The Official Scottish Rugby Thread

[Tichtheid]

So good luck in the next round and I hope Edinburgh absolutely bury the Weegies in the 1872 so I can have some form of shallow victory being an old man originally from Edinburgh

That's the spirit

[weegie01]

Loads of tickets still available for the Edinburgh game tomorrow.

A lot of season ticket holders have obviously not bought tickets (so far) given the substantial number free in both stands.

I checked again, the crowd will be almost embarrassingly sparse unless there is an unlikely rush today.

[robmatic]

Loads of tickets still available for the Edinburgh game tomorrow.

A lot of season ticket holders have obviously not bought tickets (so far) given the substantial number free in both stands.

I checked again, the crowd will be almost embarrassingly sparse unless there is an unlikely rush today.

I guess 6 days is just too short notice to get people along on Easter weekend.

[Dogbert]

And From the West Coast...

Good ,solid , if not quite spectacular win for Glasgow over a pretty limited Newcastle side

The result was never in doubt , and a good few Glasgow tries went a begging , though to be fair Newcastle had a decent defence.

Steyn had a good game with a couple of tries , and had the Newcastle defence in all sorts of trouble all night

For Newcastle ,McGuigan may be the Premiership's top try scorer but his lineout was awful - but a fair bit was down to good Glasgow Pressure

Hope Cummings is OK , went off hobbling a bit

Onwards & Upwards

Can't get the stats on how many lineouts he's thrown into but McGuigan has thrown 199 times where Falcons have won the lineout and those stats are 2nd highest in the league. I would definately say that the poor darts this week were due to really good lineout pressure from Glasgow who I imagine have a good lineout steal percentage (think Ireland v Scotland where we are starved of a decent lineout platform at key points in the red zone). Our defense hasn't been to bad this season but it still gets stressed a bit too easy and gives away stupid penalties which brings on more pressure especially against well drilled teams ie most of the current GP top 6.

There is a reason that Glasgow are perenially in the Champions cup and Newcastle aren't some of it may be down to how the clubs/plkayers are funded, some probably down to better coaching setups and a set of tactics that suit the players and although I didnt expect us to win last night I thought Glasgow would win comfortably and it sounds like they did.

So good luck in the next round and I hope Edinburgh absolutely bury the Weegies in the 1872 so I can have some form of shallow victory being an old man originally from Edinburgh

Normally I always have grave doubts over resigning's (For Glasgow anyway) - see Nakawara - But Richie Gray has really been worth the money - he has started more games than practically any other Glasgow player this season 16 games - not bad for a 32 year old

He's been peerless in the line out , not only on our own throw, but really disruptive on the oppositions throw , decent in the loose , with some impressive steals and turn overs , and looks to provide a bit of grunt in the scrum

It was interesting to watch him warm up at Scotstoun recently before the Zebre game , going through his drills - looked in really good nick , and really focused - hopefully he has a few more seasons in him

[Slick]

Went down to the Heriots v Southern Knights game.

Was decent entertainment but I think it desperately needs a couple more teams.

Jack Mann, the Heriots 6, won motm and probably deserved it, but, a little depressingly, the SK 10, Chamberlain, was easily the classiest player on the pitch. The Heriots 10, Houston, was awful.

One great thing to see was the Heriots replacement 9 that came on, very young, looked excellent and a definite upgrade on the starting 9. He looked so nervous waiting to come on but when he crossed the line took control, it was very impressive

[weegie01]

15-19 halftime.

Edinburgh doing their level best to give this to Bath. Sloppy mistakes, dumb penalties and no control at the base of the ruck losing the ball several times. Including letting Bath give through onto it for a try.

Bath can't cope when Edinburgh run it, but far too little of that.

[robmatic]

Went down to the Heriots v Southern Knights game.

Was decent entertainment but I think it desperately needs a couple more teams.

Jack Mann, the Heriots 6, won motm and probably deserved it, but, a little depressingly, the SK 10, Chamberlain, was easily the classiest player on the pitch. The Heriots 10, Houston, was awful.

One great thing to see was the Heriots replacement 9 that came on, very young, looked excellent and a definite upgrade on the starting 9. He looked so nervous waiting to come on but when he crossed the line took control, it was very impressive

And Chamberlain is in the Edinburgh squad but nowhere near the matchday squad this season.

