Scotland WC Chat

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FORWARDS (23)

John Barclay (Edinburgh) – 71 caps; Rugby World Cup 2007 and 2011
Simon Berghan (Edinburgh) – 19 caps
Jamie Bhatti (Glasgow Warriors) – 13 caps
Magnus Bradbury (Edinburgh) – 7 caps
Fraser Brown (Glasgow Warriors) – 42 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Allan Dell (Edinburgh) – 22 caps
Matt Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 3 caps
Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors) – 19 caps
Grant Gilchrist (Edinburgh) – 33 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons) – 2 caps
Jonny Gray (Glasgow Warriors) – 51 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Stuart McInally (Edinburgh) – 27 caps
Willem Nel (Edinburgh) – 29 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Gordon Reid (London Irish) – 34 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Jamie Ritchie (Edinburgh) – 10 caps
Sam Skinner (Exeter Chiefs) – 5 caps
Grant Stewart (Glasgow Warriors) – uncapped
Josh Strauss (Sale Sharks) – 22 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Blade Thomson (Scarlets) – uncapped
Ben Toolis (Edinburgh) – 18 caps
George Turner (Glasgow Warriors) – 5 caps
Hamish Watson (Edinburgh) – 25 caps
Ryan Wilson (Glasgow Warriors) – 43 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015

BACKS (19)

Darcy Graham (Edinburgh) – 4 caps
Nick Grigg (Glasgow Warriors) – 9 caps
Chris Harris (Newcastle Falcons) – 8 caps
Adam Hastings (Glasgow Warriors) – 11 caps
Stuart Hogg (Glasgow Warriors) – 67 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
George Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps
Pete Horne (Glasgow Warriors) – 41 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Rory Hutchinson (Northampton Saints) – uncapped
Huw Jones (Glasgow Warriors) – 21 caps
Sam Johnson (Glasgow Warriors) – 4 caps
Blair Kinghorn (Edinburgh) – 11 caps
Greig Laidlaw (Clermont Auvergne) – 71 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Sean Maitland (Saracens) – 40 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Byron McGuigan (Sale Sharks) – 8 caps
Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors) – 24 caps
Henry Pyrgos (Edinburgh) – 27 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Finn Russell (Racing 92) – 44 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Tommy Seymour (Glasgow Warriors) – 50 caps; Rugby World Cup 2015
Duncan Taylor (Saracens) – 21 caps



World Cup Warmups

France V Scotland
Scotland V France
Georgia V Scotland
Scotland V Georgia

World Cup Fixtures

Ireland v Scotland
International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
Sunday 22nd September 2019
Kick Off: 8:45am

Scotland v Samoa
Kobe Misaki Stadium, Kobe
Monday 30th September 2019
Kick Off: 11:15am

Scotland v Russia
Shizuoka Stadium Ecopa, Shizuoka
Wednesday 9th October 2019
Kick Off: 8:15am

Japan v Scotland
International Stadium Yokohama, Yokohama
Sunday 13th October 2019
Kick Off: 11:45am

I think the reality is that FR and Hastings will play every game. Its only a couple more games than the 6Ns and a couple of those against tier 2 opposition. Horne may play against Russia but even then they've beaten America recently (I think?) So even then I'd rather see Hastings up as first choice

The only game we have a short turnaround is Russia to Japan, so I think we need to go full metal jacket for all but the Russia game and pick our strongest team. We all know what happened last time against Samoa! There's a week and a half between Samoa and Russia so plenty time to recover.

The Russia game is going to be a real difficult one to manage - we'll be able to start our reserves in pretty much every starting position but it then comes down to who comes to bench. A problem exacerbated if we only have 2 looseheads for example. He'll also need to decide whether to start our second choice in some positions or go for 3rd choice (i.e. pick Brown to start at hooker and risk losing him for Japan, or Turner/Stewart)

I think Laidlaw will still start at the World Cup, we all thought that Hidalgo-Clyde was going to surge ahead of him before the last World Cup, Ali Price managed to prise the shirt off of him in 2017 before throwing it back to him (and throwing everything else to Wales) in the 2018 Six Nations openers. The other 9s have have opportunities, they have just utterly failed to take them. I think when it comes to the crunch in the World Cup he’ll get the nod again. Personally I’d chuck George Horne in and go for chaos max with Laidlaw benching if we need him to close out the game in the last 20 but I can’t see Townsend going down that route.

