The Official Scottish Rugby Thread

[Slick]

It's interesting that GT mentioned that Bayliss can play in the backline if necessary (he also said Dempsey can), that could well mean that Crosbie's goose is cooked. Graham and Fagerson jnr are obviously being rested. Kinghorn still covering 10

Good point, I'd missed Healy not being on the bench.

Just to be clear, did you mean "backline" or across the backrow?

Toonie said backline, it's a justification for the 6/2 split I suppose

Hope he's not going all Eddie.

[Tichtheid]

You've essentially only got one or two spaces for backs on the bench depending on whether you go 5/3 or 6/2 (scrum half is a must on the pine).

If you go for 6 forwards you are limited in terms of who you pick, we could pick Healy but he essentially only covers for Finn, if you pick Smith you've got the back three covered, Steyn could cover wing and 13.

Kinghorn has acquitted himself well enough at 10 to be the cover for that position without threatening Finn as the starter - we don't have anyone close to challenging Finn and we haven't had a 10 like him for a very long time


@Slick, I'm assuming he is having Bayliss covering the backs in an emergency, much as Scott Steele playing flanker was (was it Steele?)

[Big D]

Looks like Walker and Dobie will definitely be cut. Hooker and back row still potentially open to debate.

I'm not keen on the idea of Kinghorn covering 10 from 15 to be honest. He's the best 15 and should be playing there. He's at his fluent best at 15 and takes one of our best runners away from our wide options in game.

His goal kicking isn't good enough either and Horne might not be on the pitch to counter. Actually on that thought, he potentially should be kicking at goal on Saturday. He's not kicked in a game for months.

I agree. He's been fucked around over the last two years but with Hogg retiring this is the opportunity to let him nail down a position. He seems like the type of player who needs a bit of love and security, and is our most naturally gifted player (yes I include Finn) so let him focus on that without all the noise of being considered a 10.

I don't mind him being a 3rd 10, it makes a lot of sense. But he hasn't goal kicked for a while in a match and presumably as 1st choice 15 he'll be sub/rested v Georgia?

I do wonder though whether Healy is 2nd choice starting10 with Kinghorn "only" providing in game cover

[KingBlairhorn]

Looks like Walker and Dobie will definitely be cut. Hooker and back row still potentially open to debate.

I'm not keen on the idea of Kinghorn covering 10 from 15 to be honest. He's the best 15 and should be playing there. He's at his fluent best at 15 and takes one of our best runners away from our wide options in game.

His goal kicking isn't good enough either and Horne might not be on the pitch to counter. Actually on that thought, he potentially should be kicking at goal on Saturday. He's not kicked in a game for months.

I agree. He's been fucked around over the last two years but with Hogg retiring this is the opportunity to let him nail down a position. He seems like the type of player who needs a bit of love and security, and is our most naturally gifted player (yes I include Finn) so let him focus on that without all the noise of being considered a 10.

I don't mind him being a 3rd 10, it makes a lot of sense. But he hasn't goal kicked for a while in a match and presumably as 1st choice 15 he'll be sub/rested v Georgia?

I do wonder though whether Healy is 2nd choice starting10 with Kinghorn "only" providing in game cover

I think so. I think there is a 100% chance he starts vs Romania and a very strong chance he starts vs Tonga too. The only issue with that strategy is it gives Finn (and others) a full month between games. Good if there is a niggle, bad for match playing time.

Edit: 'Him' being Healy

[clydecloggie]

I agree. He's been fucked around over the last two years but with Hogg retiring this is the opportunity to let him nail down a position. He seems like the type of player who needs a bit of love and security, and is our most naturally gifted player (yes I include Finn) so let him focus on that without all the noise of being considered a 10.

I don't mind him being a 3rd 10, it makes a lot of sense. But he hasn't goal kicked for a while in a match and presumably as 1st choice 15 he'll be sub/rested v Georgia?

I do wonder though whether Healy is 2nd choice starting10 with Kinghorn "only" providing in game cover

I think so. I think there is a 100% chance he starts vs Romania and a very strong chance he starts vs Tonga too. The only issue with that strategy is it gives Finn (and others) a full month between games. Good if there is a niggle, bad for match playing time.

Edit: 'Him' being Healy

I don't think they'll see Tonga as a B-team game. I fully expect to see most of the first XV playing that one.