I think the replacement 9 for Heriots would be Jed Gelderbloom, the son of Glenn Gelderbloom who played for Leicester a few years back.

[robmatic]

15-19 halftime.

Edinburgh doing their level best to give this to Bath. Sloppy mistakes, dumb penalties and no control at the base of the ruck losing the ball several times. Including letting Bath give through onto it for a try.

Bath can't cope when Edinburgh run it, but far too little of that.

Discipline is poor and they are spending too much time in their own half as a result.

Kinghorn is absolutely lethal when he gets through a gap though.

[weegie01]

41-19
Never in doubt.

[Big D]

Should have went rather than meeting pals for a meal.

[Tichtheid]

Reading through comments here and elsewhere it sounds like we were inaccurate at first but dangerous, when we tidied up our breakdown we ran riot.

That is a good result, there were a good few players back for them.

[KingBlairhorn]

Dragons beating Scarlets a very good result for Edinburgh too!

[dpedin]

Reading through comments here and elsewhere it sounds like we were inaccurate at first but dangerous, when we tidied up our breakdown we ran riot.

That is a good result, there were a good few players back for them.

Embra were very sloppy in the first half and plain awful fielding restarts. However it looked like they knew Bath would run out of steam and in the 2nd half and just upped a couple of gears, played a bit faster and just put Bath to bed. To be fair Bath probably marginally edged it in the 1st half but Embra were careless and just didn't get going with their multi phase game. Bath's needle was at empty early into the 2nd half and Embra found a bit more accuracy, got faster ball at the breakdown, cleaned out better and Kinghorn just scared the shit out of the Bath defence. Embra looked like they knew their superior fitness, particularly in the pack, and organisation would get them over the line and it did. Bath, despite all the so called big names, looked ragged, unfit and poorly organised in defence. Their back 3 might be ok in attack, but not tonight, but defensively they were all over the place and the big wingers with the reputations were caught in no mans land time and time again. They looked poorly coached and low on confidence. Next up Wasps for Embra? Should be interesting

[Tichtheid]

Reading through comments here and elsewhere it sounds like we were inaccurate at first but dangerous, when we tidied up our breakdown we ran riot.

That is a good result, there were a good few players back for them.

Embra were very sloppy in the first half and plain awful fielding restarts. However it looked like they knew Bath would run out of steam and in the 2nd half and just upped a couple of gears, played a bit faster and just put Bath to bed. To be fair Bath probably marginally edged it in the 1st half but Embra were careless and just didn't get going with their multi phase game. Bath's needle was at empty early into the 2nd half and Embra found a bit more accuracy, got faster ball at the breakdown, cleaned out better and Kinghorn just scared the shit out of the Bath defence. Embra looked like they knew their superior fitness, particularly in the pack, and organisation would get them over the line and it did. Bath, despite all the so called big names, looked ragged, unfit and poorly organised in defence. Their back 3 might be ok in attack, but not tonight, but defensively they were all over the place and the big wingers with the reputations were caught in no mans land time and time again. They looked poorly coached and low on confidence. Next up Wasps for Embra? Should be interesting

Elsewhere I read Maggie had another big game.

He has frustrated the hell out of me for a good few seasons now, ever since that shoulder injury v Toulon until when he was bossing every game against anyone he came up against.

Where is he off to? Bristol was it?

[Slick]

Went down to the Heriots v Southern Knights game.

Was decent entertainment but I think it desperately needs a couple more teams.

Jack Mann, the Heriots 6, won motm and probably deserved it, but, a little depressingly, the SK 10, Chamberlain, was easily the classiest player on the pitch. The Heriots 10, Houston, was awful.

One great thing to see was the Heriots replacement 9 that came on, very young, looked excellent and a definite upgrade on the starting 9. He looked so nervous waiting to come on but when he crossed the line took control, it was very impressive

And Chamberlain is in the Edinburgh squad but nowhere near the matchday squad this season.

I think the replacement 9 for Heriots would be Jed Gelderbloom, the son of Glenn Gelderbloom who played for Leicester a few years back.