Price took the shirt of Laidlaw in the 6N (who did not play well) and had a great end of season run in with Glasgow - he is in pole position to start in the world cup IMO. I wouldn't write off Laidlaw yet, and all it takes is for Price to go back to his flakey form and he'll step right back in.

The difference with SHC was that he did it for Edinburgh but didn't get the chance with Scotland - he didn't play in the 6N and only got one world cup warm up where he was pretty average. He then held tackle bags for the next 4 months and lost all form!

Ideally Scotland should aim to win every pool match with every player in the 31 man squad getting a good chunk of game time under their belts. I'd far rather that than Scotland arriving at the QF's with say an injured player and their replacement moving into the match-day XXIII having only played 20 mins off the bench against Samoa for example.

Finn Russell played a lot of rugby for Racing and Scotland in the 6N and seemed to flourish with the extra load. I'd be very happy with Hastings and Russell covering 10 exclusively and only adding Laidlaw to the mix if either of them got injured.

At centre, I agree the Taylor, Johnson / Jones, Hutchinson combo looks best on paper for an attacking point of view. Hutchinson and Taylor both have to prove that is true in those warm up games. If either or both fail to impress I'd be happy to have Horne at 12 and one of Harris or Grigg as that extra cover.

I really think Steyn could be fantastic on the wing during the RWC if he is selected. He is similar to DVM at Edinburgh and I think at 13 though he sometimes lacks that awareness to get the quick pass or offload away. Really depends on how Toonie wants to shape the team I suppose, but Maitland, Taylor, Jones, Steyn, Hogg vs say, Kinghorn, Horne, Grigg, Seymour, Hogg is quite a difference in size and weight.

jimbopip wrote:Horne Is becoming Mr Marmite on these boards. It was very noticeable that the Glasgow attack improved markedly when he replaced Johnson in the Pro 14 Final. He constantly brought others into play and varied the point of attack while keeping up a very high tempo. He is almost the anti-Shug: he is very solid and reliable and consistent but possibly just falls short of being a top notch international player. Still, I'll be very surprised if the Tombola forgets him.

Can’t let this one go uncommented Jim, the reason why Horne is Mr Marmite is because he’s the exact opposite of solid, reliable or consistent in an international jersey. If he could reliably produce what we know he’s capable of week in week out for Scotland he wouldn’t have his doubters and he’d be a lot higher up the pecking order. The problem is he’ll have a very strong game against New Zealand one weekend then fall to bits against Uzbekistan the next! Particularly if he’s asked to fill in at 10. So let’s not make out like people are being blind to what he can do, when the important question is can we trust him to deliver week in week out in a tournament like the WC, and unfortunately for me the answer to that is no, and I’d be looking at the other options. Interesting to see how Toonie feels though!

bsando wrote:Ideally Scotland should aim to win every pool match with every player in the 31 man squad getting a good chunk of game time under their belts. I'd far rather that than Scotland arriving at the QF's with say an injured player and their replacement moving into the match-day XXIII having only played 20 mins off the bench against Samoa for example.

Finn Russell played a lot of rugby for Racing and Scotland in the 6N and seemed to flourish with the extra load. I'd be very happy with Hastings and Russell covering 10 exclusively and only adding Laidlaw to the mix if either of them got injured.

At centre, I agree the Taylor, Johnson / Jones, Hutchinson combo looks best on paper for an attacking point of view. Hutchinson and Taylor both have to prove that is true in those warm up games. If either or both fail to impress I'd be happy to have Horne at 12 and one of Harris or Grigg as that extra cover.

I really think Steyn could be fantastic on the wing during the RWC if he is selected. He is similar to DVM at Edinburgh and I think at 13 though he sometimes lacks that awareness to get the quick pass or offload away. Really depends on how Toonie wants to shape the team I suppose, but Maitland, Taylor, Jones, Steyn, Hogg vs say, Kinghorn, Horne, Grigg, Seymour, Hogg is quite a difference in size and weight.

A key consideration given once again in the 6N we were lacking in the physicality department. I know our game doesn't rely in being bigger than the opposition (as we're usually not) but there is a certainly physicality we require at this level, which we're not going to get with a Horne-Grigg midfield!

Toonie is going to need to manage the sqaud perfectly and this will be heavily impacted by injuries.

He needs to rest players but he also doesnt want to leave folk under-cooked.

