Scotland 2022 summer tour

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Scotland 2022 Six Nations Lookahead

A place to discuss the rollercoaster of dark horse conversation and sheer despair. Somewhere in-between, someone will go off on a mild tangent.

Schedule
5th Feb - England (H)
12th Feb - Wales (A)
26th Feb - France (H)
12th March - Italy (A)
19th March - Ireland (A)

Scotland's recent performances
2021: 4th (3 wins, same as 2nd)
2020: 4th (3 wins, same points as 3rd)
2019: 5th (1 win, 1 draw)
2018: 3rd (3 wins, same as 2nd)
2017: 4th (3 wins, same points as 2nd)

BigGee wrote:It's all a big jigsaw puzzle international coaching jobs. Various other bits have to be in place first before you get your bits in place.

Scott Robertson is possibly the king piece in the puzzle, but he really wants the NZ job, that he will only get if they don't win the WC.

England have now said the only want an English coach next time, which will the the job they would all prefer.

Ireland look settled, but could easily fold if they go out at group stages agsin!

Wales are in a similar position to Scotland but the politics of Welsh rugby are such that many good candidates are scared off. It would take an exception ciach, the calibre of Gatland to pull it off for them.

We may be better looking for an up and coming man like MacFarland. I imagine he might not feel he is done with Ulster yet though and may prefer the clean slate of a post WC cup period, when senior players will walk away and give the chance to mould his iwn team!

I highly doubt Robertson will want the Scotland job, I think there's too much interest closer to home and expect he will become NZ coach sooner rather than later.

McFarland is a good shout but I expect he will want to win silverware with Ulster. I'm not sure having a clean slate will matter provided the SRU don't set stupid targets. These are professionals and the coach role is a job.

I've floated it before but I don't think Boyd from Northampton would be a bad shout and he's out of contract this year.

NeilyBroon wrote:

BigGee wrote:It's all a big jigsaw puzzle international coaching jobs. Various other bits have to be in place first before you get your bits in place.

Scott Robertson is possibly the king piece in the puzzle, but he really wants the NZ job, that he will only get if they don't win the WC.

England have now said the only want an English coach next time, which will the the job they would all prefer.

Ireland look settled, but could easily fold if they go out at group stages agsin!

Wales are in a similar position to Scotland but the politics of Welsh rugby are such that many good candidates are scared off. It would take an exception ciach, the calibre of Gatland to pull it off for them.

We may be better looking for an up and coming man like MacFarland. I imagine he might not feel he is done with Ulster yet though and may prefer the clean slate of a post WC cup period, when senior players will walk away and give the chance to mould his iwn team!

I highly doubt Robertson will want the Scotland job, I think there's too much interest closer to home and expect he will become NZ coach sooner rather than later.

McFarland is a good shout but I expect he will want to win silverware with Ulster. I'm not sure having a clean slate will matter provided the SRU don't set stupid targets. These are professionals and the coach role is a job.

I've floated it before but I don't think Boyd from Northampton would be a bad shout and he's out of contract this year.

I thought he was actually leaving early and heading back home for familly reasons.

I think his time may have passed and not sure he has the desire for it now.

BigGee wrote:

NeilyBroon wrote:

BigGee wrote:It's all a big jigsaw puzzle international coaching jobs. Various other bits have to be in place first before you get your bits in place.

Scott Robertson is possibly the king piece in the puzzle, but he really wants the NZ job, that he will only get if they don't win the WC.

England have now said the only want an English coach next time, which will the the job they would all prefer.

Ireland look settled, but could easily fold if they go out at group stages agsin!

Wales are in a similar position to Scotland but the politics of Welsh rugby are such that many good candidates are scared off. It would take an exception ciach, the calibre of Gatland to pull it off for them.

We may be better looking for an up and coming man like MacFarland. I imagine he might not feel he is done with Ulster yet though and may prefer the clean slate of a post WC cup period, when senior players will walk away and give the chance to mould his iwn team!

