The Official Scottish Rugby Thread

[I like neeps]

Look how far away from the ruck Price was when the ball was punched from him. Nothing to do with Dickson that just bad bad rugby.

That clip is why it was a penalty. If the French defender hadn’t slowed the ball by not rolling away and then hadn’t impeded the pass then that situation never happens. Price gets caught because the pass is an intercept waiting to happen. He has to turn back and gets caught.

He didn't try and play the ball though he tried to win a penalty so that's not at all what happened. Woki impeded the play when he started to get up which was after a few seconds of Price fannying about and Dickson saying no buying penalties. (Funnily enough I think the penalty offence occured when Woki got up after Dickson said no penalty because to that point he'd been lying not impeding Price. But Dickson wasn't about to then give a penalty because he'd decided it was Price slowing the play which to that point it had been). Then Price fannies about and loses the ball - killer mistake. Sh*te from Price, in my opinion.

[Tichtheid]

for me the team against Italy should be

Schoey, Rambo, Nel, Gilcho, Skinner, Darge, Watson, Bradbury. (I'm assuming no returns from injury, if they do get back then Cummings, Gray (maybe) and Fagerson M go straight in)

Price, Kinghorn, vdM, Hutchinson/Lang, Bennett, Graham, Hogg

Finn needs a rest and or kick up the arse. Kinghorn is the second best fly half we have, if anyone else had set up that last try Scots fans would be creaming themselves, but Kinghorn comes with baggage - Finn doesn't have the pace to do with Kinghorn did there, if fact no one else in the side has the pace to do that.

[Jock42]

I'd drop price too. Reckon Graham would outpace Kinghorn though.

[Jock42]

I'd drop price too. Reckon Graham would outpace Kinghorn though, though he has a decent cameo today and was glad Townsend brought him on with time still on the clock.

[Tichtheid]

Reckon Graham would outpace Kinghorn though.

Over five to ten metres probably, but Toonie has said that Kinghorn is the quickest player in the Scotland squad

This was before van der Merwe joined, so he is the contender

[Jock42]

Reckon Graham would outpace Kinghorn though.

Over five to ten metres probably, but Toonie has said that Kinghorn is the quickest player in the Scotland squad

This was before van der Merwe joined, so he is the contender

Never knew that.

[Slick]

for me the team against Italy should be

Schoey, Rambo, Nel, Gilcho, Skinner, Darge, Watson, Bradbury. (I'm assuming no returns from injury, if they do get back then Cummings, Gray (maybe) and Fagerson M go straight in)

Price, Kinghorn, vdM, Hutchinson/Lang, Bennett, Graham, Hogg

Finn needs a rest and or kick up the arse. Kinghorn is the second best fly half we have, if anyone else had set up that last try Scots fans would be creaming themselves, but Kinghorn comes with baggage - Finn doesn't have the pace to do with Kinghorn did there, if fact no one else in the side has the pace to do that.

Lovely break from Kinghorn.

But he is miles from being the 2nd best 10 Scotland can play, at the moment he is very, very average.

[Tichtheid]

for me the team against Italy should be

Schoey, Rambo, Nel, Gilcho, Skinner, Darge, Watson, Bradbury. (I'm assuming no returns from injury, if they do get back then Cummings, Gray (maybe) and Fagerson M go straight in)

Price, Kinghorn, vdM, Hutchinson/Lang, Bennett, Graham, Hogg

Finn needs a rest and or kick up the arse. Kinghorn is the second best fly half we have, if anyone else had set up that last try Scots fans would be creaming themselves, but Kinghorn comes with baggage - Finn doesn't have the pace to do with Kinghorn did there, if fact no one else in the side has the pace to do that.

Lovely break from Kinghorn.

But he is miles from being the 2nd best 10 Scotland can play, at the moment he is very, very average.

That is just plain wrong, over the season in club games Kinghorn has been as good as Finn, who has been mixed at best, and better than anyone else

watch the games

[Slick]

for me the team against Italy should be

Schoey, Rambo, Nel, Gilcho, Skinner, Darge, Watson, Bradbury. (I'm assuming no returns from injury, if they do get back then Cummings, Gray (maybe) and Fagerson M go straight in)

Price, Kinghorn, vdM, Hutchinson/Lang, Bennett, Graham, Hogg

Finn needs a rest and or kick up the arse. Kinghorn is the second best fly half we have, if anyone else had set up that last try Scots fans would be creaming themselves, but Kinghorn comes with baggage - Finn doesn't have the pace to do with Kinghorn did there, if fact no one else in the side has the pace to do that.