The temptation would be to rotate the majority of the team for the "2nds" to play against Russia but then you run the risk of players not being up to speed again. Do you really want to rest Finn so he goes two weeks without a game between Samoa and Japan?

IMO the risk of playing players 5 days before the crucial Japan game far outweighs the risk of them being undercooked with 2 weeks off, especially with the pre-season games and 2 big games against Ireland and Samoa under their belts.

The Japan game won't be the most physical but will probably be at a frantic pace - we can't have players going into that with heavy legs.

RDW wrote:IMO the risk of playing players 5 days before the crucial Japan game far outweighs the risk of them being undercooked with 2 weeks off, especially with the pre-season games and 2 big games against Ireland and Samoa under their belts.

The Japan game won't be the most physical but will probably be at a frantic pace - we can't have players going into that with heavy legs.

The weather conditions will be very punishing as well and 5 days is a very short turnaround for a must win game. We really should be able to beat Russia comfortably with a good few of our starters either rested or on the bench.

I imagine having played Ireland and Samoa the two weeks off would be welcomed by all of the players. By Japan it'll probably be knockout rugby for us in effect. Having two weeks off to refresh and reflect will put us in a much better place. The idea of Finn Russell being undercooked can be mitigated by giving him 20 minutes off of the bench if need be. It's also worth pointing out that three of our five six nations games are usually played after a two week rest for most of our players.

Just a couple of points


firstly, while I agree that Haircut is a very talented 10 and, as Cowboy Dave says, may in time become a more effective stand off than Dancer we should not forget that he made a couple of rank bad decisions in the Pro14 final. His decision to show and go on the Leinster line when Smiling Sam was outside his defender cost us seven points. Those of you who watched the SquidgeRugby clip on Just How Good Are Scotland? Will have seen the Finnesque long floaty pass to DTH....which was the wrong pass at the wrong time and gave Leinster the throw in and a chance to clear their lines. Also, when Hoggy is charged down for their try: at the ruck Haircut is in no position to kick and is not calling for the ball. I think this makes it easier to target Hogg as the recipient and gamble on getting the chargedown. Certainly there didn't seem to be anyone blocking for Hogg which suggests an almighty breakdown in communication. In short; Haircut has lots of potential but is still in his infancy. Therefore we need a third choice 10. I'd take Furra over Frodo every day of the week and twice on Sundays.


Secondly, at times being a Scotland fan is a bit like being a Kremlinologist in the 1960's: scrutinising photos in the press and reading between the lines in every interview. So, SRU Facebook today punting win a trip to Japan had Batman, GG and Ritchie in it. Does this suggest they are likely to travel? Or that they had better enter the competition because it's the only way they'll get there? Also, Malcolm Bradbury said to the BBC,
"The whole season - guys like Jamie Ritchie, Sam Skinner, Matt Fagerson - all these guys have been quality.
"John Barclay has just come back from a big injury and he's been quality as well."
So has Skinner been training as a 6? If so that would suggest that he may well be the lock/6 that Toonie wants to take.

But, like the Vatican watchers ( no not the ones on Child Protection patrol) we'll just have to wait for the colour of the smoke.

So red smoke if Finn gets injured, black smoke if finn and hastings get injured, a flaming pyre if our injury count reaches 50% of what it was at the 6Ns

Due to our injury record in the 6Ns stopping us from getting the Grand Slam, with other teams now not considering us a threat, does this make us.......


...... Dark Horses?

Yes definitely. Scotland deserved to make the semis at the last RWC, anything can happen...

...but not at Ireland's expense.

Making the semis would signal the apocalypse considering we'll most likely be facing New Zealand, who we've never beaten or failing that, South Africa, who we seldom beat because they just bully us off the park every time.

What an achievement that would be though, i think there'd be a victory parade in Edinburgh as if we'd won the world cup if we beat NZ to make a second semi in our history.

Am i right in thinking we could see british and irish semi finals this year?

RDW wrote:Stab at a 31 man world cup squad:

Props - Dell, Reid, Nel, Berghan, Fagerson
Hooker - McInally, Brown, Turner
Lock - R Gray, J Gray, Gilchrist, Toolis, Skinner (back row cover too)
Back row - Barclay (C), Ritchie, Bradbury, Watson, Wilson

SH - Price, Laidlaw, Horne
FH - Russell, Hasting
C - Johnson, Jones, Scott, Benentt (big assumption on the last two though, and I can see him picking Horne)
Back 3 - Hogg, Maitland, Graham, Kinhgorn

Doing that made me realise how ridiculous it is to have 31 man squads - should at the very least be 32 to allow 6 props! If we wanted 6 props we'd probably have to lose a back rower with Skinner providing cover. Could do with another back 3 player too.