[Big D]

I don't mind him being a 3rd 10, it makes a lot of sense. But he hasn't goal kicked for a while in a match and presumably as 1st choice 15 he'll be sub/rested v Georgia?

I do wonder though whether Healy is 2nd choice starting10 with Kinghorn "only" providing in game cover

I think so. I think there is a 100% chance he starts vs Romania and a very strong chance he starts vs Tonga too. The only issue with that strategy is it gives Finn (and others) a full month between games. Good if there is a niggle, bad for match playing time.

Edit: 'Him' being Healy

I don't think they'll see Tonga as a B-team game. I fully expect to see most of the first XV playing that one.

Yeah we need to be at full noise for that one.

[Tichtheid]

I think so. I think there is a 100% chance he starts vs Romania and a very strong chance he starts vs Tonga too. The only issue with that strategy is it gives Finn (and others) a full month between games. Good if there is a niggle, bad for match playing time.

Edit: 'Him' being Healy

I don't think they'll see Tonga as a B-team game. I fully expect to see most of the first XV playing that one.

Yeah we need to be at full noise for that one.

I agree that we can't take Tonga lightly, but the draw has been quite kind to us, we've got a full two weeks between SA and Tonga, then a full two weeks between Tonga and Ireland with Romania in between, so we can afford to pick our strongest side for Tonga - if we lose to them we can assume we are going home anyway.

[KingBlairhorn]

I don't think they'll see Tonga as a B-team game. I fully expect to see most of the first XV playing that one.

Yeah we need to be at full noise for that one.

I agree that we can't take Tonga lightly, but the draw has been quite kind to us, we've got a full two weeks between SA and Tonga, then a full two weeks between Tonga and Ireland with Romania in between, so we can afford to pick our strongest side for Tonga - if we lose to them we can assume we are going home anyway.

I wouldn't go second string but I would rotate a bit and take my highest risk players out of it. For me that would be Finn and Darcy and probably Richie Gray. We have enough depth that we should be able to start a team with Healy, Steyn and Cummings starting and still win.

We will probably be forced to rotate anyway as we will undoubtedly have some niggly injuries anyway.

[sockwithaticket]

I think so. I think there is a 100% chance he starts vs Romania and a very strong chance he starts vs Tonga too. The only issue with that strategy is it gives Finn (and others) a full month between games. Good if there is a niggle, bad for match playing time.

Edit: 'Him' being Healy

I don't think they'll see Tonga as a B-team game. I fully expect to see most of the first XV playing that one.

Yeah we need to be at full noise for that one.

You'll be fine with a B, they just got bodied by Samoa.

[Big D]

I don't think they'll see Tonga as a B-team game. I fully expect to see most of the first XV playing that one.

Yeah we need to be at full noise for that one.

You'll be fine with a B, they just got bodied by Samoa.

It is not that I think we will lose, it is more we will need to try and rack up a score.

In a semi realistic best case scenario we aren't beating both SA and Ireland so bonus points and PD might be important.

[Jock42]

6-2 split always makes me nervous as Scotland have a habit of getting the most inconvenient of injuries. I suppose this is the time to try out combinations/tactics if he's looking at this for S/Ire though. I remain to be convinced though especially as Healy isn't getting the chance for game time against a top class team.

[charltom]

We are in France at the moment. Too far from St.Etienne to make it across there on Saturday, but in France all the same.

I checked in advance that Amazon Prime over here had the first Scotland - France fixture. It was advertising it, so I figured it would show it.

We moved from one gite to another and arrived just after half time. I thought I'd put the match on so popped TF1 on to see Finn taking the conversion at 8-21 down. Oh well, I thought, probably not worth the grief from the wife to watch - I'll pick it up on Amazon on demand later.

But no, nothing doing. Not on Amazon in France. So we got a 10 minute highlight package on TF1.fr, which you couldn't watch without first seeing the final score.

Highly unsatisfactory... but nice at the same time.

This Saturday's match will be so much easier to watch live!

[KingBlairhorn]

We are in France at the moment. Too far from St.Etienne to make it across there on Saturday, but in France all the same.

I checked in advance that Amazon Prime over here had the first Scotland - France fixture. It was advertising it, so I figured it would show it.

We moved from one gite to another and arrived just after half time. I thought I'd put the match on so popped TF1 on to see Finn taking the conversion at 8-21 down. Oh well, I thought, probably not worth the grief from the wife to watch - I'll pick it up on Amazon on demand later.

