Scotland 6N lookahead

First topic message reminder :

Results in aggregate this year for the national team were:

5 February 2022 - Scotland 20–17 England
12 February 2022 - Wales 20–17 Scotland
26 February 2022 - Scotland 17–36 France
12 March 2022 - Italy 22–33 Scotland
19 March 2022 - Ireland 26–5 Scotland
2 July 2022 - Argentina 26–18 Scotland
9 July 2022 - Argentina 6–29 Scotland
16 July 2022 - Argentina 34–31 Scotland
29 October 2022 - Scotland 15–16 Australia
5 November 2022 - Scotland 28–12 Fiji
13 November 2022 - Scotland 23–31 New Zealand
19 November 2022 - Scotland 52–29 Argentina

P 12 W 5 L 7

Essentially playing to our strengths, which we don't seem to be sure of atm!

jimbopip wrote:Here's another John Wooden quote hich may give us some insight into Toonie's thinking.

A player who makes a team great is better than a great player.

Nice quote, but you can only take that so far. That's basically what Chris Harris is for. Stick McDowall next to him and Ross Thompson at 10 and you simply have a poor side. It really is a challenging argument to suggest that Russell/Hutchinson at 10/12 isn't simply better by every measure.

We just need to be picking our best players. We are nowhere near good enough to be leaving out the talent that Toonie is discarding.

In modern times, the two players that probably come closest to our situation with FR are two other talented and maverick FHs, Danny Cipriani and Carlos Spencer. Both of them, despite their glaring talents, underachieved internationally.

Both played under several different coaches and none of them could really mould them into an international team.

There was always a clamour for them to be included by the fans and spectators, but the coaches and in some cases other team mates were a lot more reticent.

Is being our best player compatible with being a maverick? One player does not make a team.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

jimbopip wrote:Here's another John Wooden quote hich may give us some insight into Toonie's thinking.

A player who makes a team great is better than a great player.

Nice quote, but you can only take that so far. That's basically what Chris Harris is for. Stick McDowall next to him and Ross Thompson at 10 and you simply have a poor side. It really is a challenging argument to suggest that Russell/Hutchinson at 10/12 isn't simply better by every measure.

We just need to be picking our best players. We are nowhere near good enough to be leaving out the talent that Toonie is discarding.

I am not sure that Toonie has any intention of playing Thompson -McDowell-Harris as his midfield.


McDowell may struggle to get any game time as it is his first real inclusion in the squad

Thompson may bench in the first game when Hastings is not available and not necessarily after that.

Harris will do what he does well and will play to the gameplan. It is not just Toonie that thinks him a good player, Gatland seemed happy with his contribution on the Lions tour as well and he plays well week in week our for Gloucester. Bennett will get his chance as well though, likely to be up first against Oz, particularly if Tuipolotu is still down in SA this weekend.

Spoons sorry that wasn’t what I was trying to say. I and pretty much everyone in Scotland couldn’t care less what is wrong between Russell and Townsend. It’s a mega borefest. But Townsend gave a lame excuse for excluding Russell. He looked like he didn’t even want to talk about it and was hoping no one would ask. That’s what I think other coaches would handle a lot better.

bsando wrote:Spoons sorry that wasn’t what I was trying to say. I and pretty much everyone in Scotland couldn’t care less what is wrong between Russell and Townsend. It’s a mega borefest. But Townsend gave a lame excuse for excluding Russell. He looked like he didn’t even want to talk about it and was hoping no one would ask. That’s what I think other coaches would handle a lot better.

Come on, there is no way he did not know that this was going to be the story.

To be honest, not doing a presser just now was probably not a bad idea, as it would probably only have poured some petrol on the bonfire.

He has put out his line on it, that is a rugby form issue and he is going to stick to that.

No bridges burnt here, Russell can come back into the squad without any loss of face for anyone if there is an injury or for the 6N if his form has 'improved'.