I highly doubt Robertson will want the Scotland job, I think there's too much interest closer to home and expect he will become NZ coach sooner rather than later.

McFarland is a good shout but I expect he will want to win silverware with Ulster. I'm not sure having a clean slate will matter provided the SRU don't set stupid targets. These are professionals and the coach role is a job.

I've floated it before but I don't think Boyd from Northampton would be a bad shout and he's out of contract this year.

I thought he was actually leaving early and heading back home for familly reasons.

I think his time may have passed and not sure he has the desire for it now.

My bad.

There are still plenty of good coaches who would like the opportunity to get international experience. My worry is they'll promote Blair next year rather than let him get more exposure to other set ups. You'd hope they won't make the same mistake twice but this is the SRU.

Blair will probably be Scotland coach at some point but he's very much Townsend 2.0 right now. He's probably next in line after the next coach, so after 2027 world cup.

Is it only me or is anyone else getting increasingly worried that the SRU still haven't backed Gregor yet, a week after the 6Ns.

England have backed Eddie and tbh Wales won't be backing Pivac hence why they haven't backed him yet.

Something tells me the clowns at the SRU are going to do a review of the 6Ns and say it wasn't good enough (which is fair tbh) and sack Gregor (which will please certain fans and a certain Rob Robertson) then appoint a new coach with over a year to build ahead of the world cup, so basically, the same situation as we had with Vern getting sacked for Gregor.

I really want Dan McFarland as our coach at some point .

Highland Shaun wrote:Is it only me or is anyone else getting increasingly worried that the SRU still haven't backed Gregor yet, a week after the 6Ns.

England have backed Eddie and tbh Wales won't be backing Pivac hence why they haven't backed him yet.

Something tells me the clowns at the SRU are going to do a review of the 6Ns and say it wasn't good enough (which is fair tbh) and sack Gregor (which will please certain fans and a certain Rob Robertson) then appoint a new coach with over a year to build ahead of the world cup, so basically, the same situation as we had with Vern getting sacked for Gregor.

I really want Dan McFarland as our coach at some point .

Nah Vern was actually doing well when he was sacked.

I think this is a more typical, whistle and look innocent, situation where the SRU are hoping the 6 nations will go unnoticed now that the media has died down.

NeilyBroon wrote:

Highland Shaun wrote:Is it only me or is anyone else getting increasingly worried that the SRU still haven't backed Gregor yet, a week after the 6Ns.

England have backed Eddie and tbh Wales won't be backing Pivac hence why they haven't backed him yet.

Something tells me the clowns at the SRU are going to do a review of the 6Ns and say it wasn't good enough (which is fair tbh) and sack Gregor (which will please certain fans and a certain Rob Robertson) then appoint a new coach with over a year to build ahead of the world cup, so basically, the same situation as we had with Vern getting sacked for Gregor.

I really want Dan McFarland as our coach at some point .

Nah Vern was actually doing well when he was sacked.

I think this is a more typical, whistle and look innocent, situation where the SRU are hoping the 6 nations will go unnoticed now that the media has died down.

If you saw Rob Robertsons (yes him, one of the Townsend out brigade) column in yesterday's Daily Mail then you'll see that the media certainly haven't "died down".

Highland Shaun wrote:

NeilyBroon wrote:

Highland Shaun wrote:Is it only me or is anyone else getting increasingly worried that the SRU still haven't backed Gregor yet, a week after the 6Ns.

England have backed Eddie and tbh Wales won't be backing Pivac hence why they haven't backed him yet.

Something tells me the clowns at the SRU are going to do a review of the 6Ns and say it wasn't good enough (which is fair tbh) and sack Gregor (which will please certain fans and a certain Rob Robertson) then appoint a new coach with over a year to build ahead of the world cup, so basically, the same situation as we had with Vern getting sacked for Gregor.

I really want Dan McFarland as our coach at some point .

Nah Vern was actually doing well when he was sacked.