That’s what I mean by it being slightly depressing, Chamberlain looked the best player but also looked nowhere near a pro player.

Looks like it was Gelderbloom. Thought he was a talent

[Slick]

Reading through comments here and elsewhere it sounds like we were inaccurate at first but dangerous, when we tidied up our breakdown we ran riot.

That is a good result, there were a good few players back for them.

Embra were very sloppy in the first half and plain awful fielding restarts. However it looked like they knew Bath would run out of steam and in the 2nd half and just upped a couple of gears, played a bit faster and just put Bath to bed. To be fair Bath probably marginally edged it in the 1st half but Embra were careless and just didn't get going with their multi phase game. Bath's needle was at empty early into the 2nd half and Embra found a bit more accuracy, got faster ball at the breakdown, cleaned out better and Kinghorn just scared the shit out of the Bath defence. Embra looked like they knew their superior fitness, particularly in the pack, and organisation would get them over the line and it did. Bath, despite all the so called big names, looked ragged, unfit and poorly organised in defence. Their back 3 might be ok in attack, but not tonight, but defensively they were all over the place and the big wingers with the reputations were caught in no mans land time and time again. They looked poorly coached and low on confidence. Next up Wasps for Embra? Should be interesting

More evidence of England over hyping players and the GP

[weegie01]

My son who was with me tonight takes after his mother. He is gregarious, networks well, and appears to know everyone in rugby. We were not in our usual seats and were between the Bath analysts and players. As is so often the case, as we went to our seats my son stopped to speak to someone he knew. I was surprised when I turned round to discover it was one of the Bath analysts, with whom he'd been at university. We spent some time talking to his pal and other Bath staff after the game.

I mention all this to illustrate the following points.

Bath expected to win. Not as in every teams 'expects' to win when they go out, they really looked at this game, with the team they had out, as a way of getting something out of a poor season with a run in the Challenge Cup. They were shell shocked at the end, some of their players were as disconsolate as I have ever seen a team leave the pitch.

To pick up Slick's point, it was admitted they really did not know much about a few Edinburgh players, and under estimated those they did know. They expected their pack to overwhelm Edinburgh upfront, and though their backs were not as fit as they might be through injury etc, they expected them to power over Edinburgh off the platform built by the forwards. They were utterly confident Faletau, Underhill and Bayliss would win the back row battle, which is where they felt Edinburgh's biggest threat lay. Bayliss was excellent, but they lost the battle.

They did however manage to mess up the breakdown, especially in the first half. Notwithstanding the above, they did not want to get into a jackalling battle and effectively stopped that in the first half.

I am frankly unable to work out how a team with the talent Bath have were so poor in the second half. They were not that great in the first and it was as much Edinburgh's failings that gave them the lead. At half time they were confident they were going to win, but they just fell apart in the second half. Some of it was clearly lack of confidence, but some was just not doing the basics, and not working hard enough. One of the analysts admitted they were surprised at the level of aggression from Edinburgh, and to be fair, I was pleasantly surprised myself. A good few Edinburgh players were as aggressive and, perhaps as importantly dogged, as I have ever seen. Once they had the bit between their teeth, Bath were getting harried all over the pitch.

There is much to improve in the Edinburgh performance, but the MotM could have gone to several players. No issues with Schoeman getting it, but had it gone to ever more impressive Muncaster, or Kinghorn, or Boffelli, it would have been equally merited.

van der Walt has had a lot of stick recently. I thought the time on the pitch tonight was as well as he has played for Edinburgh. He ran, passed and kicked and tackled well, and I can't recall a mistake.

Edinburgh need to tighten up and cut out the mistakes or better teams will punish them, but the positives very much outweigh the negatives.

Edit
Just read Tichtheid, yes Maggie was good again.

[weegie01]

Went down to the Heriots v Southern Knights game.

Was decent entertainment but I think it desperately needs a couple more teams.

Jack Mann, the Heriots 6, won motm and probably deserved it, but, a little depressingly, the SK 10, Chamberlain, was easily the classiest player on the pitch. The Heriots 10, Houston, was awful.