Lovely break from Kinghorn.

But he is miles from being the 2nd best 10 Scotland can play, at the moment he is very, very average.

That is just plain wrong, over the season in club games Kinghorn has been as good as Finn, who has been mixed at best, and better than anyone else

watch the games

I absolutely disagree. I think you are seduced by his fast, flat passing but it’s almost always ineffectual. We only have to look at his last club game where he was really not very good, particularly in defence.

I watch all his games, he is no where near the answer at 10

[Tichtheid]

I absolutely disagree. I think you are seduced by his fast, flat passing but it’s almost always ineffectual. We only have to look at his last club game where he was really not very good, particularly in defence.

I watch all his games, he is no where near the answer at 10

He was playing against Munster in Thomond park in his last club game, behind a pack that coughed up possession far too easily.

Peak Dan Carter in an Edinburgh jersey isn't changing that result

The only things missing from Kinghorn's armoury is the hoisting the high ball, "get it into the fackin mixer" anti rugby shite.

He is better right now than Weir, Thompson, Hastings, Jaco or anyone else we have as back ups to Finn and Finn is way out of sorts

[Yr Alban]

I was at work and have only just watched the game now.

Ridiculous as it might sound, I don’t think that was a bad Scotland performance. In fact, I think we played better rugby today than we did against England. We have certainly played worse and won.

France are a team who are clearly going places right now and they were the better team overall. I’m not disputing that. But they had one of those days when literally everything they tried came off.

We should have gone into HT ahead. If that pass had been an inch further back, Hogg scores and the third French try doesn’t happen. Good chance the fourth immediately after HT doesn’t either, though Price for me was clearly impeded. Those few minutes changed the entire course of the game.

I’m not going to go on about the referee, as it’s all been said already, but he was awful. How can you give a side a warning for illegal lifting, but still award them a penalty for the same passage of play? How did the French 15 escape a card for that dangerous charge on Skinner? As for the half dozen penalties for holding on, full marks to the French defence, but the time we were given to recycle was measured in picoseconds at times. One penalty he actually gave as the ball was bouncing out of the ruck.

All in all, very frustrating viewing. We deserved to get more out of the game than we got.

[Dogbert]

Lovely break from Kinghorn.

But he is miles from being the 2nd best 10 Scotland can play, at the moment he is very, very average.

That is just plain wrong, over the season in club games Kinghorn has been as good as Finn, who has been mixed at best, and better than anyone else

watch the games

I absolutely disagree. I think you are seduced by his fast, flat passing but it’s almost always ineffectual. We only have to look at his last club game where he was really not very good, particularly in defence.

I watch all his games, he is no where near the answer at 10

The trouble is Hastings is not the answer either - watching his games for Gloucester would convince you of that, ( if he even gets picked - and there was a reason he was dropped from his club) he is also bang out of form

The second best 10 we currently have is Thomson , who is a natural 10, but who is obviously young and raw ( but then again so is Darge ...) , sandwiched between a couple of more experienced internationals (Price & Johnson ) , who we works with week in / week out - could be worth a punt.

I still don't see Finn getting dropped though ,It looks to me that he is playing a conservative game that does not suit his style and actually I think we often expect too much from him , ideally we need a creative 12 to take some pressure off , Redpath would have been ideal , pity Hutchison seems to be out of favour

I thought our set piece went a lot better than expected ( esp the scrums ) but our centres aren't bring much to the game - Johnson & Bennett for me for Italy

[Blackmac]

I absolutely disagree. I think you are seduced by his fast, flat passing but it’s almost always ineffectual. We only have to look at his last club game where he was really not very good, particularly in defence.

I watch all his games, he is no where near the answer at 10

He was playing against Munster in Thomond park in his last club game, behind a pack that coughed up possession far too easily.