Unlike some teams we've got a mega short turnaround in the last two games, and given that the last game is Japan we're going to have to rest players against Russia.

Morning lads, I went back a few months to see where we started from on this thread.....and LO! Flounder made some sense.


Props- I think Bhatti instead of Shrek. Two reasons; I think the heat and humidity will be brutal on the older fatboys, and last night I dreamt Shrek was back in Glasgow colours at the start of the season.

Hooker- It should be those three.

Second row- Toonie blindsided us all with the "No thanks Ritchie. You're too tall and athletic and battle hardened after your time in La Belle France." I think JG, GG and Toolis with Principal Skinner and Blade Runner. The last two will give us the option to really beef up the back row IF we get to play the Boks. Also, they could do a good job against Russia.

Back Row- Hamish must go! Batman will go. If we go on end of season form then Barcs should miss out. I would take Bradbury, Fagerson and Ritchie. BUT...if the Old Dog has stepped up in the training camp then he goes at 6 instead of Ritchie.


SH- No changes.

Stand Off- Dancer, Haircut

Centres- How things have changed. I'm looking at the possibility of a Boks quarter final: Toonie may well emulate Geech when he was Lions' coach and played a hard tackling centre on the wing. So Taylor-Jones at 12-13 and Steyn-Seymour on the wings. So; Johnson-Jones-Taylor-Steyn as the centres.


Back Three- Hogg and Maitland pick themselves. Graham needs to go. So really the final choice is King Blairhorn ( who has to have shown that he can make the right decisions and PASS THE FECCIN BALL) or Furra Linee as back up 12/10. I think the Tombola will say Steyn as a winger backing up 13 and Furra Linee as a centre/10.


So, Shrek, Ritchie Gray, Barcs, Blairhorn all missing out? Strange days indeed.

jimbopip wrote:

RDW wrote:Stab at a 31 man world cup squad:

Props - Dell, Reid, Nel, Berghan, Fagerson  
Hooker - McInally, Brown, Turner
Lock - R Gray, J Gray, Gilchrist, Toolis, Skinner (back row cover too)
Back row - Barclay (C), Ritchie, Bradbury, Watson, Wilson

SH - Price, Laidlaw, Horne
FH - Russell, Hasting
C - Johnson, Jones, Scott, Benentt (big assumption on the last two though, and I can see him picking Horne)
Back 3 - Hogg, Maitland, Graham, Kinhgorn

Doing that made me realise how ridiculous it is to have 31 man squads - should at the very least be 32 to allow 6 props! If we wanted 6 props we'd probably have to lose a back rower with Skinner providing cover. Could do with another back 3 player too.

Unlike some teams we've got a mega short turnaround in the last two games, and given that the last game is Japan we're going to have to rest players against Russia.

Morning lads, I went back a few months to see where we started from on this thread.....and LO! Flounder made some sense.


Props- I think Bhatti instead of Shrek. Two reasons; I think the heat and humidity will be brutal on the older fatboys, and last night I dreamt Shrek was back in Glasgow colours at the start of the season.

Hooker- It should be those three.

Second row- Toonie blindsided us all with the "No thanks Ritchie. You're too tall and athletic and battle hardened after your time in La Belle France." I think JG, GG and Toolis with Principal Skinner and Blade Runner. The last two will give us the option to really beef up the back row IF we get to play the Boks. Also, they could do a good job against Russia.

Back Row- Hamish must go! Batman will go. If we go on end of season form then Barcs should miss out. I would take Bradbury, Fagerson and Ritchie. BUT...if the Old Dog has stepped up in the training camp then he goes at 6 instead of Ritchie.


SH- No changes.

Stand Off- Dancer, Haircut

Centres- How things have changed. I'm looking at the possibility of a Boks quarter final: Toonie may well emulate Geech when he was Lions' coach and played a hard tackling centre on the wing. So Taylor-Jones at 12-13 and Steyn-Seymour on the wings. So; Johnson-Jones-Taylor-Steyn as the centres.