We don't even know if the two of them have talked about it or not. Russell in the past has not been slow to use his own media contacts to get his side of the story out when he wants to. maybe he will be happy to have a few weeks off to welcome the birth of his first child.

We are all making a lot of assumptions and the two protagonists are playing with very straight bats atm.

BigGee wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:

jimbopip wrote:Here's another John Wooden quote hich may give us some insight into Toonie's thinking.

A player who makes a team great is better than a great player.

Nice quote, but you can only take that so far. That's basically what Chris Harris is for. Stick McDowall next to him and Ross Thompson at 10 and you simply have a poor side. It really is a challenging argument to suggest that Russell/Hutchinson at 10/12 isn't simply better by every measure.

We just need to be picking our best players. We are nowhere near good enough to be leaving out the talent that Toonie is discarding.

I am not sure that Toonie has any intention of playing Thompson -McDowell-Harris as his midfield.


McDowell may struggle to get any game time as it is his first real inclusion in the squad

Thompson may bench in the first game when Hastings is not available and not necessarily after that.

Harris will do what he does well and will play to the gameplan. It is not just Toonie that thinks him a good player, Gatland seemed happy with his contribution on the Lions tour as well and he plays well week in week our for Gloucester. Bennett will get his chance as well though, likely to be up first against Oz, particularly if Tuipolotu is still down in SA this weekend.

Why put players in a Scotland squad who aren't ready to play international rugby? Why not just pick your best players? I agree that Toonie would be mad to pick McDowall and Thompson for Scotland, which is why I don't think they belong in the squad.

I have no particular beef with Harris. I only mentioned him to illustrate that whilst he clearly has his limitations, he's picked to enable the team to function better as a whole (to the gist of Jimbo's quote). But I don't think you can surround him with similarly limited players. It's the pick of Harris (over the form Scottish 13, Mark Bennett, closely followed by Tuipolotu) that should enable us to be looking at Redpath or Hutchinson at 12.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

BigGee wrote:

funnyExiledScot wrote:

jimbopip wrote:Here's another John Wooden quote hich may give us some insight into Toonie's thinking.

A player who makes a team great is better than a great player.

Nice quote, but you can only take that so far. That's basically what Chris Harris is for. Stick McDowall next to him and Ross Thompson at 10 and you simply have a poor side. It really is a challenging argument to suggest that Russell/Hutchinson at 10/12 isn't simply better by every measure.

We just need to be picking our best players. We are nowhere near good enough to be leaving out the talent that Toonie is discarding.

I am not sure that Toonie has any intention of playing Thompson -McDowell-Harris as his midfield.


McDowell may struggle to get any game time as it is his first real inclusion in the squad

Thompson may bench in the first game when Hastings is not available and not necessarily after that.

Harris will do what he does well and will play to the gameplan. It is not just Toonie that thinks him a good player, Gatland seemed happy with his contribution on the Lions tour as well and he plays well week in week our for Gloucester. Bennett will get his chance as well though, likely to be up first against Oz, particularly if Tuipolotu is still down in SA this weekend.

Why put players in a Scotland squad who aren't ready to play international rugby? Why not just pick your best players? I agree that Toonie would be mad to pick McDowall and Thompson for Scotland, which is why I don't think they belong in the squad.

I have no particular beef with Harris. I only mentioned him to illustrate that whilst he clearly has his limitations, he's picked to enable the team to function better as a whole (to the gist of Jimbo's quote). But I don't think you can surround him with similarly limited players. It's the pick of Harris (over the form Scottish 13, Mark Bennett, closely followed by Tuipolotu) that should enable us to be looking at Redpath or Hutchinson at 12.

Well Thompson will play against Australia, as otherwise we would only have had one FH available. That would have been the case whether Russell was picked or not. so we could have ended up with 4 FHs in the squad, which is to many.