Peak Dan Carter in an Edinburgh jersey isn't changing that result

The only things missing from Kinghorn's armoury is the hoisting the high ball, "get it into the fackin mixer" anti rugby shite.

He is better right now than Weir, Thompson, Hastings, Jaco or anyone else we have as back ups to Finn and Finn is way out of sorts

One of the things missing today was his ability to actually pass the ball. I don't think I have ever seen a poorer passing display. He barely looked competent.

[Tichtheid]

I absolutely disagree. I think you are seduced by his fast, flat passing but it’s almost always ineffectual. We only have to look at his last club game where he was really not very good, particularly in defence.

I watch all his games, he is no where near the answer at 10

He was playing against Munster in Thomond park in his last club game, behind a pack that coughed up possession far too easily.

Peak Dan Carter in an Edinburgh jersey isn't changing that result

The only things missing from Kinghorn's armoury is the hoisting the high ball, "get it into the fackin mixer" anti rugby shite.

He is better right now than Weir, Thompson, Hastings, Jaco or anyone else we have as back ups to Finn and Finn is way out of sorts

One of the things missing today was his ability to actually pass the ball. I don't think I have ever seen a poorer passing display. He barely looked competent.

Kinghorn was brought on and looked liked he was told to fling everything wide and if not run everything wide

He threw one wild pass which bounced on the ground.

[Tichtheid]

The second best 10 we currently have is Thomson , who is a natural 10, but who is obviously young and raw

Thompson was behind Chamberlain for the 20s iirc, it was for their respective attacking qualities.

I am not going to go down the route of having a go at young players, but there is simply no one else in a ten shirt in Scotland that would have made that last try.

[Dogbert]

The second best 10 we currently have is Thomson , who is a natural 10, but who is obviously young and raw

Thompson was behind Chamberlain for the 20s iirc, it was for their respective attacking qualities.

I am not going to go down the route of having a go at young players, but there is simply no one else in a ten shirt in Scotland that would have made that last try.

And Thompson has kicked on since then,

Thompson's kicking out of hand is so much better than Kinghorn's , and one of my issues ( most people say I have many issues ) is that we have been playing to much Rugby in the wrong areas of the pitch - Something that Thompson can help remedy , pretty much like what he did for Glasgow last weekend against Benetton , when he came on for Miotti to close the game out

I think Kinghorn has possibly the potential to become an international 10 , but he needs much more game time there first

[Tichtheid]

The second best 10 we currently have is Thomson , who is a natural 10, but who is obviously young and raw

Thompson was behind Chamberlain for the 20s iirc, it was for their respective attacking qualities.

I am not going to go down the route of having a go at young players, but there is simply no one else in a ten shirt in Scotland that would have made that last try.

And Thompson has kicked on since then,

Thompson's kicking out of hand is so much better than Kinghorn's , and one of my issues ( most people say I have many issues ) is that we have been playing to much Rugby in the wrong areas of the pitch - Something that Thompson can help remedy , pretty much like what he did for Glasgow last weekend against Benetton , when he came on for Miotti to close the game out

I think Kinghorn has possibly the potential to become an international 10 , but he needs much more game time there first

My point was really about the attacking capability of the respective tens, and I think the one fair call against Kinghorn is that he hasn't shown any kind of kicking game, bar a couple of exquisite kick passes.

In terms of form and looking for an attacking option, I think he has been better than anyone this season, with the exception that Finn has a ridiculous ceiling and could pull the magic bunny out of the hat at any time - Kinghorn is very much cut from that same cloth btw, but his magic comes from seeing a gap before anyone else and having the pace to go through it

[Yr Alban]

Just reading a thread on Twitter pointing out that the referee(s) didn’t actually know the laws of the game. A French player was pinged for a high tackle whilst preventing Price from scoring a try. If he hadn’t been there then Price scores - so that’s a PT and possibly a YC.

[JM2K6]

Just reading a thread on Twitter pointing out that the referee(s) didn’t actually know the laws of the game. A French player was pinged for a high tackle whilst preventing Price from scoring a try. If he hadn’t been there then Price scores - so that’s a PT and possibly a YC.

There was cover, a second Frenchman right next to him who makes the tackle instead if you take the offender out of the equation.