Back Three- Hogg and Maitland pick themselves. Graham needs to go. So really the final choice is King Blairhorn ( who has to have shown that he can make the right decisions and PASS THE FECCIN BALL)  or Furra Linee as back up 12/10. I think the Tombola will say Steyn as a winger backing up 13 and Furra Linee as a centre/10.


So, Shrek, Ritchie Gray, Barcs, Blairhorn all missing out?     Strange days indeed.

GC, is it the names or the thought of them playing for Scotland?

I would have thought Seymour would have come back into reckoning for back 3 as his end of season form was pretty good.

EWT Spoons wrote:I would have thought Seymour would have come back into reckoning for back 3 as his end of season form was pretty good.

Aye that and his experience and quality under high ball will see him in the squad. He is under threat from Darcy Graham though, but imagine being able to call on him off the bench. In fact we could have a very very good bench against the big guns, which is vital and something we've not had the luxury of for the last 20 years.

NeilyBroon wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:I would have thought Seymour would have come back into reckoning for back 3 as his end of season form was pretty good.

Aye that and his experience and quality under high ball will see him in the squad. He is under threat from Darcy Graham though, but imagine being able to call on him off the bench. In fact we could have a very very good bench against the big guns, which is vital and something we've not had the luxury of for the last 20 years.

Aye agreed. I was more thinking that Seymour would go ahead of Kinghorn, or Graham would go ahead of kinghorn. Either way, can't see Seymour missing out, he was at risk for a while but stepped up again.

Kinghorn is a very good player, who would likely have gone had Graham not burst onto the scene, also the injury probably hasn't helped his chances.

NeilyBroon wrote:Making the semis would signal the apocalypse considering we'll most likely be facing New Zealand, who we've never beaten or failing that, South Africa, who we seldom beat because they just bully us off the park every time.

What an achievement that would be though, i think there'd be a victory parade in Edinburgh as if we'd won the world cup if we beat NZ to make a second semi in our history.

Am i right in thinking we could see british and irish semi finals this year?

I can see Scotland beating New Zealand. It was close the last time you faced eachother and Scotland have the fire power.

EWT Spoons wrote:

NeilyBroon wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:I would have thought Seymour would have come back into reckoning for back 3 as his end of season form was pretty good.

Aye that and his experience and quality under high ball will see him in the squad. He is under threat from Darcy Graham though, but imagine being able to call on him off the bench. In fact we could have a very very good bench against the big guns, which is vital and something we've not had the luxury of for the last 20 years.

Aye agreed.  I was more thinking that Seymour would go ahead of Kinghorn, or Graham would go ahead of kinghorn.  Either way, can't see Seymour missing out, he was at risk for a while but stepped up again.

Kinghorn is a very good player, who would likely have gone had Graham not burst onto the scene, also the injury probably hasn't helped his chances.

I like Kinghorn enough but he needs to work on his all-round game. I've said before on this forum he just doesn't pass enough and is a bit like Hogg when he first came on to the scene. I think it'll be next World Cup we'll see him in the squad, he may even be competing with Hogg for first choice FB by that point if Edinburgh have got around to letting their backline play more. To me Darcy is a much more complete player and is a finisher with excellent basic skills and strength, which obviously matter on the wing. Wing is also a position we have less specialists in so an extra would be good, and Graham is very much a winger who can play fullback, rather than a fullback who can play winger. Obviously he'd be third or fourth choice given than Hastings and Maitland and (potentially) Taylor can do a good job there and all have had experience at international level of the position.

Collapse2005 wrote:

NeilyBroon wrote:Making the semis would signal the apocalypse considering we'll most likely be facing New Zealand, who we've never beaten or failing that, South Africa, who we seldom beat because they just bully us off the park every time.

What an achievement that would be though, i think there'd be a victory parade in Edinburgh as if we'd won the world cup if we beat NZ to make a second semi in our history.

Am i right in thinking we could see british and irish semi finals this year?

I can see Scotland beating New Zealand. It was close the last time you faced eachother and Scotland have the fire power.

Oh I'm sure we could, it's just the psychology that the players need to work on.

This said, we need to get out of the pool first and that'll be hard enough with the hosts desperate to get through!

NeilyBroon wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:

NeilyBroon wrote:

EWT Spoons wrote:I would have thought Seymour would have come back into reckoning for back 3 as his end of season form was pretty good.