One great thing to see was the Heriots replacement 9 that came on, very young, looked excellent and a definite upgrade on the starting 9. He looked so nervous waiting to come on but when he crossed the line took control, it was very impressive

And Chamberlain is in the Edinburgh squad but nowhere near the matchday squad this season.

I think the replacement 9 for Heriots would be Jed Gelderbloom, the son of Glenn Gelderbloom who played for Leicester a few years back.

That’s what I mean by it being slightly depressing, Chamberlain looked the best player but also looked nowhere near a pro player.

Looks like it was Gelderbloom. Thought he was a talent.

There is a rumour that Chamberlain is being dropped by Edinburgh at the end of the season.

Some time after Cockerill joined Edinburgh he told Mann he was the back rower he was most excited about coaching. Mann turned out to be made of chocolate. He probably only managed the equivalent of 4 games in three years before he was dropped.

Cockerill told him go off, spend time in Super 6 or the Championship, and if he could get his body sorted out come back in a year or two.

In his first game for Heriots he had a career threatening, and possibly life altering, head injury. He was told it was the end of his rugby career. But he recovered better than expected, and is back playing. Ironically, the break appears to have done him good in that his body has had time to recover fully. He is playing with a smile on his face as only a few months ago he thought he'd never be back on a rugby pitch.

[westport]

15-19 halftime.

Edinburgh doing their level best to give this to Bath. Sloppy mistakes, dumb penalties and no control at the base of the ruck losing the ball several times. Including letting Bath give through onto it for a try.

Bath can't cope when Edinburgh run it, but far too little of that.

Yes it was a weird first half but what a second once they stuck to what they were supposed to be doing. Schooo and Kinghorn ran them ragged.

[weegie01]

The crowd was better than I expected although I don't know the numbers.

Hopefully the place will be rocking for Wasps.

[Biffer]

The crowd was better than I expected although I don't know the numbers.

Hopefully the place will be rocking for Wasps.

Just over 5000.

Really wouldn’t have wanted to be that Bath fullback when Schoeman had a twenty yard run at him at full speed

Very good win that.

[weegie01]

The crowd was better than I expected although I don't know the numbers.

Hopefully the place will be rocking for Wasps.

Just over 5000.

Really wouldn’t have wanted to be that Bath fullback when Schoeman had a twenty yard run at him at full speed

Very good win that.

Which is in itself a tribute to how things have changed. Not so long 5k would be a very good crowd.

[Slick]

The crowd was better than I expected although I don't know the numbers.

Hopefully the place will be rocking for Wasps.

I’ll definitely be there for Wasps, I despise that club!

[dpedin]

My son who was with me tonight takes after his mother. He is gregarious, networks well, and appears to know everyone in rugby. We were not in our usual seats and were between the Bath analysts and players. As is so often the case, as we went to our seats my son stopped to speak to someone he knew. I was surprised when I turned round to discover it was one of the Bath analysts, with whom he'd been at university. We spent some time talking to his pal and other Bath staff after the game.

I mention all this to illustrate the following points.

Bath expected to win. Not as in every teams 'expects' to win when they go out, they really looked at this game, with the team they had out, as a way of getting something out of a poor season with a run in the Challenge Cup. They were shell shocked at the end, some of their players were as disconsolate as I have ever seen a team leave the pitch.

To pick up Slick's point, it was admitted they really did not know much about a few Edinburgh players, and under estimated those they did know. They expected their pack to overwhelm Edinburgh upfront, and though their backs were not as fit as they might be through injury etc, they expected them to power over Edinburgh off the platform built by the forwards. They were utterly confident Faletau, Underhill and Bayliss would win the back row battle, which is where they felt Edinburgh's biggest threat lay. Bayliss was excellent, but they lost the battle.

They did however manage to mess up the breakdown, especially in the first half. Notwithstanding the above, they did not want to get into a jackalling battle and effectively stopped that in the first half.

I am frankly unable to work out how a team with the talent Bath have were so poor in the second half. They were not that great in the first and it was as much Edinburgh's failings that gave them the lead. At half time they were confident they were going to win, but they just fell apart in the second half. Some of it was clearly lack of confidence, but some was just not doing the basics, and not working hard enough. One of the analysts admitted they were surprised at the level of aggression from Edinburgh, and to be fair, I was pleasantly surprised myself. A good few Edinburgh players were as aggressive and, perhaps as importantly dogged, as I have ever seen. Once they had the bit between their teeth, Bath were getting harried all over the pitch.