McDowell - ok we don't really know if he can step up or not. He has played well for Glasgow this season, but he was a bit of a curve ball. Some coaches like to bring a player into the squad to have a look at them in that environment. He may have a better idea of his potential once he has seen that. I would probably have picked Lang over McDowell this autumn, but he has already had Lang in the squad and maybe wants to see someone else. To me they seem quite similar players.

Think someone asked for the AI list in positions

LH: Schoeman, Sutherland, Bhatti
HK: Turner, Ashman, Cherry
TH: Z Fagerson, Nel, Walker

SR: J Gray, Cummings, Gilchrist, R Gray, Skinner

Flankers: Ritchie, Watson, Christie, Crosbie, Bayliss
No. 8: M Fagerson, Dempsey, Haining

SH: Price, White, Horne
FH: Hastings, Kinghorn, Thompson

Centres: Harris, Redpath, Bennett, Tuipulotu, McDowall

Back Three: Hogg, Graham, DVDM, McLean, Smith, Steyn, Hoyland

Apparently Conservative Central Office have hired Toonie on a consultancy basis. They've got a problem at no.10 and have heard he has lots of experience dealing with that sort of thing.

jimbopip wrote:Apparently Conservative Central Office have hired Toonie on a consultancy basis. They've got a problem at no.10 and have heard he has lots of experience dealing with that sort of thing.

Ye olde Glove has already run with that joke!

tigertattie wrote:

jimbopip wrote:Apparently Conservative Central Office have hired Toonie on a consultancy basis. They've got a problem at no.10 and have heard he has lots of experience dealing with that sort of thing.

Ye olde Glove has already run with that joke!

And your point is?
Glove has been studying my comedic elan for years now. We're so close you could say we have been working hand in glove.

jimbopip wrote:

tigertattie wrote:

jimbopip wrote:Apparently Conservative Central Office have hired Toonie on a consultancy basis. They've got a problem at no.10 and have heard he has lots of experience dealing with that sort of thing.

Ye olde Glove has already run with that joke!

And your point is?
Glove has been studying my comedic elan for years now. We're so close you could say we have been working hand in glove.

Hand in glove. Ooooooooo Matron!!!!!!

John Barclay not too impressed with the absence of Russell. I’m not a subscriber so have not read the article itself.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/john-barclay-gregor-townsend-has-got-this-wrong-finn-russell-should-be-front-and-centre-for-scotland-8p5zp2gft

Tell you what.

We’re honking at rugby league!!!

Bloody hell.

If the other choice wasn’t coronation street, I’d switch over the channel.

This is grim

Hastings has just banged over a 55m drop goal for Gloucester to put them in the lead agsinst London Irish!

Ha ha - after the match, ghe interviewer asked him if Finn Russell could do that!

Bless him, he answered, of course he could. Love you Finn

Not sure any of the players really find this situation comfortable

Wtf - what a ridiculous question to be asked!

RDW wrote:Wtf - what a ridiculous question to be asked!

It's gonna happen, the commentators were going on about it during the game as well.

Only thing that will stop it is either of them playing well in the 10 shirt for Scotland


Have to say, even forgetting about the wonder DG, Hastings played well tonight. He looks a very competitive FH in a tough league. London Irish really tried to soften him up in the first half and he stood up to it very well.

tigertattie wrote:Tell you what.

We’re honking at rugby league!!!

We really are, but there were also a number of world superstars in that Aussie team. Was always going to be a pumping!

BigGee wrote:

RDW wrote:Wtf - what a ridiculous question to be asked!

It's gonna happen, the commentators were going on about it during the game as well.

Only thing that will stop it is either of them playing well in the 10 shirt for Scotland


Have to say, even forgetting about the wonder DG, Hastings played well tonight. He looks a very competitive FH in a tough league. London Irish really tried to soften him up in the first half and he stood up to it very well.

Ah it was Sonja. That explains everything!

RDW wrote:

BigGee wrote:

RDW wrote:Wtf - what a ridiculous question to be asked!

