The Official Scottish Rugby Thread

[KingBlairhorn]

Also this shit, from the BBC article, annoys the hell out of me:

"Debutants McDowall and Henderson, who was born in Hong Kong but qualifies to play for Scotland through his Scottish dad, both previously featured for national age-grade teams."

Henderson is Scottish. His dad is Scottish, he lived in Scotland from age 12 I think and he was schooled at Strathallan. It's completely deliberate to make it look like another poach when it clearly is nothing of the sort. The BBC do this in almost every article.

[Tichtheid]

Also this shit, from the BBC article, annoys the hell out of me:

"Debutants McDowall and Henderson, who was born in Hong Kong but qualifies to play for Scotland through his Scottish dad, both previously featured for national age-grade teams."

Henderson is Scottish. His dad is Scottish, he lived in Scotland from age 12 I think and he was schooled at Strathallan. It's completely deliberate to make it look like another poach when it clearly is nothing of the sort. The BBC do this in almost every article.

It's just pure laziness, or bad journalism - you expect it from wankers online, but not professionals.

[westport]

Hang on, I thought McInally retired? Is someone injured?

He doesn't retire until November when his contract runs out

[Slick]

Quite like that team in a warm up game, should be fun.

Chuffed for Stafford

[KingBlairhorn]

Darge as captain too - good for him!

[Tichtheid]

Quite like that team in a warm up game, should be fun.

Chuffed for Stafford

He had a really good season, he deserves his chance to stake a claim for the RWC.

There are a few head to heads in that team, Walker and Sebastian, Crosbie and Bayliss plus the two hooker spots behind Turner are not set, nor is the starting fullback or the second fly half (depending on Hastings' fitness)

[westport]

Interesting bit from Jim Mallinder about the U20's

https://www.theoffsideline.com/junior-w ... LFQWORt1t0

[Biffer]

Interesting bit from Jim Mallinder about the U20's

https://www.theoffsideline.com/junior-w ... LFQWORt1t0

Shite from Mallinder. He's been here for four years - what has he done about it? At least some of the current structure is his baby. How many years of U20 sides does he think we need to let down?

[Slick]

Quite like that team in a warm up game, should be fun.

Chuffed for Stafford

He had a really good season, he deserves his chance to stake a claim for the RWC.

There are a few head to heads in that team, Walker and Sebastian, Crosbie and Bayliss plus the two hooker spots behind Turner are not set, nor is the starting fullback or the second fly half (depending on Hastings' fitness)

He definitely does deserve the chance although when I saw the team, with Redpath on the bench, I'd kind of forgotten our depth at centre with all the fuss over Jones and Tui, so will be tough to get a spot. Still think Sam Johnson should be involved, so weird what has happened to him.

[Big D]

I think I've said it before on here when I said JGray and Watson shouldn't go to the RWC and I still think Watson shouldn't.

[weegie01]

Quite like that team in a warm up game, should be fun.

Chuffed for Stafford

Staff is one of the good guys. Not offered a new contract by Wilson and he was halfway back to the farm. Then Smith comes in and the rest is history. He deserves all he gets.

[Yr Alban]

Also this shit, from the BBC article, annoys the hell out of me:

"Debutants McDowall and Henderson, who was born in Hong Kong but qualifies to play for Scotland through his Scottish dad, both previously featured for national age-grade teams."

Henderson is Scottish. His dad is Scottish, he lived in Scotland from age 12 I think and he was schooled at Strathallan. It's completely deliberate to make it look like another poach when it clearly is nothing of the sort. The BBC do this in almost every article.

You always get this when it’s our players. They are desperate to paint us as a team full of poaches. This is really stretching it - are they making out that he is ethnically Chinese?

[Camroc2]

It's incredibly difficult to say what has suddenly gone wrong to be honest. Nothing much has changed in the pathways since our record best finish just six years ago in the main competition. It seems the SRU have pinpointed insufficient access to a good enough level rugby as the main issue and the inclusion of these boys in Super6 teams plus the addition of an U20 team in that competition is to help bridge that gap. Certainly some of those heavily involved (Corey Tait, Liam McConnell) seem to be a level above the rest, but others don't.

