as we have all been saying - packs are fairly even with Wales just shading it, in the backs there is a huge difference in class.

Bit generous to Strauss, I'd say Moriarty is well ahead of him. Also Seymour is definitely well below Adams form at the moment. Otherwise fairly accurate. As I've said before Scotland perform best when they put in a team effort. They'd do well to learn from Wales successes.

Given the weather I can't see this being much more than a 5-7 point game but unless Scotland have really had a rocket put up them I can only see it being a Wales win.

I only really had issues with Adams v Seymour (as it stands).

I definitely see it being a close game, but I expect Scotland to play out of their skins. They normally put in at least one big home performance and I wouldn't say the Italy game was it and certainly the Ireland one wasn't. My prediction on the thread was a 2 point result for Wales, but that was to show how torn I am over who will win.

Hadleigh Parkes has been pretty poor by anyone’s standard, unless that standard is Peter Horne!

This game is designed for Gatlandball and for Parkes. Parkes will just truck it up the middle all day long and run into, and on numerous occasions, over Peter Horne.

Bradbury and Ritchie will need to be on form to be able to get out of the mud and ready to tackle Parkes so Horne doesn’t have to. Any quick ball for Wales to get the ball to the midfield before our forwards can slot into gaps will see many many (said in the style of Commandant Lessard) meters gained for Wales and many many heart stopping moments for Scotland fans