The Official Scottish Rugby Thread

[OomStruisbaai]

Duhan want to stay in George.

This is a revelation.

Who’s George?

Duhan grew up in George, South Africa. It's on the garden route with the best beaches around.He and Gelant, the Stormers 23 that rip Glasgow on Friday, was in the same age group Outeniqua High School team. They were a deadly schoolboy combination, took Outeniqua to nr 1 in the SA Schools rankings .

[FalseBayFC]

Who’s George?

[OomStruisbaai]

Astonishing as it is to me, that is actually true.

It's a shame as I prefer when the project players love Scotland - which isn't to say Duhan doesn't but if you don't like Edinburgh I find it hard to believe you'll want to live in Dundee/Aberdeen etc. But, I suppose that it's unlikely all project players would rather stay here when they're retired.

Yeah, compare it to Nel who clearly is very happy being in Scotland.

WP is a Namaqualander like myself. We are country boys and fit in everywhere as long as we can braai and eat enough meat. Duhan is a bit of an arrogant spoiled brat.

[Slick]

Astonishing as it is to me, that is actually true.

It's a shame as I prefer when the project players love Scotland - which isn't to say Duhan doesn't but if you don't like Edinburgh I find it hard to believe you'll want to live in Dundee/Aberdeen etc. But, I suppose that it's unlikely all project players would rather stay here when they're retired.

Yeah, compare it to Nel who clearly is very happy being in Scotland.

And schoooio who is now officially a Hearts supporter

[OomStruisbaai]

It's a shame as I prefer when the project players love Scotland - which isn't to say Duhan doesn't but if you don't like Edinburgh I find it hard to believe you'll want to live in Dundee/Aberdeen etc. But, I suppose that it's unlikely all project players would rather stay here when they're retired.

Yeah, compare it to Nel who clearly is very happy being in Scotland.

And schoooio who is now officially a Hearts supporter

He is an Affie boy. They have a proud rugby culture (even AB de Villiers support them along the rugby field last weekend). He understand loyalty to club and country.

[robmatic]

Rugby players are the same as any other profession. They sometimes make decisions based on work factors, sometimes on personal, sometimes on a mix. Quite often people look for rugby reasons for a move when there were none, or they were only a contributory factor.

CHH left for non rugby reasons. Cockerill and others went a long way to saving his career by brokering a move to Saracens. DvdM left partly for money reasons, but also partly for personal ones. Even after he left he went on record as saying Cockerill had saved his career.

Sutherland however heartily disliked Cockerill and there was no way they were both staying in the same club.

Matt Scott I know no more than anyone, other than he has signed his last contract with Leicester, at the end of which he intends to come back for a last season at Currie to end his career where it began.

I heard Duhan wasn't that keen on Edinburgh as a city.

Astonishing as it is to me, that is actually true.

Yeah, I think Edinburgh is a great place to live but different strokes for different folks, I guess. Even now, as much as I like the city, I don't miss Scottish winters. Or the food.

[Margin__Walker]

Duhan basically being impossible to tackle. Daylight in second place here

[Tichtheid]

Yeah, I think Edinburgh is a great place to live but different strokes for different folks, I guess. Even now, as much as I like the city, I don't miss Scottish winters. Or the food.

The winters are dreich right enough, but the food is very different now. One of my offspring lives in Leith, Leith ffs, you can eat from anywhere in the world there, Valvona and Crolla deli is on Elm Row, the place is hoaching with swanky restaurants, bagel bars and all sorts.

It's not all fighting sailors and prostitutes any more

[Tichtheid]

Duhan basically being impossible to tackle. Daylight in second place here

He won the player of the season award in the Pro 14 for 2019/20, as voted for by captains and vice captains of all the sides in the league

The 25-year-old scored seven tries and set up two and also topped the Opta stats charts for defenders beaten (76), metres made (906) and clean breaks (31). His average of 5.6 defenders beaten per game set a new record for the Guinness Pro14, breaking his own existing record of 5.3 set in 2017-18. His team-mate Bill Mata earned the accolade last season.

[I like neeps]

Duhan basically being impossible to tackle. Daylight in second place here

Kyle Rowe! What an incredible story and I'm very happy to see him do so well.

Not to get all English rugby forum but I've always thought Rotimi Segun looked a very good player and should maybe leave Sarries to be a week to week starter.

[I like neeps]

Yeah, compare it to Nel who clearly is very happy being in Scotland.

And schoooio who is now officially a Hearts supporter

He is an Affie boy. They have a proud rugby culture (even AB de Villiers support them along the rugby field last weekend). He understand loyalty to club and country.