One thing that occurs to me is that World Rugby should be doing more to help us. We are and clearly have been struggling in youth development for a long time and if it continues we could slide off the face of the rugby map. I don't think World Rugby can really afford to lose a Tier 1 team but I don't see any efforts from them to help support us in developing those structures. We could do with additional money for sure, but I think that is unlikely with so many other nations trying hard to break into the top tier, but what we do need is expertise. We just don't seem to have the ideas needed to make it really work and to capitalise on what should be a firm base across the Public Schools and the borders. They should be helping us to implement programmes in the council schools to increase the number of kids playing the game in the same way Ireland have.

Finally, and I bang this drum all the time, the SRU should be opening 'Performance Schools' the same as the SFA did which is now looking to be hugely successful. These are specialist schools that can give the extra coaching, nutrition, strength and conditioning etc. to those not lucky enough to be in the Public Schools to allow them to keep pace with the privately educated kids. There is probably a very nice partnership to be done with the SFA on these schools which would make the cost really very minimal.

FWIW, and I speak only of the Leinster u/a system, they have invested very heavily in the clubs, having pro coaches scouting from U15 up, and not only giving the talented kids pro coaching, but giving them diet and gym targets, and judging them on those metrics as well as how talented they are.
From 2021 :

https://www.the42.ie/leinster-youths-ru ... 9-Jun2021/

[Biffer]

I have a feeling these warm up games are going to go very badly.

[Wylie Coyote]

I have a feeling these warm up games are going to go very badly.

For some reason I thought the Georgia game was first and so thought a midfield of Healy/McDowall and Harris would just about be ok. Stodgy, defensive reminiscent of Scotland midfields in the late noughties, but when I realised it was vs Italy... I am now rather concerned this will be an arm wrestle, not feeling confident at all. A lot rests on Healy to show us that he is a real option as I don't see much being created elsewhere.

[I like neeps]

I have a feeling these warm up games are going to go very badly.

As long as a core player doesn't get injured I don't mind. Warm up games are never a spectacle

[Slick]

I have a feeling these warm up games are going to go very badly.

As long as a core player doesn't get injured I don't mind. Warm up games are never a spectacle

Agree, a necessary evil really. I think they will go OK

[Slick]

I think I've said it before on here when I said JGray and Watson shouldn't go to the RWC and I still think Watson shouldn't.

I would still take Watson but I’ve never got J Gray. Plenty of coaches have though so I guess there is something we are not seeing

[Biffer]

Scotland 159/7 off 18 overs against Denmark (reduced to 18 due to rain). Bit frustrating to watch, some weak dismissals and not really getting the timing right at any point. But best part of nine an over.

Denmark currently 8/1 off two overs.

Ireland game this morning abandoned with no play, means they qualify for the T20 World Cup next year.

[KingBlairhorn]

The Future15 squad for the super6 was announced this afternoon.

There are a few familiar faces in there and a good few I don’t really know. All aligned to Edinburgh or Glasgow:

[Slick]

Is there 2 or 3 of our new Fijian lads coming through on that list?

Going to be pretty tough for them, I'm sure a few old pro's will be out to make points.

[I like neeps]

The Future15 squad for the super6 was announced this afternoon.

There are a few familiar faces in there and a good few I don’t really know. All aligned to Edinburgh or Glasgow:

The vast majority seem to be current under18s. They are going to smashed weekly. But at least they're playing regular physical rugby.

[robmatic]

Is there 2 or 3 of our new Fijian lads coming through on that list?

Going to be pretty tough for them, I'm sure a few old pro's will be out to make points.

Hopefully it will be a good test of their mettle and it will prove to be beneficial come U20s 6 Nations time. However, they apparently have only trained together once so far which is less than ideal with the Super6 season about to start.

[Tichtheid]

I thought Fin Thomson was one of a (very) few bright lights in the Trophy competition, I wonder why he hasn't made the cut for the Futures squad?

[I like neeps]

I thought Fin Thomson was one of a (very) few bright lights in the Trophy competition, I wonder why he hasn't made the cut for the Futures squad?