It's gonna happen, the commentators were going on about it during the game as well.

Only thing that will stop it is either of them playing well in the 10 shirt for Scotland


Have to say, even forgetting about the wonder DG, Hastings played well tonight. He looks a very competitive FH in a tough league. London Irish really tried to soften him up in the first half and he stood up to it very well.

Ah it was Sonja. That explains everything!

Utter nonsense of a question.

“What made you think about going for that”
“What was going through your head as you kicked the ball”

Those are questions relating to the game. Utter nonsense questions trying to get a reaction is simply unprofessional and she should get some form of bollocking from the brass for that.

If I was Hastings my answer would have been

“Could you”

Or

“I’m not sure, but meatball could have”

Then just smiled and waited for the hack to ask the next stupid question.

Scotland watch from bath, Cameron Redpath is having a great game!

Bayliss has also had a field day at the lineout

Looks like Finn took Toonie's advice about picking up his club form to heart.

He sounds like he had a very decent game as Racing beat Montpellier today.

Redpath had a strong game and looks full of confidence again.

Question is, who is the best fit for Kinghorn at 10 given I'm fairly confident Toonie sees him as first choice.

Do you pair him with an intelligent ball player like Redpath to help manage the game, or do you give Kinghorn big lumps to run off like Tuipolotu or (shudders) McDowell?

I think he'll experiment a bit. With FHs and IC

The first game will be a rekstively easy choice, with some players unavailable.

Backline of:

Price
Kinghorn
Graham
Tuipolotu
Bennett
DVDM
Smith

Later on we could see Redpath coming in at 12 and any of Harris, Bennett or Tuipolotu at 13

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Hoyland feature at fullback with McDowell and Tuipulotu as the centre partnership and Bennett benching. has smith started many games for Glasgow this season? I haven’t been keeping track of him but saw Forbes at fullback quite a bit on team sheets.

Mark Nawaqanitawase could possibly be starting as Koroibete won’t be available. Seems a very good player from bits I’ve seen. Noah Lolesio being back is going to be a big matchup for kinghorn, he was excellent against SA before he was out injured for a bit. Aus centres are always lively so scotland will need to contain whoever lines up there. A rejuvenated Hooper with Wilson, Valetini and the destructive Gleeson all touring will make for some physical matchups in the backrow.

Hard to see how Scotland will win this one without our exiles. Aus are only missing Skelton and Foley. Recent rugby championship experience is useful for them as well. Seems very unlikely we’ll see an emphatic Scottish win and more a tightly fought battle if Scotland do pull off a victory.

Smith was injured. But played the full game last week against the Sharks, so presumably is match fit now. It might depend on whether he was someone out with the lurgy or not and if so, has he recovered.

Smith is the future really and was preferred over Hoyland in the summer, so hard to see why it should change. Hoyland was not pulled from the Edinburgh team on Saturday either, usually a good indication that you are not starting.

I imagine it will be a close game, with both teams looking for their form a bit. The weather looks pretty rubbish as well, so that might favour us.

I see that Tomasso Allan playing for Quins is now known as Tommy Allan again.

Think if Roebuck has a good game for sale today he may finally catch Toonie’s eye?

tigertattie wrote:I see that Tomasso Allan playing for Quins is now known as Tommy Allan again.

Think if Roebuck has a good game for sale today he may finally catch Toonie’s eye?

By all accounts, Roebuck has been approached, not sure if not being in the swuad means not interestrd or thinking about it.

Well if you're watching the match today the commentators have just announced there's strong rumours he's been called up for England.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Well if you're watching the match today the commentators have just announced there's strong rumours he's been called up for England.

Well he has been playing well enough for someone to pick him up.

A lot of competition on the wing in both camps

Big Jim's take on the Russelgate saga and on the Scotland squad in general in the Sundat Times,

Pretty good article actually.