There is much to improve in the Edinburgh performance, but the MotM could have gone to several players. No issues with Schoeman getting it, but had it gone to ever more impressive Muncaster, or Kinghorn, or Boffelli, it would have been equally merited.

van der Walt has had a lot of stick recently. I thought the time on the pitch tonight was as well as he has played for Edinburgh. He ran, passed and kicked and tackled well, and I can't recall a mistake.

Edinburgh need to tighten up and cut out the mistakes or better teams will punish them, but the positives very much outweigh the negatives.

Edit
Just read Tichtheid, yes Maggie was good again.

Interesting - thanks for insight. I feel that Bath may have a slightly inflated confidence about some of their players. Spencer and Bailey were poor at half back, their centres were pretty average and as I said previously their back 3 couldn't defend to save themselves, good under high ball and running forward but awful defensively. Their pack was strong in first half but just ran out of steam and Falatau was a big disappointment for me. As the game went on their pack struggled to get to the breakdown and were even slower getting set in defensive lines, we just kept changing point of contact and made the most of mismatches, dog legs, gaps and overlaps in the last 30 mins. If that is their best 15 then Bath need a lot of work to get fitter, better organised in defence and perhaps a bit more honest about their overall ability?

[weegie01]

I had a look at the Bath supporters site, they were less bullish than the staff we spoke to. I have seen Bath games once or twice, but had not picked up that falling apart in the second half is what they do. According to the fans site, they have scored 3 points in the last 3 second halves they have played.

[Big D]

Some nice stuff in there.

Not sure the Bath player was onside before their 2nd try but Vellacott shouldn't be allowing that to happen at the back of a ruck.

[KingBlairhorn]

Some nice stuff in there.

Not sure the Bath player was onside before their 2nd try but Vellacott shouldn't be allowing that to happen at the back of a ruck.

I wouldn’t say so either but very smart play from underhill and shoddy defence from Edinburgh. Sometimes those decisions go for you, sometimes they go against you. They always go for the better teams because they aren’t allowed to happen in the first place.

[robmatic]

My son who was with me tonight takes after his mother. He is gregarious, networks well, and appears to know everyone in rugby. We were not in our usual seats and were between the Bath analysts and players. As is so often the case, as we went to our seats my son stopped to speak to someone he knew. I was surprised when I turned round to discover it was one of the Bath analysts, with whom he'd been at university. We spent some time talking to his pal and other Bath staff after the game.

I mention all this to illustrate the following points.

Bath expected to win. Not as in every teams 'expects' to win when they go out, they really looked at this game, with the team they had out, as a way of getting something out of a poor season with a run in the Challenge Cup. They were shell shocked at the end, some of their players were as disconsolate as I have ever seen a team leave the pitch.

To pick up Slick's point, it was admitted they really did not know much about a few Edinburgh players, and under estimated those they did know. They expected their pack to overwhelm Edinburgh upfront, and though their backs were not as fit as they might be through injury etc, they expected them to power over Edinburgh off the platform built by the forwards. They were utterly confident Faletau, Underhill and Bayliss would win the back row battle, which is where they felt Edinburgh's biggest threat lay. Bayliss was excellent, but they lost the battle.

They did however manage to mess up the breakdown, especially in the first half. Notwithstanding the above, they did not want to get into a jackalling battle and effectively stopped that in the first half.

I am frankly unable to work out how a team with the talent Bath have were so poor in the second half. They were not that great in the first and it was as much Edinburgh's failings that gave them the lead. At half time they were confident they were going to win, but they just fell apart in the second half. Some of it was clearly lack of confidence, but some was just not doing the basics, and not working hard enough. One of the analysts admitted they were surprised at the level of aggression from Edinburgh, and to be fair, I was pleasantly surprised myself. A good few Edinburgh players were as aggressive and, perhaps as importantly dogged, as I have ever seen. Once they had the bit between their teeth, Bath were getting harried all over the pitch.

