Edinburgh vs Scarlets Pro14 26/10

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Edinburgh vs Scarlets
Location - BT Murrayfield
Date - Saturday 26th Oct
KO - 19.35

Scarlets really have been awful!

oh dear, it is not really Scarlets night. They won't want to remember that one!

Hatrick for VDM

This is getting messy for Scarlets

41-7 Edinburgh

Lazy MOTM call!

Been impressed with Sau - big hits in defence and nicely taken try.

Bennett looking good too!

The Sledgehammer runs one in, he certainly looks like he has a turn of pace.

Bennett saw and used the space really well, he is going to be back in the Scotland set up sooner rather than later if he keeps playing like this

Millar or Bennett MoM for me, but hard to argue with a hattrick even if they were all walk ins!

Nice position for Cockers to be in trying to decide whether to bring McInally, Nel, Gilchrist, Toolis, Mata, Ritchie and Graham back in!

In the last few weeks a lot of people have been saying that Cockers isn’t the answer for Scotland. I just wonder if some people might be rethinking that view come the end of the 6 nations. Early days yet but we’ve certainly addressed one of the major failings from last year and are playing much more ambitious rugby. If Cockers manages to avoid falling back into flogging the same 15 players week in week out then I reckon heads may start to turn

I was pleased to see him using his bench a bit better today and getting players off once the game was in the bag. He has got a much better squad this year and will need to keep them all involved and hungry but has not so much reason not to this year. Not being in the main Euro draw will help that this year, as he will not need to put out full strength teams in the first few rounds of that competition. If they are doing well in it, then he can bring in the front liners later on.

You could make a pretty impressive team mainly of players not involved tonight

Sutherland
McInally
Nel
Gilchrist
Toolis
Barclay
Ritchie
Mata

Groom
Baggot
Fife
Taylor
JJ
Graham
Hoyland

Marfo, Fenton, Berghan, Charmichael, Steemkamp, Shiel, VDW, Blaine

It looks like he is doing rotation this year which is good as he has to!

I think cockers will see this season as an audition for the role. It's clear that Scotland have been playing worse than the sum of their parts for a good while now and that unless something dramatically changes toonie will be dropped. Cockers will know this and has said in the past he may be interested in an international role at some point.

I'm just happy to see bennett recovering so well. Him and Hutch next 6Ns for me with Harris a utility option. Scott could force his way in at 12 if Johnson continues to suffer second season syndrome.

I just don't see Cockers as an international coach - he's all about day to day contact and slowly building deep rooted culture and improvement.

Let's see how he gets on this season - we've got off to a great start and a real chance of gaining momentum in the season and aiming for a playoff spot and taking things from there.

RDW wrote:I just don't see Cockers as an international coach - he's all about day to day contact and slowly building deep rooted culture and improvement.

Let's see how he gets on this season - we've got off to a great start and a real chance of gaining momentum in the season and aiming for a playoff spot and taking things from there.

I would have said that to, but he may yet surprise us. If he can learn to trust his other coaches and take a little bit more of a step back and concentrate on picking the best players and working on their mindset, then who knows.

He certainly has that edge to him, that the best international coaches all seem to have and perhaps Toonie dose not, or at least does not have yet, he does not give you the feeling that he would dodge a hard call. Maybe Toonie will reflect on some of his picks and selections this time around and learn from his mistakes, he likely needs to as he won't get to many more chances.

I'm not advocating cockers, but I'd imagine it's on his and the SRUs radar. Agree with biggee that he has the edge required but then so did andy robinson to an extent so can understand the concern too.

For lack of other options, he may be our best shot should we be coachless come march.

Was watching the Kings vs Scarlets.

Can’t say all my focus was on the game, but hell the Kings couldn’t buy a break from the referee.

Would love to know the penalty count in that second half.

You mean Ospreys vs Kings? The ref was incredibly poor for that one. I don’t think he was one sided. The kings had hands all over the the ball when a ruck has been formed, and weren’t really releasing the tackled players. They also avoided yellow cards despite multiple infringements in their 22. Kings are a pretty poor team though, just goes to show how bad the Ospreys are.