In these pages a fortnight ago, I urged Gregor Townsend to cut out all the grey areas and provide clarity about his thinking less than a year before the World Cup.

Whatever we think of the big decisions that dominated the midweek autumn squad announcement, the Scotland head coach has done exactly what I asked of him: we now know that he is all-in on Blair Kinghorn, and not Finn Russell, at fly half, and we know that Jamie Ritchie is the man he is backing to lead the team to France.

I believe that not re-endorsing Stuart Hogg as captain could turn out to be a reverse-engineered success on a couple of levels. As I have repeatedly made clear, I’m a big fan of Hogg and his leadership, but I think the hurt and sense of injustice he will be nursing over this call may be just the spark the Exeter Chief needs to get his own game back to the levels we all know it can reach. A fired-up, maybe even angry Hogg could well prove a force of nature in this series.

Ritchie, meanwhile, will have the advantage of being right in the thick of the forward battle, something which never hurts when it comes to getting referees onside and establishing an intimate feel for the game’s ebb and flow. Don’t get me wrong, I still would have Hogg as skipper, but I completely understand and back Townsend’s logic in this instance.

The Russell situation is a different kettle of fish entirely. Let me start by saying I have all the time in the world for Gregor: I enjoyed working under him when he was a Scotland assistant coach back in the day, I also enjoy the interactions we have now in my media roles, and I respect him totally.

But what really disappoints me about the handling of the Finn affair is the basic lack of honesty; the reluctance to properly level with the rugby public. We’re talking about our best player, or at the very least someone who has deserved that mantle in very recent memory — that should mean there is a level of respect when it comes to letting fans know what is going on with him.

To my mind, Gregor could still easily have done what he clearly has wanted to do for a while — drop Finn — and show who is in charge, while still providing a clear route back. Everyone knows that there have been — and obviously still are — issues between the pair, so why not be up front and say, “I’m running the show here, what I say goes, and the way I’m demonstrating that is by removing Finn from the squad. If he falls into line, he’s straight back in.”?


The way Gregor went, however, was to try to make out this was a form-based decision, something that has rightly provoked ridicule. I’m well aware that Finn has not hit the heights with Scotland in the last year, and has also been short of his very best at Racing 92 but it’s absurd to talk about form and in the same breath say you’re picking a bloke — Ross Thompson — who at the time of the announcement had played 21 minutes of professional rugby this season.

That just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, and instead of nipping all the rumour and innuendo in the bud — as a clear statement of the real reasons would have done — we have ended up with fanned flames, a lot of discontent among Scotland supporters and, I would wager, in the mind of Russell as well.

Is there a way back for him? At this stage, I wouldn’t want to second guess either man in this scenario, but what I will say is that shutting the door on him completely would be the clearest case of cutting off your nose to spite your face that I have ever seen. Gregor is not a stupid man, far from it — he will keep that door ajar.

What he must do now is throw Kinghorn the keys to the kingdom in a way he has never seemed willing to do with Russell. None of us have seen enough of the Edinburgh man as a Test fly half to state with confidence whether he is the real deal in that rarefied air, but Gregor has put his cards on the table big time and must now follow through.

Kinghorn needs to start all four matches in this series, be given the licence to play the game that has served him so well in club colours and also be backed as and when there are rough moments or learning-curve mistakes.

Adam Hastings is playing well for Gloucester and I have always really liked him, but Kinghorn is self-evidently Gregor’s man and needs to feel that trust and confidence around him. The coach will certainly have had the last laugh if, come November 13, Kinghorn is tearing it up in our first ever win over the All Blacks.

ADVERTISEMENT
Elsewhere in the team, I’m really looking forward to seeing Jack Dempsey in a Scotland shirt. For my money, he is that X-factor No 8 we have been waiting for for years; someone whose mix of power, athleticism and sheer rugby nous can lift both the crowd and those around him on the field. My starting back row for the Wallabies game on Saturday would have Dempsey in the middle, with Hamish Watson on the open-side flank and Ritchie on the other. It’s tough on Matt Fagerson, who has been really, really good in the last year to 18 months, but he is still a great option to have off the bench or in the starting XV against those opponents where you’d want a slightly bigger breakaway back-row unit.