Great insight into SA culture - thank you.

Not only Nel - you have guys like Tim Visser too. Sean Maitland is also a pretty passionate Scotland supporter in football etc which likely isn't always the case.

[OomStruisbaai]

Josh Strauss surely was also a great servant for Scotland. He is an x Paul Roser who went the long way like WP Nel to the top level.

His beard surely helped him.

[Margin__Walker]

Duhan basically being impossible to tackle. Daylight in second place here

He won the player of the season award in the Pro 14 for 2019/20, as voted for by captains and vice captains of all the sides in the league

The 25-year-old scored seven tries and set up two and also topped the Opta stats charts for defenders beaten (76), metres made (906) and clean breaks (31). His average of 5.6 defenders beaten per game set a new record for the Guinness Pro14, breaking his own existing record of 5.3 set in 2017-18. His team-mate Bill Mata earned the accolade last season.

Was funny watching him in the game against LI a few months ago. In that one he didn't actually make a huge amount of ground, but I've never seen a player bounce as many would be tacklers in one game.

[Margin__Walker]

Kyle Rowe! What an incredible story and I'm very happy to see him do so well.

Not to get all English rugby forum but I've always thought Rotimi Segun looked a very good player and should maybe leave Sarries to be a week to week starter.

Yeah, Kyle's doing great. Majestic mullet too. Segun's not 100 miles off being first choice at Sarries. He should probably stick around as guys like Maitland and Lewington aren't getting any younger.

[Slick]

And schoooio who is now officially a Hearts supporter

He is an Affie boy. They have a proud rugby culture (even AB de Villiers support them along the rugby field last weekend). He understand loyalty to club and country.

Great insight into SA culture - thank you.

Not only Nel - you have guys like Tim Visser too. Sean Maitland is also a pretty passionate Scotland supporter in football etc which likely isn't always the case.

Lineen certainly did his bit of payback as well. David Denton seems to be enjoying Edinburgh life (I know he's from Zim)

[Slick]

Yeah, I think Edinburgh is a great place to live but different strokes for different folks, I guess. Even now, as much as I like the city, I don't miss Scottish winters. Or the food.

The winters are dreich right enough, but the food is very different now. One of my offspring lives in Leith, Leith ffs, you can eat from anywhere in the world there, Valvona and Crolla deli is on Elm Row, the place is hoaching with swanky restaurants, bagel bars and all sorts.

It's not all fighting sailors and prostitutes any more

My only real complaint with winter is that it drags on for 4 or 5 weeks more than is necessary, but plenty of crisp blue sky days which I love.

Totally agree on the food. There are still too many pubs and cafes pumping out shite but the produce you can buy now is excellent and plenty of very good places to eat for all budgets.

[robmatic]

Yeah, I think Edinburgh is a great place to live but different strokes for different folks, I guess. Even now, as much as I like the city, I don't miss Scottish winters. Or the food.

The winters are dreich right enough, but the food is very different now. One of my offspring lives in Leith, Leith ffs, you can eat from anywhere in the world there, Valvona and Crolla deli is on Elm Row, the place is hoaching with swanky restaurants, bagel bars and all sorts.

It's not all fighting sailors and prostitutes any more

My only real complaint with winter is that it drags on for 4 or 5 weeks more than is necessary, but plenty of crisp blue sky days which I love.

Totally agree on the food. There are still too many pubs and cafes pumping out shite but the produce you can buy now is excellent and plenty of very good places to eat for all budgets.

The short days aren't great in winter. When you go to the office in the dark and leave in the dark, that's grim.

I am maybe being a bit unfair on the food, Edinburgh has relatively good restaurants and I always ate well (and cheaply) otherwise because I could cook. But UK food culture (it's not just a Scottish thing as far as I'm concerned) has its issues. My diet is considerably better in Turkey.

[Slick]

The winters are dreich right enough, but the food is very different now. One of my offspring lives in Leith, Leith ffs, you can eat from anywhere in the world there, Valvona and Crolla deli is on Elm Row, the place is hoaching with swanky restaurants, bagel bars and all sorts.

It's not all fighting sailors and prostitutes any more

My only real complaint with winter is that it drags on for 4 or 5 weeks more than is necessary, but plenty of crisp blue sky days which I love.

Totally agree on the food. There are still too many pubs and cafes pumping out shite but the produce you can buy now is excellent and plenty of very good places to eat for all budgets.

The short days aren't great in winter. When you go to the office in the dark and leave in the dark, that's grim.