There is much to improve in the Edinburgh performance, but the MotM could have gone to several players. No issues with Schoeman getting it, but had it gone to ever more impressive Muncaster, or Kinghorn, or Boffelli, it would have been equally merited.

van der Walt has had a lot of stick recently. I thought the time on the pitch tonight was as well as he has played for Edinburgh. He ran, passed and kicked and tackled well, and I can't recall a mistake.

Edinburgh need to tighten up and cut out the mistakes or better teams will punish them, but the positives very much outweigh the negatives.

Edit
Just read Tichtheid, yes Maggie was good again.

I wasn't too impressed with Bath from what I saw last night, they were really ineffective going forward, most of the time we were just gifting them territory from penalties and being unable to deal with the ball in the air.

It really does say something about Premiership blinkers if they thought they would overwhelm us up front, we were pack-oriented for years until Blair took over this season and we play against some much stronger packs than Bath in our regular league games.

Re. Jaco, that pick up and fizzed pass for Boffelli's second try was excellent.

[inactionman]

Some very confusing posts here. Bath expected to win? We're bottom of the premiership, shorn of confidence, and have made a habit of starting well and disapppearing completely in the second half - issues with complacency that the incoming chef exec has already identified but will take some time to sort.

I expected Bath to lose, like we've consistently lost all season.
Record defeats left, right and centre.

No idea where this overhyping is, to be perfectly frank this England arrogance trope is getting pretty fucking boring now, hence this rant

And, yes, pretty much every bath fan would agree there something very rotten in the state of Denmark as the current state of the team does not add up to the collective ability of the players.

Still, a very handsome win for Edinburgh, against what is bath's strongest team on paper.

Rant over.

[robmatic]

I expected Bath to lose, like we've consistently lost all season.
Record defeats left, right and centre.

No idea where this overhyping is, to be perfectly frank this England arrogance trope is getting pretty fucking boring now, hence this rant

I don't know where EPRC are finding their commentators but they are all English and the guy last night spent the preamble talking about how exciting Bath are and didn't seem to know anything about Edinburgh, apart from their scattering of good players who used to play in the Premiership.

[Slick]

Some very confusing posts here. Bath expected to win? We're bottom of the premiership, shorn of confidence, and have made a habit of starting well and disapppearing completely in the second half - issues with complacency that the incoming chef exec has already identified but will take some time to sort.

I expected Bath to lose, like we've consistently lost all season.
Record defeats left, right and centre.

No idea where this overhyping is, to be perfectly frank this England arrogance trope is getting pretty fucking boring now, hence this rant

And, yes, pretty much every bath fan would agree there something very rotten in the state of Denmark as the current state of the team does not add up to the collective ability of the players.

Still, a very handsome win for Edinburgh, against what is bath's strongest team on paper.

Rant over.

Can’t speak for anyone else but my post wasn’t about English arrogance, it was about the overhyping of how good the G Premiership is and, in my opinion, the over hyping of fairly bog standard players in it.

The English arrogance thing is a given

[Slick]

Some nice stuff in there.

Not sure the Bath player was onside before their 2nd try but Vellacott shouldn't be allowing that to happen at the back of a ruck.

Kinghorn is devastating in that broken field play, superb to watch.

And fair enough to Jaco, that pass for the try was wonderful

[KingBlairhorn]

Some very confusing posts here. Bath expected to win? We're bottom of the premiership, shorn of confidence, and have made a habit of starting well and disapppearing completely in the second half - issues with complacency that the incoming chef exec has already identified but will take some time to sort.

I expected Bath to lose, like we've consistently lost all season.
Record defeats left, right and centre.

No idea where this overhyping is, to be perfectly frank this England arrogance trope is getting pretty fucking boring now, hence this rant

And, yes, pretty much every bath fan would agree there something very rotten in the state of Denmark as the current state of the team does not add up to the collective ability of the players.

Still, a very handsome win for Edinburgh, against what is bath's strongest team on paper.

Rant over.

Did you read the post the these comments all come from? The expectation to win came directly from the bath back room team; they were surprised that their pack didn’t just run over the top of Edinburgh’s.

As it happens I very much agree that the Prem is overhyped, or rather to be honest that the URC is undervalued. Every team is packed full of internationals and, despite what the Welsh say, most of them play week in week out. The standard is very very good.