What I really want Scotland to come out of this autumn with is a clear answer to the question of what the starting XV would be were the opening match of the World Cup — against the defending champion Springboks no less — to be played tomorrow. At the moment, there are still too many doubts there, too many questions that every other nation has long-since answered with so little time left until the big kick-off.

BigGee wrote: But what really disappoints me about the handling of the Finn affair is the basic lack of honesty; the reluctance to properly level with the rugby public. We’re talking about our best player, or at the very least someone who has deserved that mantle in very recent memory — that should mean there is a level of respect when it comes to letting fans know what is going on with him.

Hamilton has it spot on there. Coach should be able to make the decisions they feel are best for the team but there is no need to be a pr*ck about it. If this autumn goes poorly a higher level of criticism than usual will be laid on Toonie but "thems the breaks" as our past and future PM once said.

I don't think this will happen. We may get humped by Aus on Saturday but i think the three remaining tests will go a lot better. Hastings looks to be continuing his good form and I think he will start against the AB's. I'm not convinced Toonie see's Blairhorn as the starting 10 for Scotland for every match. Both Gray's are in good nick the back row options are shaping up really well. Having Redpath back on form is brilliant news. Hogg without the captaincy will hopefully get the best out of him this autumn and it's good to see he's accepting of that decision.

I thought the most interesting bit in the article was about how he leaves Finn out, without completely closing the door on him.

If he was to come out and say 'Finn Russel is a disruptive presence in the squad and brings the whole team down because of it' then there really would be no way back.

The reality is, we are only one injury to Hastings or Blairhorn from him being called back into the squad and so he is not going to burn his bridges.

By the same token, FR knows he is not undroppable or indispensable now and it is hard to imagine he really does not want to play for Scotland, despite his nonchalance about it.

There are 101 reasons why it was not a good idea to be be completely up front with the fans about this. The reasons are there for everyone to see, but would it really help if they were said out loud.

Transparency is a big thing nowadays. It's a sign of the times that so many fans feel disappointed with Gregor's lack of honesty about the situation. Hamilton has it right about Toonie simply saying Russell's got this, this and this to work on to be involved again. The sad alternative is that Toonie really doesn't want him at all and has thus said what he's said because he wants to keep Russell available for a break in case of emergency situation as you say. I just hope it is not a serious as that.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0d90fjv

More views from the BBC Scottish rugby podcast. No Tom English or Andy Burke for this one though.

If Toonie did say Finn is out because he is a twát then it means Finn is out 100%

Doing it this way basically saves face for Finn and quite frankly it is Toonie copping it here so he is ultimately protecting Finn. Respect to Toonie for this in my book rather than folk saying he’s a coward by not being honest with the rugby public.

Finn is one hell of a talented player but he’s got the Ronaldos and thinks he’s bigger than the team. He’s not. Sure blairhorn is pants at 10 but Finn being all maverick isn’t much better. I’ve said it time and time again. For every point Finn wins us, he costs us also. Sometime
He even costs us more than he wins.

Toonie has been backed into a corner and this really was the only way he could manage it

I totally agree with Jim in that above article, especially on the aim this autumn being to finally establish a first choice 23 for the world cup, this really isn't the time for experimenting imho so that's likely why we only have 3 new caps, I'd imagine the same will apply come 6N time and next summer.

I expect all 3 to get time on the pitch though and really look forward to seeing what Dempsey can do in a Scotland jersey because I've been waiting patiently for the day he becomes eligible lol.

The other thing I agree with Jim on is giving Blair as much time at 10 as we can especially if he is who GT is planning on playing at that position next year.