I am maybe being a bit unfair on the food, Edinburgh has relatively good restaurants and I always ate well (and cheaply) otherwise because I could cook. But UK food culture (it's not just a Scottish thing as far as I'm concerned) has its issues. My diet is considerably better in Turkey.

Funnily enough it's mainly middle eastern/turkish food that we cook here, love it and easy to get the kids to eat

[I like neeps]

Josh Strauss surely was also a great servant for Scotland. He is an x Paul Roser who went the long way like WP Nel to the top level.

His beard surely helped him.

For Glasgow yeah, don't think he was every great for Scotland national team. Punctured a kidney in a match Vs France once and played through it, which was incredible.

[Slick]

Josh Strauss surely was also a great servant for Scotland. He is an x Paul Roser who went the long way like WP Nel to the top level.

His beard surely helped him.

For Glasgow yeah, don't think he was every great for Scotland national team. Punctured a kidney in a match Vs France once and played through it, which was incredible.

Didn't he keep coming back and playing brilliantly for the first game then go missing.

[I like neeps]

Josh Strauss surely was also a great servant for Scotland. He is an x Paul Roser who went the long way like WP Nel to the top level.

His beard surely helped him.

For Glasgow yeah, don't think he was every great for Scotland national team. Punctured a kidney in a match Vs France once and played through it, which was incredible.

Didn't he keep coming back and playing brilliantly for the first game then go missing.

Aye he never put two games together. Wasn't big enough and carried too upright to really make an impact at international level.

[Biffer]

The crisp cold days in the winter on the East Coast are fantastic (although too short) hybrid working makes the short days better I find, you see more daylight.

Got to balance the short days with the long summer evenings as well

[robmatic]

For Glasgow yeah, don't think he was every great for Scotland national team. Punctured a kidney in a match Vs France once and played through it, which was incredible.

Didn't he keep coming back and playing brilliantly for the first game then go missing.

Aye he never put two games together. Wasn't big enough and carried too upright to really make an impact at international level.

One of those players who are great at club level but don't step up. Cornell du Preez is maybe a bit similar, he was outstanding for Edinburgh and an absolute trooper but a bit anonymous when playing for the national team.

[Tichtheid]

Didn't he keep coming back and playing brilliantly for the first game then go missing.

Aye he never put two games together. Wasn't big enough and carried too upright to really make an impact at international level.

One of those players who are great at club level but don't step up. Cornell du Preez is maybe a bit similar, he was outstanding for Edinburgh and an absolute trooper but a bit anonymous when playing for the national team.

du Preez suffered a horrific lower leg injury whilst at Edinburgh, his foot was practically left hanging by soft tissue. He came back well and for me one of the highlights was him catching Johnny May with a tap tackle in the wee cup final.

He and Strauss were both good at club level, as has been said. I never really got the impression du Preez was seen a project player, whereas Strauss was - that's my recollection anyway.

This post reminded me of Jordan Venter, so I looked him up, he's had a couple of starts for Bath, I hope he does well there.

[Biffer]

Very few tickets left for Edinburgh v Ulster, great to see. I think it'll be a cracking atmosphere, hope we can get a result. Unfortunately I'm not going to be there as I'm overseas.

[Big D]

Strauss came in quickly after the Masoe deal fell through in the January after Glasgow thought they had him IIRC. Strauss ticked the box of potential project player but he likely wouldn't have signed if Masoe signed on the dotted line.

Strauss had the odd good game for Scotland but for me his ball carrying height was a major issue.

Du Preez did remarkably well to get back after that terrible injury.

[Yr Alban]

Strauss came in quickly after the Masoe deal fell through in the January after Glasgow thought they had him IIRC. Strauss ticked the box of potential project player but he likely wouldn't have signed if Masoe signed on the dotted line.

Strauss had the odd good game for Scotland but for me his ball carrying height was a major issue.

Du Preez did remarkably well to get back after that terrible injury.

Strauss looked to be tailor-made to fill a problem position for Scotland, but it just never worked out for him at international level. He was constantly criticised for going into contact too upright. No idea whether that was what made the difference, but he certainly did it. And I don’t recall him having a single dominant game for Scotland.

[westport]

Good news for London Scottish

https://londonscottish.com/london-scott ... FF7ew6EKBo

[Yr Alban]

Good news for London Scottish

https://londonscottish.com/london-scott ... FF7ew6EKBo

They also seem to have turned down the SRU’s offer to join an expanded Super 6.

[Tichtheid]

'Scottish should definitely be targeting a higher standard than the Super 6, we'll have to wait to see what this means in practice.

It's interesting to read in that report that the 'Scottish home ground is at Richmond - I haven't been keeping up, have they decided to stay there, then?