But no, nothing doing. Not on Amazon in France. So we got a 10 minute highlight package on TF1.fr, which you couldn't watch without first seeing the final score.

Highly unsatisfactory... but nice at the same time.

This Saturday's match will be so much easier to watch live!

How frustrating! That sort of thing is very annoying. Years ago I got up at 6 in the morning or some similar ungodly hour to watch Scotland U19 football team as-live in the U19 Euro final which had taken place during the night and which wasn’t shown actually live. Immediately preceding the match coverage which had no pre-match the news was on. They finished the news with a one liner that Scotland had lost. No ‘if you don’t want to know the score’ warning or anything. Literally 30 seconds before kick-off of their as-live footage. I was raging. Went back to bed.

[Simian]

We are in France at the moment. Too far from St.Etienne to make it across there on Saturday, but in France all the same.

I checked in advance that Amazon Prime over here had the first Scotland - France fixture. It was advertising it, so I figured it would show it.

We moved from one gite to another and arrived just after half time. I thought I'd put the match on so popped TF1 on to see Finn taking the conversion at 8-21 down. Oh well, I thought, probably not worth the grief from the wife to watch - I'll pick it up on Amazon on demand later.

But no, nothing doing. Not on Amazon in France. So we got a 10 minute highlight package on TF1.fr, which you couldn't watch without first seeing the final score.

Highly unsatisfactory... but nice at the same time.

This Saturday's match will be so much easier to watch live!

Won’t need it for this weekend, but in future use a VPN.

[Biffer]

We are in France at the moment. Too far from St.Etienne to make it across there on Saturday, but in France all the same.

I checked in advance that Amazon Prime over here had the first Scotland - France fixture. It was advertising it, so I figured it would show it.

We moved from one gite to another and arrived just after half time. I thought I'd put the match on so popped TF1 on to see Finn taking the conversion at 8-21 down. Oh well, I thought, probably not worth the grief from the wife to watch - I'll pick it up on Amazon on demand later.

But no, nothing doing. Not on Amazon in France. So we got a 10 minute highlight package on TF1.fr, which you couldn't watch without first seeing the final score.

Highly unsatisfactory... but nice at the same time.

This Saturday's match will be so much easier to watch live!

How frustrating! That sort of thing is very annoying. Years ago I got up at 6 in the morning or some similar ungodly hour to watch Scotland U19 football team as-live in the U19 Euro final which had taken place during the night and which wasn’t shown actually live. Immediately preceding the match coverage which had no pre-match the news was on. They finished the news with a one liner that Scotland had lost. No ‘if you don’t want to know the score’ warning or anything. Literally 30 seconds before kick-off of their as-live footage. I was raging. Went back to bed.

On the flip side, me and two mates went out to the Three Sisters for Australia v Scotland, the one in Newcastle (the aussies one) that we won 9-6 in a rainstorm in 2012. Kicked off 8am UK time.

We were so made up with the win that afterwards we walked along to Bar Oz, where they were reshowing the game at 11.. A couple of aussies lads thought it was live, so we bet them a round of drinks that we'd beat them.

We fessed up and bought them a round back. Think I was in bed by about 2pm that afternoon.

[charltom]

We are in France at the moment. Too far from St.Etienne to make it across there on Saturday, but in France all the same.

I checked in advance that Amazon Prime over here had the first Scotland - France fixture. It was advertising it, so I figured it would show it.

We moved from one gite to another and arrived just after half time. I thought I'd put the match on so popped TF1 on to see Finn taking the conversion at 8-21 down. Oh well, I thought, probably not worth the grief from the wife to watch - I'll pick it up on Amazon on demand later.

But no, nothing doing. Not on Amazon in France. So we got a 10 minute highlight package on TF1.fr, which you couldn't watch without first seeing the final score.

Highly unsatisfactory... but nice at the same time.

This Saturday's match will be so much easier to watch live!

Won’t need it for this weekend, but in future use a VPN.

I'm aware of this in theory, but have no idea what to do in practice. Any pointers please?

[Slick]

We are in France at the moment. Too far from St.Etienne to make it across there on Saturday, but in France all the same.

I checked in advance that Amazon Prime over here had the first Scotland - France fixture. It was advertising it, so I figured it would show it.

We moved from one gite to another and arrived just after half time. I thought I'd put the match on so popped TF1 on to see Finn taking the conversion at 8-21 down. Oh well, I thought, probably not worth the grief from the wife to watch - I'll pick it up on Amazon on demand later.