I think this is a more typical, whistle and look innocent, situation where the SRU are hoping the 6 nations will go unnoticed now that the media has died down.

If you saw Rob  Robertsons (yes him, one of the Townsend out brigade) column in yesterday's Daily Mail then you'll see that the media certainly haven't "died down".

Can't say I have seen it. Needless to say I don't think you need to worry about toonie getting the boot, it will be post 2023 when we've been knocked out in the group stages again!

Also, bit of context - the daily fail is an outrage generator rag and, bit of accurate snobbery here, i dinni think many rugby fans read the fail.

The SRU will go quiet now, they wont get rid of toonie and the media will get bored and move on until the summer tour

Pat Lam please

Also we won’t get Scott Robertson.

Also Hutchinson was immense again for Northampton. Imagine him at centre for Scotland instead of sleepy SJ or no hands Harris.

Matt Fagerson has broken his arm again.

tigertattie wrote:Pat Lam please

Also we won’t get Scott Robertson.

Also Hutchinson was immense again for Northampton. Imagine him at centre for Scotland instead of sleepy SJ or no hands Harris.

He was superb - 2 assists (one Finn-esque) and a try. He's a kicking option too. I'm all over the Hutchinson hype train and want to see him get at least 2 starts in the summer!

https://twitter.com/premrugby/status/1508461340658212866?t=ayyD5-Uh4SE3I_TQ-xAUGw&s=19

It doesn't fit in with our current model of ignore form players until their purple streak has passed so we can put them straight on the scrap heap after one international appearance!

At least he is in the Scotland camps unlike some of the other options for Scotland. Selecting correctly from the improved depth was certainly one of the big mess ups the coaches made this 6N. If he keeps this form up I'm sure he'll be in a Scotland shirt again soon.

https://www.theoffsideline.com/treatment-of-stuart-hogg-and-the-edinburgh-six-is-shameful/

A measured view on the Hogg bashing

What are we thinking lol

0 chance or a chance of a few out of the ones mentioned.

https://twitter.com/thistlerugbypod/status/1509277601373868033?t=7I4zEbJYGd1tpIzdlRq3Qw&s=19

https://twitter.com/Hoagsh12/status/1509626632935514119?t=FAPz79HYC6Uem2yfnaNVjw&s=19

Hogg 's brother has been pretty vocal on social media recently.

A big part of the problem here has been how vague the Scottish rugby response has been, leaving more questions than answers.

They really do need to have specialist scrum refs.

Welsh loosehead stepped out, came up, drove at 45 degrees and Scotland get penalised

Wow. That was a honking decision by the ref. Didn’t even want to give the penalty the. The TMO then steps in and she won’t give a yellow for the deliberate knock on.

And the commentary was even more biased than jiffy and guscott combined.

Scotland was really unlucky today.

I would of thought the Scotland penalty at the scrum should of been a wales sending off in my opinion..

But what a cracking game it was.

I found the ref punching the air when Scotland knocked on at the death particularly distasteful

Another standout game from Hutchinson with another try and assist.

They use him as point man off first phase - he takes the ball to the line and either pops a player inton a gap, passes behind or goes himself. All options have been going very well for him.


#choochoo

RDW wrote:Another standout game from Hutchinson with another try and assist.

They use him as point man off first phase - he takes the ball to the line and either pops a player inton a gap, passes behind or goes himself. All options have been going very well for him.


#choochoo

I think there's a lot to be said for getting dingwall in too, he's not tied to England currently and is a known quantity to Hutchinson. He's not small either so has the clout that would be a perfect foil to Hutchinson's relative slightness. Also having a club centre partnership that's already established is hugely beneficial. Like the golden days of Dunbar and Bennett.

Definitely on the hype train but I don't think Toonie will give it a chance, at least not beyond this summer. Hutch has been tragically under utilised so far for inferior options or because of the immovable Harris. We can live in hope though!

Also Johnny Matthews must be pushing for 2nd choice hooker! On a great run of form at the moment. Given Ashman's injuries this season I'd say he's definitely worth bringing this summer with an eye on 2023.