Wasn't a PT (also as a side note, if it had been, it must also be a yellow as that's the law now)

[Tichtheid]

Just reading a thread on Twitter pointing out that the referee(s) didn’t actually know the laws of the game. A French player was pinged for a high tackle whilst preventing Price from scoring a try. If he hadn’t been there then Price scores - so that’s a PT and possibly a YC.

There was cover, a second Frenchman right next to him who makes the tackle instead if you take the offender out of the equation.

Wasn't a PT (also as a side note, if it had been, it must also be a yellow as that's the law now)

I'm, not convinced the second tackler would have prevented a try. I'll have to look up the law because the commentators often use language that in not in the laws (downward pressure for scoring for example)

As I understand it, the wording is around the word "probable" - take the offender out of the play and would Price have probably scored a try?

I'm not sure, I'll watch again tomorrow

[Blackmac]

He was playing against Munster in Thomond park in his last club game, behind a pack that coughed up possession far too easily.

Peak Dan Carter in an Edinburgh jersey isn't changing that result

The only things missing from Kinghorn's armoury is the hoisting the high ball, "get it into the fackin mixer" anti rugby shite.

He is better right now than Weir, Thompson, Hastings, Jaco or anyone else we have as back ups to Finn and Finn is way out of sorts

One of the things missing today was his ability to actually pass the ball. I don't think I have ever seen a poorer passing display. He barely looked competent.

Kinghorn was brought on and looked liked he was told to fling everything wide and if not run everything wide

He threw one wild pass which bounced on the ground.

Another forward and most others landed almost at the feet of the receiver, killing any momentum. It was a shitshow by any standards.

[I like neeps]

I absolutely disagree. I think you are seduced by his fast, flat passing but it’s almost always ineffectual. We only have to look at his last club game where he was really not very good, particularly in defence.

I watch all his games, he is no where near the answer at 10

He was playing against Munster in Thomond park in his last club game, behind a pack that coughed up possession far too easily.

Peak Dan Carter in an Edinburgh jersey isn't changing that result

The only things missing from Kinghorn's armoury is the hoisting the high ball, "get it into the fackin mixer" anti rugby shite.

He is better right now than Weir, Thompson, Hastings, Jaco or anyone else we have as back ups to Finn and Finn is way out of sorts

I like Kinghorn at 10... He's played well this season (hasn't faced an Irish team though). But Russell plays a far higher standard of rugby and so does Hastings.

I also disagree about Munster - he wasn't good. The pack weren't amazing but Edinburgh had good territory and possession. A couple of poor passes - throwing it behind people etc. It wasn't his best game. Dan Carter in a game with majority possession and I believe majority territory likely does better than Kinghorn did at Thomond. Which is fine! Kinghorn is a work in progress. It's his first six months at 10.

And that's not to say he isn't playing better than the others (he is). However Hastings has won games at 10 with Scotland. He had 20 caps of credit at 10 and Kinghorn is too raw for it.

But it's time Hastings is recalled.

[Slick]

That is just plain wrong, over the season in club games Kinghorn has been as good as Finn, who has been mixed at best, and better than anyone else

watch the games

I absolutely disagree. I think you are seduced by his fast, flat passing but it’s almost always ineffectual. We only have to look at his last club game where he was really not very good, particularly in defence.

I watch all his games, he is no where near the answer at 10

The trouble is Hastings is not the answer either - watching his games for Gloucester would convince you of that, ( if he even gets picked - and there was a reason he was dropped from his club) he is also bang out of form

The second best 10 we currently have is Thomson , who is a natural 10, but who is obviously young and raw ( but then again so is Darge ...) , sandwiched between a couple of more experienced internationals (Price & Johnson ) , who we works with week in / week out - could be worth a punt.

I still don't see Finn getting dropped though ,It looks to me that he is playing a conservative game that does not suit his style and actually I think we often expect too much from him , ideally we need a creative 12 to take some pressure off , Redpath would have been ideal , pity Hutchison seems to be out of favour

I thought our set piece went a lot better than expected ( esp the scrums ) but our centres aren't bring much to the game - Johnson & Bennett for me for Italy

Re 12, we seem to be trying to fix a problem we didn’t have. Johnson hasn’t been on best form but we still look a much better team with him there. That’s not to say Redpath or Hutchinson shouldn’t be challenging but I don’t understand him being completely dropped. Must be something more to it.