Aye that and his experience and quality under high ball will see him in the squad. He is under threat from Darcy Graham though, but imagine being able to call on him off the bench. In fact we could have a very very good bench against the big guns, which is vital and something we've not had the luxury of for the last 20 years.

Aye agreed.  I was more thinking that Seymour would go ahead of Kinghorn, or Graham would go ahead of kinghorn.  Either way, can't see Seymour missing out, he was at risk for a while but stepped up again.

Kinghorn is a very good player, who would likely have gone had Graham not burst onto the scene, also the injury probably hasn't helped his chances.

I like Kinghorn enough but he needs to work on his all-round game. I've said before on this forum he just doesn't pass enough and is a bit like Hogg when he first came on to the scene. I think it'll be next World Cup we'll see him in the squad, he may even be competing with Hogg for first choice FB by that point if Edinburgh have got around to letting their backline play more. To me Darcy is a much more complete player and is a finisher with excellent basic skills and strength, which obviously matter on the wing. Wing is also a position we have less specialists in so an extra would be good, and Graham is very much a winger who can play fullback, rather than a fullback who can play winger. Obviously he'd be third or fourth choice given than Hastings and Maitland and (potentially) Taylor can do a good job there and all have had experience at international level of the position.

I think Kinghorn's issue around passing is that he hasn't needed to. By that I mean when he broke onto the scene at Edinburgh, he used to glide through gaps and players, so there wasn't a need to pass as he was generally through on his own and obviously Edinburgh tactics come into play here too. However with Scotland he's moved slightly further forward on the wing, so there is less space and time for him to get up to speed and also the opposition are tougher. I fully expect him to work on his game and learn when to pass and when to run. However, at Int. level we are very reliant on individual skill and at Edinburgh he's never going to see the ball, so it'll be tough for him.

Seymour had a decent end of season run in, but I just can't forget how bad he was in the 6N. I'm sure Townsend hasn't either - he's going to have to earn his place like everyone else!

Tommy S will surely go baring injury, he has to much experience and has prove himself time and time again. He and Maitland are nailed on as our wingers if they both stay fit, as certain a first choice pick as anyone on the team.

Could easily be their swansongs as international players though, you could see both of them retiring as internationals after the WC. Not really that much left to prove and some good young guns coming through to take their places.

I think if we were discussing other players who hit form at the end of season (say if Shug did, though sadly he hasn't even had appearances let alone form) or someone else who have built a reputation for themselves on past appearances for Scotland we'd be saying without a doubt they are in the 31. Seymour is a proven international, who like any player has had patches of poor form but we'd be stupid not to take him if he's on an upward curve. Yes he has to earn his place but I think he could have a decent game, nothing spectacular, in the summer and most of us would still want him on the plane. 50 caps and 19 tries is a pretty good strike rate.

I mean we all think it's a daft move to not include Gray even in the wider squad and he's only just got back to playing and has only shown form off the bench! A lot of us have been talking about having Taylor straight in and he's basically not played any rugby for the best part of 2 years!

I would say out of the outside backs, Seymour's case for inclusion is probably equal to Maitland's. Both have been key parts of the improvements in Scottish rugby and also give us a back three that know each other very well, where young bolters like Darcy or Hastings can slot in without disrupting defensive balance too much (not that we have much defence right now).

I certainly see Maitland as a guaranteed pick given he's one of the few in the squad who has won anything recently and plays at the highest level with Sarries. He's also has proven himself at 15 for Scotland - Seymour has pretty much exclusively been on the wing.

I think if Seymour has an average summer he could find himself losing his place if the young tyros stand out more.

The issue I have is who would go in his place? Steyn? Kinghorn?

I think the most likely combo we'll see is Maitland, Graham and Seymour as wingers in the squad. If Gregor opts for another wing then imo it'll be between Steyn and Kinghorn as utility backs. Given our injury record at centre this may lead to Kinghorn missing out sadly, and much as he is an exciting player he just doesn't have the all-round game of Seymour on song and has a lot of defensive frailties that the older players have ironed out of their game.

Graham I think has pencilled his place in the squad, provided he has good games this summer I can't see him not going. He'll basically be the Mark Bennett of this world cup, our outstanding young player.

Don't get me wrong I'm all for young talent coming in, especially in 6Ns time when there's no squad restrictions but given we have limitations on numbers, leaving behind one of our solid choice backs who is capable of class and is in form right now (hoping I don't get proven wrong this summer or I'll look like an utter twonk) would just be bonkers.