I thought Hutchinson was a relatively big lad - tall and rangy - but his official stats say he's only 5ft 11! Hopefully that's not why he's been left out - I've never noticed any real obvious failings when he's played for Northampton.

NeilyBroon wrote:Also Johnny Matthews must be pushing for 2nd choice hooker! On a great run of form at the moment. Given Ashman's injuries this season I'd say he's definitely worth bringing this summer with an eye on 2023.

Fraser Brown is beginning to look past it at this level too - granted he wasn't fully match fit but I thought he looked pretty lost when he came on against Ireland.

RDW wrote:I thought Hutchinson was a relatively big lad - tall and rangy - but his official stats say he's only 5ft 11! Hopefully that's not why he's been left out - I've never noticed any real obvious failings when he's played for Northampton.

Dingwall is a hard running not so flashy player like Harris so that combo could work too.

RDW wrote:

NeilyBroon wrote:Also Johnny Matthews must be pushing for 2nd choice hooker! On a great run of form at the moment. Given Ashman's injuries this season I'd say he's definitely worth bringing this summer with an eye on 2023.

Fraser Brown is beginning to look past it at this level too - granted he wasn't fully match fit but I thought he looked pretty lost when he came on against Ireland.

Yeah and McInally hasn't really been setting the heather alight, I'd say he's behind cherry on form at Edinburgh at the moment. Still a good experienced option though.

I think brown is done with international rugby. He may have a late renaissance but definitely seems to be out of sorts which is a shame. Fortunately for Scotland we have a lot of options now. Can't be easy with Turner and now Matthews tearing it up for Glasgow each week though.

NeilyBroon wrote:

RDW wrote:Another standout game from Hutchinson with another try and assist.

They use him as point man off first phase - he takes the ball to the line and either pops a player inton a gap, passes behind or goes himself. All options have been going very well for him.


#choochoo

I think there's a lot to be said for getting dingwall in too, he's not tied to England currently and is a known quantity to Hutchinson. He's not small either so has the clout that would be a perfect foil to Hutchinson's relative slightness. Also having a club centre partnership that's already established is hugely beneficial. Like the golden days of Dunbar and Bennett.

Definitely on the hype train but I don't think Toonie will give it a chance, at least not beyond this summer. Hutch has been tragically under utilised so far for inferior options or because of the immovable Harris. We can live in hope though!

I think I saw on Twitter that Chile is on June 25 and will be a Scotland A team so that means some unlikely players like Fraser Dingwall, Charlie Chapman etc may get named in the squad so they get officially "captured" by us ahead of England who I'm certain won't have an A side this summer.

Let's hope Covid doesn't squander that match though.

If it's end of June it'll be outside the international window so we can only pick Edinburgh or Glasgow players.

Zach mercer wouldn't be eligible to switch to us would he? He's not got Scottish relatives as far as I'm aware?

Good evening. Can anyone explain for me please, why we (and I might justbe paranoid on this) always seem to play in a white kit, when we play against teams in blue or black?
It always seems to be us that plays in the change strip, home or away.
Surely we should insist on wearing our blue kit when we are at home.
Puzzled.

Rugby traditions are that it is the home side that change colours when there is a potentisl clash.

We therefore change to our reserve strip when we play France, Italy and NZ at home. There are likely others as well, but they are the most obvious.

The same does not apply at club level, when it is generally the away team that changes. Sometimes it is not clear though, a few years ago Glasgow played Cardiff in almost identical strips, which European Rugby had been unable to differentiate.

Cheers BigGee, my paranoia is getting the better of me obviously.  I think the club routine has got mixed in with the international protocol, and my brain has struggled with it. Thanks for clarifying.

Another good article from SRB, albeit a bit late to the party
https://www.scottishrugbyblog.co.uk/2022/04/culture-shock/

Will be interesting to see if inevitable changes to the playing group will be kept following the summer tour. Ball is back in Toonies court.