Bennet was great when he came on and potentially that pass from Harris to Hogg might persuade them to try something different against Italy. Johnson and Bennett sounds good to me

[Begbie]

Most of this has been covered, but Dickson was garbage all round. Didn't make a difference as we we're losing that game anyway. The breakdown and discipline are a serious problem the coaches can't or won't address. We still lack brains on the pitch.

It was interesting to hear quite a lot of fans around us declaring how fed up of Hogg they are.

[Blackmac]

Most of this has been covered, but Dickson was garbage all round. Didn't make a difference as we we're losing that game anyway. The breakdown and discipline are a serious problem the coaches can't or won't address. We still lack brains on the pitch.

It was interesting to hear quite a lot of fans around us declaring how fed up of Hogg they are.

I thought Hogg had a pretty decent game other than being caught out on one of the tries, but as usual when things aren't going our way he tries to win games on his own.
No doubt the ones criticising him went "FFS Hogg" when he couldn't take the Harris pass.

[Yr Alban]

Most of this has been covered, but Dickson was garbage all round. Didn't make a difference as we we're losing that game anyway. The breakdown and discipline are a serious problem the coaches can't or won't address. We still lack brains on the pitch.

It was interesting to hear quite a lot of fans around us declaring how fed up of Hogg they are.

Dickson was clearly dreadful, but all of his worst decisions seemed to favour France. We were already up against it, and the added need to beat the referee made the task even harder.

Re: the breakdown and discipline. I actually thought our discipline wasn’t bad yesterday, compared to how it has been in recent weeks. I can’t recall more than maybe one completely brainless ‘what was the point of that?’ moment. At least half our penalty count was for not releasing. Now, France’s work at the breakdown was superb (as it was v Ireland) but my complaint is that the ref gave us less and less time to secure the ball as the match went on. By the middle of the second half he was whistling as soon as the player hit the ground.

It’s similar to when a ref decides one scrum is dominant and then gives that team all of the decisions at scrum time. France were dominating the breakdown, and so as time went on Scotland were pinged automatically if we took the ball into contact and didn’t present it clearly at once. As I think I mentioned earlier, one penalty was given as the ball actually squirted out on our side. I really hate this.

[Yr Alban]

Most of this has been covered, but Dickson was garbage all round. Didn't make a difference as we we're losing that game anyway. The breakdown and discipline are a serious problem the coaches can't or won't address. We still lack brains on the pitch.

It was interesting to hear quite a lot of fans around us declaring how fed up of Hogg they are.

I thought Hogg had a pretty decent game other than being caught out on one of the tries, but as usual when things aren't going our way he tries to win games on his own.
No doubt the ones criticising him went "FFS Hogg" when he couldn't take the Harris pass.

Yep. I thought he was OK too. Did some strong running. And the Harris pass was on Harris, not Hogg. Firstly, there was no need for it with an overlap, and secondly, it was too far in front of him. Harris had a rush of blood and thought he was Russell for a moment.

[Slick]

Most of this has been covered, but Dickson was garbage all round. Didn't make a difference as we we're losing that game anyway. The breakdown and discipline are a serious problem the coaches can't or won't address. We still lack brains on the pitch.

It was interesting to hear quite a lot of fans around us declaring how fed up of Hogg they are.

I thought Hogg had a pretty decent game other than being caught out on one of the tries, but as usual when things aren't going our way he tries to win games on his own.
No doubt the ones criticising him went "FFS Hogg" when he couldn't take the Harris pass.

Yep. I thought he was OK too. Did some strong running. And the Harris pass was on Harris, not Hogg. Firstly, there was no need for it with an overlap, and secondly, it was too far in front of him. Harris had a rush of blood and thought he was Russell for a moment.

Yup agree, Hogg is about as far from the issue as it’s possible to be. I actually deleted and blocked all the rugby accounts I was following last night as it’s just such fucking nonsense - I’d only ventured back into Twitter for hillwalking stuff but got drawn in.

I see a couple of the pieces I’ve read this morning blaming Hogg for dropping that but I don’t think he was ever going to catch it, too far in front.