Roebuck has chosen England. Born in inverness I see but did he ever have any close ties to Scotland? Seemed to have played all his rugby in England from what I can see.

https://www.rugbypass.com/news/if-they-lose-aginst-scotland-im-ok-with-that-muliaina-on-all-blacks-northern-tour-priorities/

In other news I too am in agreement with Muliaina on this one.

https://twitter.com/aaronwalshnz/status/1584438749861056512?s=20&t=EwtVS6ielFCo7_IKBGbf7Q

Chiefs performance coach is inbound to Scotland apparently! Nice recruiting there by SRU

So what could Toonie have actually said where he would be more honest yet still leave the door open?

Something along the lines of "we're wanting to go a different direction this autumn.and I'm keen for Finn to focus on his game with Racing"

Still very vague!

RDW wrote:So what could Toonie have actually said where he would be more honest yet still leave the door open?

Something along the lines of "we're wanting to go a different direction this autumn.and I'm keen for Finn to focus on his game with Racing"

Still very vague!

Sometimes better to say nothing than to dig yourself a bigger hole.

I think for most people, it is not what he said/did not say that is the issue, it is the fact that he has left Finn out that is bothering them. Whatever he said to try and jystify it was never going to wash.

"Due to the restrictive club release dates and schedule we see this as an opportunity for Blair to step up to a starting role, as he has played well for Edinburgh and we believe he can perform for Scotland and expand on our depth at fly half. Adam has been playing exceptionally well at Gloucester so we feel he has earned his chance to play and Ross has started well at Glasgow and will gain invaluable experience being around the squad. Finn will still have a role to play but we feel that he should focus on his club game this autumn with an eye to the 6 nations and world cup this coming year though he could be involved at a later stage." Or something along those lines.

The animosity between them is no secret, it'd be better just to say "we are looking at our other options but we aren't ruling Finn out" than some Love sacks about his club form.

bsando wrote:https://twitter.com/aaronwalshnz/status/1584438749861056512?s=20&t=EwtVS6ielFCo7_IKBGbf7Q

Chiefs performance coach is inbound to Scotland apparently! Nice recruiting there by SRU

Sounds like this giy is not so much a rugby coach. But is described as a mental skills coach. He has worked accross many other sports as well as rugby. He likes to help athletes reach their potential.

It would be good if a few of ours reached theirs!

NeilyBroon wrote:"Due to the restrictive club release dates and schedule we see this as an opportunity for Blair to step up to a starting role, as he has played well for Edinburgh and we believe he can perform for Scotland and expand on our depth at fly half. Adam has been playing exceptionally well at Gloucester so we feel he has earned his chance to play and Ross has started well at Glasgow and will gain invaluable experience being around the squad. Finn will still have a role to play but we feel that he should focus on his club game this autumn with an eye to the 6 nations and world cup this coming year though he could be involved at a later stage." Or something along those lines.

Do you work in PR Nelly? :

If not, fancy a career change? SRU may need it!

RDW wrote:

NeilyBroon wrote:"Due to the restrictive club release dates and schedule we see this as an opportunity for Blair to step up to a starting role, as he has played well for Edinburgh and we believe he can perform for Scotland and expand on our depth at fly half. Adam has been playing exceptionally well at Gloucester so we feel he has earned his chance to play and Ross has started well at Glasgow and will gain invaluable experience being around the squad. Finn will still have a role to play but we feel that he should focus on his club game this autumn with an eye to the 6 nations and world cup this coming year though he could be involved at a later stage." Or something along those lines.

Do you work in PR Nelly? :

If not, fancy a career change? SRU may need it!

I'd be a lot less stressed if I did!

I just think honesty is the best policy, but it can be framed in a positive way and laid down as a challenge to Finn if he really wants to play. Other coaches do it to motivate their best players, I get the feeling he'd have a lot more respect from the fans and possibly Finn if he was more open about it. You get the feeling he's a closed book to everyone except his coaching staff.