I presume the squad had been decided before the tournament and so it doesn't factor into it.

[Biffer]

I thought Fin Thomson was one of a (very) few bright lights in the Trophy competition, I wonder why he hasn't made the cut for the Futures squad?

He's in the Watsons squad.

[Biffer]

The Future15 squad for the super6 was announced this afternoon.

There are a few familiar faces in there and a good few I don’t really know. All aligned to Edinburgh or Glasgow:

And of course, the named 23 for the first game doesn't have very many of those players

[Tichtheid]

I thought Fin Thomson was one of a (very) few bright lights in the Trophy competition, I wonder why he hasn't made the cut for the Futures squad?

He's in the Watsons squad.

So he is, good stuff.


I notice that Freddie Owsley is also named in the 'Sonians squad.

Also Jake Kerr!

https://watsoniansrugby.com/teams/super-6/

[Jock42]

Are these matches being streamed by the SRU? Haven't seen anything on viaplay or BBC.

[Slick]

Are these matches being streamed by the SRU? Haven't seen anything on viaplay or BBC.

I’m sure I saw an announcement that iPlayer were showing them all

[westport]

Are these matches being streamed by the SRU? Haven't seen anything on viaplay or BBC.

Throughout the FOSROC Super Series Championship, seven Saturday fixtures will be shown live on the Scottish Rugby website, BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer, two from Rounds 1-7 and five from Rounds 8 onwards.

[Jock42]

Cheers guys

[Margin__Walker]

Nice to see Sam Rockley getting a run out somewhere.

Was a key player in the U18 Academy League winning LI team last season. Had been involved in the peripheral of England Age grade teams, but made the switch to Scotland for the U18 6N in the spring.

Big, strong, well balanced wing who has also spent a fair bit of time in the centres.

[KingBlairhorn]

Good to see Boroughmuir playing Gavin Lockhart at 10 tonight. 17/18 year old who I think is in the Edinburgh academy. Boroughmuir are producing some really good young players, both the Blyth-Lafferty boys and Liam McConnell for instance.

[Slick]

good result for the youngsters, particularly given how many of their potential squad is away

[Hellraiser]

Also this shit, from the BBC article, annoys the hell out of me:

"Debutants McDowall and Henderson, who was born in Hong Kong but qualifies to play for Scotland through his Scottish dad, both previously featured for national age-grade teams."

Henderson is Scottish. His dad is Scottish, he lived in Scotland from age 12 I think and he was schooled at Strathallan. It's completely deliberate to make it look like another poach when it clearly is nothing of the sort. The BBC do this in almost every article.

That's cuntish stuff. Nobody ever queried Jordi Murphy when he go capped for Ireland despite being born in Barcelona and only moving to Dublin when he was 9.

[Blackmac]

Also this shit, from the BBC article, annoys the hell out of me:

"Debutants McDowall and Henderson, who was born in Hong Kong but qualifies to play for Scotland through his Scottish dad, both previously featured for national age-grade teams."

Henderson is Scottish. His dad is Scottish, he lived in Scotland from age 12 I think and he was schooled at Strathallan. It's completely deliberate to make it look like another poach when it clearly is nothing of the sort. The BBC do this in almost every article.

You always get this when it’s our players. They are desperate to paint us as a team full of poaches. This is really stretching it - are they making out that he is ethnically Chinese?

Parental nationality has always been the overriding factor in determining nationality. I was born in Ceylon to Scottish parents and my birth was registered at the UK embassy, it would be a joke to suggest I was anything other than Scottish.

[Tichtheid]

A Disco special on this afternoon's game

"For the first time in Scotland’s 152-year, 735-test history they will face the same opponents at the same venue in consecutive games at home."

[Big D]

Trying to give the benefit of the doubt as it was the first game and effectively pre season but felt Price was poor when considering he needed a big game to put pressure on White.

[Jock42]

Trying to give the benefit of the doubt as it was the first game and effectively pre season but felt Price was poor when considering he needed a big game to put pressure on White.

It's between Price and Dobie for me for the final spot.