[Big D]

Most of this has been covered, but Dickson was garbage all round. Didn't make a difference as we we're losing that game anyway. The breakdown and discipline are a serious problem the coaches can't or won't address. We still lack brains on the pitch.

It was interesting to hear quite a lot of fans around us declaring how fed up of Hogg they are.

Dickson was clearly dreadful, but all of his worst decisions seemed to favour France. We were already up against it, and the added need to beat the referee made the task even harder.

Re: the breakdown and discipline. I actually thought our discipline wasn’t bad yesterday, compared to how it has been in recent weeks. I can’t recall more than maybe one completely brainless ‘what was the point of that?’ moment. At least half our penalty count was for not releasing. Now, France’s work at the breakdown was superb (as it was v Ireland) but my complaint is that the ref gave us less and less time to secure the ball as the match went on. By the middle of the second half he was whistling as soon as the player hit the ground.

It’s similar to when a ref decides one scrum is dominant and then gives that team all of the decisions at scrum time. France were dominating the breakdown, and so as time went on Scotland were pinged automatically if we took the ball into contact and didn’t present it clearly at once. As I think I mentioned earlier, one penalty was given as the ball actually squirted out on our side. I really hate this.

Fagerson in from the side of a maul that was stalling and Gilchrist twice taking the man out after he knew France were being slow bringing them down, one didn't count because they scored off it.

[Biffer]

First missed tackle by an open side since 2018

[Yr Alban]

Most of this has been covered, but Dickson was garbage all round. Didn't make a difference as we we're losing that game anyway. The breakdown and discipline are a serious problem the coaches can't or won't address. We still lack brains on the pitch.

It was interesting to hear quite a lot of fans around us declaring how fed up of Hogg they are.

Dickson was clearly dreadful, but all of his worst decisions seemed to favour France. We were already up against it, and the added need to beat the referee made the task even harder.

Re: the breakdown and discipline. I actually thought our discipline wasn’t bad yesterday, compared to how it has been in recent weeks. I can’t recall more than maybe one completely brainless ‘what was the point of that?’ moment. At least half our penalty count was for not releasing. Now, France’s work at the breakdown was superb (as it was v Ireland) but my complaint is that the ref gave us less and less time to secure the ball as the match went on. By the middle of the second half he was whistling as soon as the player hit the ground.

It’s similar to when a ref decides one scrum is dominant and then gives that team all of the decisions at scrum time. France were dominating the breakdown, and so as time went on Scotland were pinged automatically if we took the ball into contact and didn’t present it clearly at once. As I think I mentioned earlier, one penalty was given as the ball actually squirted out on our side. I really hate this.

Fagerson in from the side of a maul that was stalling and Gilchrist twice taking the man out after he knew France were being slow bringing them down, one didn't count because they scored off it.

OK, fair enough. There were a couple which were a mystery to me, but it was late last night and I was fast forwarding through the bits where no play was happening. (I then got called back into work at 01:30 and didn’t get to bed until 04:30, but that’s another story).

[Yr Alban]

(IMHO of course)

Played well: Schoeman, McInally, Skinner, Darge, Duhan, Darcy

Mixed bag: Fagerson, Bradbury, Price, Russell, Harris, Hogg

Poor: Gilchrist, Haining, Tuipilotu

Haining was only there due to injury. Gilchrist and Tuipilotu are on Toony. Yes, injuries had deprived us of Gray and Cummings, but I’m not convinced that Gilchrist wouldn’t have started anyway.

All very disappointing. I expect we will lose by 15+ in Dublin. We might even struggle v Italy if they bring their A game (which they almost always seem to against us).

[Begbie]

Most of this has been covered, but Dickson was garbage all round. Didn't make a difference as we we're losing that game anyway. The breakdown and discipline are a serious problem the coaches can't or won't address. We still lack brains on the pitch.

It was interesting to hear quite a lot of fans around us declaring how fed up of Hogg they are.

I thought Hogg had a pretty decent game other than being caught out on one of the tries, but as usual when things aren't going our way he tries to win games on his own.
No doubt the ones criticising him went "FFS Hogg" when he couldn't take the Harris pass.