[inactionman]

Some very confusing posts here. Bath expected to win? We're bottom of the premiership, shorn of confidence, and have made a habit of starting well and disapppearing completely in the second half - issues with complacency that the incoming chef exec has already identified but will take some time to sort.

I expected Bath to lose, like we've consistently lost all season.
Record defeats left, right and centre.

No idea where this overhyping is, to be perfectly frank this England arrogance trope is getting pretty fucking boring now, hence this rant

And, yes, pretty much every bath fan would agree there something very rotten in the state of Denmark as the current state of the team does not add up to the collective ability of the players.

Still, a very handsome win for Edinburgh, against what is bath's strongest team on paper.

Rant over.

Did you read the post the these comments all come from? The expectation to win came directly from the bath back room team; they were surprised that their pack didn’t just run over the top of Edinburgh’s.

As it happens I very much agree that the Prem is overhyped, or rather to be honest that the URC is undervalued. Every team is packed full of internationals and, despite what the Welsh say, most of them play week in week out. The standard is very very good.

If any professional player, coach or trainer didn't go into a game eanticipating success I'd be surprised, to put it mildly.

Im also a bit surprised that the expectation was to win up front, as this is where Bath have been bested pretty much every time. Its why attwood has been re-signed for next season and why Watson et Al have (if reports are correct) not offered huge extentions as the resource requirement is up front.

[KingBlairhorn]

Some very confusing posts here. Bath expected to win? We're bottom of the premiership, shorn of confidence, and have made a habit of starting well and disapppearing completely in the second half - issues with complacency that the incoming chef exec has already identified but will take some time to sort.

I expected Bath to lose, like we've consistently lost all season.
Record defeats left, right and centre.

No idea where this overhyping is, to be perfectly frank this England arrogance trope is getting pretty fucking boring now, hence this rant

And, yes, pretty much every bath fan would agree there something very rotten in the state of Denmark as the current state of the team does not add up to the collective ability of the players.

Still, a very handsome win for Edinburgh, against what is bath's strongest team on paper.

Rant over.

Did you read the post the these comments all come from? The expectation to win came directly from the bath back room team; they were surprised that their pack didn’t just run over the top of Edinburgh’s.

As it happens I very much agree that the Prem is overhyped, or rather to be honest that the URC is undervalued. Every team is packed full of internationals and, despite what the Welsh say, most of them play week in week out. The standard is very very good.

If any professional player, coach or trainer didn't go into a game eanticipating success I'd be surprised, to put it mildly.

Im also a bit surprised that the expectation was to win up front, as this is where Bath have been bested pretty much every time. Its why attwood has been re-signed for next season and why Watson et Al have (if reports are correct) not offered huge extentions as the resource requirement is up front.

There’s expecting to win based on a well thought through gameplan built to both your own strengths and the oppositions weaknesses, then there is expecting to simply turn up and win. I don’t know which this was, maybe weegie can say, but that was more or less the discussion taking place that you were surprised at. I was simply explaining the context.

[Jock42]

Good posts weegie.

Have just finished watching the game. I think with the way that nothing was going for them in the 1st half they would have lost confidence and the match previously. Its really clear to see there's a much better ethos around that team.

[Jock42]

Anyone know when the fixtures are finalised and if they'll be on BT Sport?

[Biffer]

Anyone know when the fixtures are finalised and if they'll be on BT Sport?

Probably tonight, and yes

[Biffer]

Anyone know when the fixtures are finalised and if they'll be on BT Sport?

Probably tonight, and yes

If I was going to guess, I’d say that the Gloucester v Sarries game will be Sunday lunchtime as BT Sport quite often have their challenge cup game at that time, and then the two games with the French teams will be Saturday, leaving Edinburgh v Wasps on Friday night.

[weegie01]

There’s expecting to win based on a well thought through gameplan built to both your own strengths and the oppositions weaknesses, then there is expecting to simply turn up and win. I don’t know which this was, maybe weegie can say, but that was more or less the discussion taking place that you were surprised at. I was simply explaining the context.

The former not the the latter.

Too late to elaborate further so I may come back to this.