Good article that.

I hope we do have a completely different 'leadership team' this summer, that can make their mark on the team and might address some of the imbalances of power that seem to be going on.

I would like to get away from the idea of 'generational players' as well. They may be better than some of the players that came beforte them in the professional era, but the still have not won anything and maybe worse than some of the previous lot, who lets face it, where just not very good, have underachieved!

That's a great point Gee - I have also consciously stopped commenting on whether this is the best generation of Scotland players in 'x' years. They have won essentially hee-haw of note so it's a strange thing to boast about. 

It's a bit like claiming to be the best spearmaker in Luxemburg or something. Sure, it's technically an achievement - but should one really be bumming one's chuff about it?

Forgot to reply to this at the time.

Regardless of whether you think it was ok for them to go for a drink or not, the underlying issue was that it obviously wasn't clear within the squad whether they were ok to do so. That's not a high functioning team environment and culture.

If reports were to be believed, one of the S&C coaches said to a larger group that he didn't think it was a good idea and half of them stayed at the hotel, and the other half decided to go out anyway.

So differences of opinion even within the player group!

This story hasn't gone away like the SRU will have hoped, but I suspect there's still going to be more to come yet. The SRU are lucky that they can justifiably 'rest' some of the senior players foe the summer tour and appoint a new captain. That then also opens the door for a permanent change come November.

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/finn-russell-has-broken-his-silence-about-difficult-six-nations-scotland/


Well this is clearly not the whole interview and has highlighted some selected tit bits but this just sound plain moronic from Russell, assuming what he says here to a French media outlet has not been somehow lost in translation.

He is meant to be a professional athlete for goodness sake!

Does he care at all about playing for Scotland?

A slight change of topic. Just read the Itali have awarded 25 partime contracts. to the Italian players.

When will Scotland do the same for the Scotish wome?

Finn Russell is the Dane Reynolds of rugby. Which will probably only make sense to those who like surfing or follow surf culture. Reynolds is a highly talented surfer who ditched the world tour to become a free surfer (someone who gets paid by their sponsors to be filmed while surfing around the globe, but does not compete professionally). Fans love him because he is relatable. He drinks beers and eats burgers and his training is just more surfing, which he does a lot of. He's an incredible surfer, just as Russell is an incredible rugby player with a very similar attitude to his rugby.

I think that is probably beginning to irritate Townsend. Toonie wants a dependable fly half who can implement his meticulous strategy. I would argue that Toonie is a bit of a control freak going by the many interviews from players who have played under him and his interviews. Russell may be nearing the end of his Scotland days and to be honest, I think he would take that in his stride.

He definitely doesn't appear to think there's any issues!

BigGee wrote:https://www.rugbypass.com/news/finn-russell-has-broken-his-silence-about-difficult-six-nations-scotland/


Well this is clearly not the whole interview and has highlighted some selected tit bits but this just sound plain moronic from Russell, assuming what he says here to a French media outlet has not been somehow lost in translation.

He is meant to be a professional athlete for goodness sake!

Does he care at all about playing for Scotland?

Er, I think someone's auto-translated English to French and then back to English for the purposes of this interview. 

I understand that Finn speaks fluent Bridge of Allen Bam but there's no way that's actually what he said being interviewed? 

Run a YouTube search about Jim Hamilton interviewing Finn in Paris. That's a bit more like it.

Russell had a sublime game against Stade Français today. The mystery continues

He was at fault for Stades first try though.

https://twitter.com/Scotlandteam/status/1516713608507445249?t=VMxOP4sbLwgVqB9jTfc0BA&s=19

Familiar look to these!

Always good to get England first up. They won't fancy losing to us at home twice though!

Similar schedule except we swap Ireland and Italy around. At least we should finish on somewhat of a high.

We have a shot to win it if we beat England and have Wales and Ireland at home (whilst France could lose to Ireland and England away)...how long until I am allowed to say we are dark horses?

There's surely no way in hell we'll beat England again! Surely...