Yeah, pretty much. I personally thought he was ok apart from those few moments when he tried to do it all himself.

I'm only just getting round to watching it on tv, the pass from Harris is even worse than I remember. Proper school boy shit.

Dickson's performance is even worse than I thought.

[C T]

Just reviewing the match stats on ESPN and interestingly Gilchrist only has 1 penalty attributed to him, I could of sworn I counted at least 3.

Hogg 5 missed tackles, Darcy 4 and Price 3. You are exposed more on the wing and FB of course. Still though, not great.

Tuipulotu did apparently pass 6 times, Harris twice and we all know about one of them.

[Tichtheid]

I've just finished watching it, Harris should have passed to Price, but Hogg was calling for it.

There are days when everything goes for you and France had one of those days, from the bounce of the ball to some borderline refereeing calls - re Gilchrist getting dung thrown at him for the lineout penalties, holding a man in the air line that is a penalty offence, France even got warned for it after the second time but they still got the penalty, the third time led up to the try just before half time. Yet Dickson also made a big deal of Price trying to milk a penalty which looked stone cold to me.

Finn was better than I originally thought yesterday and I paid particular attention to Kinghorn's passing due to the exchange last night, there was one bounce pass, nothing really wrong with it, Hogg collected it fine. The forward one was borderline I thought, it was under advantage and Kinghorn was trying to set Hoggy free on the outside - going by the cut of the pitch Kinghorn released it on the line and Hogg collected it about half way up the cut, so it went forward about two and half metres, a lot of that was momentum from Kinghorn moving forward anyway - it was the same for the scoring pass to vdM, you can see his hands moving back even though the ball moves forward.
There was one poor pass where the ball sort of fell out of his hands, but he was forcing the game for the 20 minutes he was on.
Everything else was fine.

Watching it again the score line flatters France, they did more than enough to win the game but the margin between the sides wasn't 19 points and six tries to two.

Our set piece was okay, I would love to see a proper camera shot of the last scrum before half time, the camera cut from the crowd to it and we saw Antonio flat out on his face and Schoey on his feet, yet Schoeman was penalised.


Darge was superb.

[Big D]

I've just finished watching it, Harris should have passed to Price, but Hogg was calling for it.

There are days when everything goes for you and France had one of those days, from the bounce of the ball to some borderline refereeing calls - re Gilchrist getting dung thrown at him for the lineout penalties, holding a man in the air line that is a penalty offence, France even got warned for it after the second time but they still got the penalty, the third time led up to the try just before half time.

It is a free kick offence. Arguably hitting the man early is dangerous play which is a more serious offence. Even if the ref was in the wrong, Gilchrist should know better than committing the exact same offence again.

[Yr Alban]

I've just finished watching it, Harris should have passed to Price, but Hogg was calling for it.

There are days when everything goes for you and France had one of those days, from the bounce of the ball to some borderline refereeing calls - re Gilchrist getting dung thrown at him for the lineout penalties, holding a man in the air line that is a penalty offence, France even got warned for it after the second time but they still got the penalty, the third time led up to the try just before half time. Yet Dickson also made a big deal of Price trying to milk a penalty which looked stone cold to me.

Finn was better than I originally thought yesterday and I paid particular attention to Kinghorn's passing due to the exchange last night, there was one bounce pass, nothing really wrong with it, Hogg collected it fine. The forward one was borderline I thought, it was under advantage and Kinghorn was trying to set Hoggy free on the outside - going by the cut of the pitch Kinghorn released it on the line and Hogg collected it about half way up the cut, so it went forward about two and half metres, a lot of that was momentum from Kinghorn moving forward anyway - it was the same for the scoring pass to vdM, you can see his hands moving back even though the ball moves forward.
There was one poor pass where the ball sort of fell out of his hands, but he was forcing the game for the 20 minutes he was on.
Everything else was fine.

Watching it again the score line flatters France, they did more than enough to win the game but the margin between the sides wasn't 19 points and six tries to two.

Our set piece was okay, I would love to see a proper camera shot of the last scrum before half time, the camera cut from the crowd to it and we saw Antonio flat out on his face and Schoey on his feet, yet Schoeman was penalised.


Darge was superb.