I think that is probably about right, Blairhorn has the most to do and prove, partly because he has not played for a while.

Still, there may still be an injury jn there somewhere, nothing is certain yet.

Incredibly cheesy video launching the new kit

https://twitter.com/Scotlandteam/status/1152141026284507137?s=19

They had to release it as an advert was put in the papers yesterday prematurely showing the kits!

Bit of a blunder but have to say the kit is on point once again. Still prefer the 2015 kit but this one looks good!

Kit looks great! So glad there is a collar again like 2015.

Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between the Authentic kit (£99.99) and replica kit (£72.99)?

bsando wrote:Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between the Authentic kit (£99.99) and replica kit (£72.99)?

One is the 'test' jersey - slightly fancier embroidery basically.

The NZ test one is £110!

RDW wrote:

bsando wrote:Forgive my ignorance, but what is the difference between the Authentic kit (£99.99) and replica kit (£72.99)?

One is the 'test' jersey - slightly fancier embroidery basically.

The NZ test one is £110!

Jesus! Sure they'll sell though. Okay cheers for the explanation

£110

When I was third team captain we could buy a full set of jerseys for that.

jimbopip wrote:£110

When I was third team captain we could buy a full set of jerseys for that.

when you were third team captain you could buy a house for less than the price of a car these days, no one had a mobile phone, an apple was only a tasty fruit, Tommy Cooper was still on Sat night tele and 3/4s of the population werent constantly moaning about how stressed they are that avocado on toast is that pricey that they can't afford a delux latte from starbucks.

True tiger, you forgot to mention how worried we were about the effect decimalisation might have on the pound in your pocket.

Officials Up

Scotland vs Ireland: Wayne Barnes assisted by Gauzere and Ruiz (both French), Graham Hughes (English TMO)

Scotland vs Samoa: Gauzere assisted by Owens (Welsh) and Anselmi (Argentinian), Graham Hughes

Scotland vs Russia: Raynal assisted by Barnes and Anselmi, Marius Jonker (SA TMO)

Scotland vs Japan: O'Keeffe (NZ) assisted by Raynal and Carley (English), Ben Skeen (NZ TMO)

Oh great

Bonus to have Barnes for the first game (never thought I'd say that) - the Irish certainly don't like him!

O'Keefe is a worry - has he not overseen some dodgy decisions against us?

https://twitter.com/Scotlandteam/status/1152228527598657538?s=09

Oh jeez it looks like two Princes Street tat shops have got together and given birth to a rugby top.

Fighting talk from Frodo https://scrummagazine.com/laidlaw-ill-fight-tooth-and-nail-if-i-have-to/

I wonder if having the extra competition has actually been good for his game or if it makes him try too hard during the match? He always seems to step up if no-one else can but showed this 6 Nations how woefully bad he can be too, trying to be belligerent with no real cause. Was he trying to show he could question the ref so should be captain?

Of course he's facing a double threat if Barclay plays well. Chances are if JB is picked then he'll be captain, null and voiding Laidlaw's main raison d'etre in the starting XV. I would argue that Barclay can lead strategically just as well in the last quarter, the young players seem to listen to him and he can talk to the ref without shouting and waving his hands about indignantly.

I would welcome Laidlaw's 2015 form. Hopefully he's had some good thinking time since the 6Ns, as he won't be near the 23, let alone the 15 if he leads that poorly again.

I would rather have Frodo as our first line kicker rather than Dancer. In the T14 final Clermont were out muscled by Toulouse up front and couldn't get their running game going with excellent rush defence in the midfield from their opponents. However Frodo kept them Les Juanards in the game with his goal kicking.
In tight games being able to keep the scoreboard ticking could he crucial.
It is great to have 9s with different strengths to keep the opposition on their toes.

Is Frodo a much better kicker than Dancer these days? I'd say they're pretty close. I'd argue that goal kicking means bugger all if we can't get on the score board in the first place!

I'm 100% confident frodo will be in the final squad if fit
I'm 99% confident he'll be in the 23 for the big matches, most likely on the bench unless Price becomes flakey again.

Horne may find gametime limited like SHC last time, although I'd have him on the bench against Russia and maybe Samoa as an attacking threat if we're needing to find late scores to kill them off.

I'm not saying he's not gonna make the squad, I'm just saying he's got it all to prove and that his advantages as a player have eroded away somewhat since the last wc