[Slick]

Good news for London Scottish

https://londonscottish.com/london-scott ... FF7ew6EKBo

They also seem to have turned down the SRU’s offer to join an expanded Super 6.

It infuriates me that the SRU and the club can’t come up with a meaningful partnership

[Slick]

Do we have any idea who we might be playing in the autumn and when it might get announced?

[Tichtheid]

Do we have any idea who we might be playing in the autumn and when it might get announced?

We haven't played New Zealand for five years, so that's a possibility. We played SA, Oz, Japan, Tonga and Fiji all recently, we are going to Argentina and Chile in the summer,

We could have NZ and Samoa, plus maybe Romania. We'd want another big draw.

[Slick]

Do we have any idea who we might be playing in the autumn and when it might get announced?

We haven't played New Zealand for five years, so that's a possibility. We played SA, Oz, Japan, Tonga and Fiji all recently, we are going to Argentina and Chile in the summer,

We could have NZ and Samoa, plus maybe Romania. We'd want another big draw.

Has to be NZ really, doesn’t it. Maybe negotiations for that is what is holding everything up

The thought of another grind down by SA isn’t appealing so I’m guessing Oz will be back - usually a good game at least

[Big D]

Strauss came in quickly after the Masoe deal fell through in the January after Glasgow thought they had him IIRC. Strauss ticked the box of potential project player but he likely wouldn't have signed if Masoe signed on the dotted line.

Strauss had the odd good game for Scotland but for me his ball carrying height was a major issue.

Du Preez did remarkably well to get back after that terrible injury.

Strauss looked to be tailor-made to fill a problem position for Scotland, but it just never worked out for him at international level. He was constantly criticised for going into contact too upright. No idea whether that was what made the difference, but he certainly did it. And I don’t recall him having a single dominant game for Scotland.

Masoe would have been an incredible signing for Glasgow at that time, he was great for Castres around then but Strauss wasn't a bad second prize, but like you say didn't work out for Scotland.

[Big D]

Do we have any idea who we might be playing in the autumn and when it might get announced?

We haven't played New Zealand for five years, so that's a possibility. We played SA, Oz, Japan, Tonga and Fiji all recently, we are going to Argentina and Chile in the summer,

We could have NZ and Samoa, plus maybe Romania. We'd want another big draw.

Has to be NZ really, doesn’t it. Maybe negotiations for that is what is holding everything up

The thought of another grind down by SA isn’t appealing so I’m guessing Oz will be back - usually a good game at least

Wouldn't be surprised if it is Argentina again. Every 4 years we tour them and host them.

[Big D]

[Tichtheid]

He got all sorts of dung thrown at him, he can't tackle, he's over rated, he played for Edinburgh so must be rubbish, he's a mercenary, all that stuff.

He's a young laddie making a good career for himself, and after facing a couple of career threatening situations too. He travelled across the world to make a go of it after being injured in South Africa as a youngster, plus the very difficult situation there means he and others are better seeking to further their professional ambitions abroad, just like any other job to be honest. He then got a serious injury in France and that was the end of it, no contract, no prospects... until Cockerill

Aye I'd have preferred him to stay at Edinburgh, but good luck to him

[I like neeps]

He got all sorts of dung thrown at him, he can't tackle, he's over rated, he played for Edinburgh so must be rubbish, he's a mercenary, all that stuff.

He's a young laddie making a good career for himself, and after facing a couple of career threatening situations too. He travelled across the world to make a go of it after being injured in South Africa as a youngster, plus the very difficult situation there means he and others are better seeking to further their professional ambitions abroad, just like any other job to be honest. He then got a serious injury in France and that was the end of it, no contract, no prospects... until Cockerill

Aye I'd have preferred him to stay at Edinburgh, but good luck to him

Don't think Duhan does get that much stick anymore. I think pretty much everyone considers him to be an excellent winger without major weakness.

The project player debate will always be there I'm afraid. We all have our opinions. You just need to listen to this week's rugby pod and Huw Jones joking half the national camp speaks with a home counties or Afrikaans accent.

[I like neeps]

Scotland v Australia | Saturday 29 October, kick-off 5.30pm
Scotland v Fiji | Saturday 5 November, kick-off 1pm
Scotland v New Zealand | Sunday 13 November, kick-off 2.15pm
Scotland v Argentina | Saturday 19 November, kick-off 3.15pm
All matches will be broadcast on Amazon Prime

At least we get one evening game (without our exiles) Vs Australia. But as suspected Amazon aren't interested in giving us a prime slot. Disappointing! NZ under the lights is special.