This was more or less word for word what I wanted to post last night, but it was late and I was struggling to find the words. I agree with all of it, especially the bit about everything going France’s way. Not just when they were attacking - you could argue the whole game turned on the Harris pass.

I maintain that we probably played the best rugby yesterday that we have in this year’s 6N, but it wasn’t enough.

Price not getting a penalty when he was obviously impeded was just mad. How can it be ‘milking’ when you’ve clearly been fouled?

[Tichtheid]

I've just finished watching it, Harris should have passed to Price, but Hogg was calling for it.

There are days when everything goes for you and France had one of those days, from the bounce of the ball to some borderline refereeing calls - re Gilchrist getting dung thrown at him for the lineout penalties, holding a man in the air line that is a penalty offence, France even got warned for it after the second time but they still got the penalty, the third time led up to the try just before half time.

It is a free kick offence. Arguably hitting the man early is dangerous play which is a more serious offence. Even if the ref was in the wrong, Gilchrist should know better than committing the exact same offence again.

Law 9, Foul Play

7. Unfair play

A player must not:
Intentionally infringe any law of the game.

Intentionally knock, place, push or throw the ball with arm or hand from the playing area.

Do anything that may lead the match officials to consider that an opponent has committed an infringement.
Sanction: Penalty.


edit, there is this in the lineout laws

Lift or support a team-mate. Players who do so must lower that player to the ground safely as soon as the ball is won by either team. Sanction: Free-kick.

however, under the unfair play rule there is a law about repeated offences for which the sanction is a penalty - France held Woki up in the air three times, the second time they were even warned about it but three times France were awarded the penalty.

[Big D]

I've just finished watching it, Harris should have passed to Price, but Hogg was calling for it.

There are days when everything goes for you and France had one of those days, from the bounce of the ball to some borderline refereeing calls - re Gilchrist getting dung thrown at him for the lineout penalties, holding a man in the air line that is a penalty offence, France even got warned for it after the second time but they still got the penalty, the third time led up to the try just before half time.

It is a free kick offence. Arguably hitting the man early is dangerous play which is a more serious offence. Even if the ref was in the wrong, Gilchrist should know better than committing the exact same offence again.

Law 9, Foul Play

7. Unfair play

A player must not:
Intentionally infringe any law of the game.

Intentionally knock, place, push or throw the ball with arm or hand from the playing area.

Do anything that may lead the match officials to consider that an opponent has committed an infringement.
Sanction: Penalty.


edit, there is this in the lineout laws

Lift or support a team-mate. Players who do so must lower that player to the ground safely as soon as the ball is won by either team. Sanction: Free-kick.

however, under the unfair play rule there is a law about repeated offences for which the sanction is a penalty - France held Woki up in the air three times, the second time they were even warned about it but three times France were awarded the penalty.

It is only repeated offences once a referee gives it as an offence. After the warning it would have been a free kick 1st. That doesn't excuse Gilchrist doing the same thing knowing the French were at it.

[Tichtheid]

It is a free kick offence. Arguably hitting the man early is dangerous play which is a more serious offence. Even if the ref was in the wrong, Gilchrist should know better than committing the exact same offence again.

Law 9, Foul Play

7. Unfair play

A player must not:
Intentionally infringe any law of the game.

Intentionally knock, place, push or throw the ball with arm or hand from the playing area.

Do anything that may lead the match officials to consider that an opponent has committed an infringement.
Sanction: Penalty.


edit, there is this in the lineout laws

Lift or support a team-mate. Players who do so must lower that player to the ground safely as soon as the ball is won by either team. Sanction: Free-kick.

however, under the unfair play rule there is a law about repeated offences for which the sanction is a penalty - France held Woki up in the air three times, the second time they were even warned about it but three times France were awarded the penalty.

It is only repeated offences once a referee gives it as an offence. That doesn't excuse Gilchrist doing the same thing knowing the French were at it.

If you watch it again you see Gilchrist hanging back, waiting for the French lifters to return Woki to the deck, especially the second one, the one where after awarding France the penalty he then warned them about keeping the man in the air.

He got that badly wrong.


23 mins 20 secs on the match clock https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... d-v-france


I don't even think it's Gilchrist that is penalised here