But no, nothing doing. Not on Amazon in France. So we got a 10 minute highlight package on TF1.fr, which you couldn't watch without first seeing the final score.

Highly unsatisfactory... but nice at the same time.

This Saturday's match will be so much easier to watch live!

How frustrating! That sort of thing is very annoying. Years ago I got up at 6 in the morning or some similar ungodly hour to watch Scotland U19 football team as-live in the U19 Euro final which had taken place during the night and which wasn’t shown actually live. Immediately preceding the match coverage which had no pre-match the news was on. They finished the news with a one liner that Scotland had lost. No ‘if you don’t want to know the score’ warning or anything. Literally 30 seconds before kick-off of their as-live footage. I was raging. Went back to bed.

On the flip side, me and two mates went out to the Three Sisters for Australia v Scotland, the one in Newcastle (the aussies one) that we won 9-6 in a rainstorm in 2012. Kicked off 8am UK time.

We were so made up with the win that afterwards we walked along to Bar Oz, where they were reshowing the game at 11.. A couple of aussies lads thought it was live, so we bet them a round of drinks that we'd beat them.

We fessed up and bought them a round back. Think I was in bed by about 2pm that afternoon.

Love it

[Jock42]

Couldn't read the article but headline stated White's pencilled in for the next match.

[Yr Alban]

Have seen a lot of Twitter posts expressing alarm at the strength of the French team. Well, yes, but what did we expect? SA and Ireland aren’t going to put B sides out against us. We’ve won in Paris against a full strength French team in recent memory anyway.

[Slick]

Have seen a lot of Twitter posts expressing alarm at the strength of the French team. Well, yes, but what did we expect? SA and Ireland aren’t going to put B sides out against us. We’ve won in Paris against a full strength French team in recent memory anyway.

Yes, I’ve been scratching my head a bit at this as well. I guess the narrative is that we only just beat a “B” side last week but that doesn’t unduly worry me, rugby is a funny old game

[Tichtheid]

Have seen a lot of Twitter posts expressing alarm at the strength of the French team. Well, yes, but what did we expect? SA and Ireland aren’t going to put B sides out against us. We’ve won in Paris against a full strength French team in recent memory anyway.

Yes, I’ve been scratching my head a bit at this as well. I guess the narrative is that we only just beat a “B” side last week but that doesn’t unduly worry me, rugby is a funny old game

We shipped three unopposed tries which is not good, but once we got into a bit of a rhythm in the second half there was only one team in it, and that was with 14 players. This weekend will be a different kettle of poissons though, but not too different from a 6N away match.

[clydecloggie]

Have seen a lot of Twitter posts expressing alarm at the strength of the French team. Well, yes, but what did we expect? SA and Ireland aren’t going to put B sides out against us. We’ve won in Paris against a full strength French team in recent memory anyway.

Yes, I’ve been scratching my head a bit at this as well. I guess the narrative is that we only just beat a “B” side last week but that doesn’t unduly worry me, rugby is a funny old game

We shipped three unopposed tries which is not good, but once we got into a bit of a rhythm in the second half there was only one team in it, and that was with 14 players. This weekend will be a different kettle of poissons though, but not too different from a 6N away match.

First game for the French first XV, you'd expect them to be a bit rusty early on.

[westport]

If they can get the bollocking in before the game kicking off rather than half time this week it would help

[Simian]

We are in France at the moment. Too far from St.Etienne to make it across there on Saturday, but in France all the same.

I checked in advance that Amazon Prime over here had the first Scotland - France fixture. It was advertising it, so I figured it would show it.

We moved from one gite to another and arrived just after half time. I thought I'd put the match on so popped TF1 on to see Finn taking the conversion at 8-21 down. Oh well, I thought, probably not worth the grief from the wife to watch - I'll pick it up on Amazon on demand later.

But no, nothing doing. Not on Amazon in France. So we got a 10 minute highlight package on TF1.fr, which you couldn't watch without first seeing the final score.

Highly unsatisfactory... but nice at the same time.

This Saturday's match will be so much easier to watch live!

Won’t need it for this weekend, but in future use a VPN.

I'm aware of this in theory, but have no idea what to do in practice. Any pointers please?

It’s basically a bit of software you can download that allows you to pretend your machine is running in a different country. I use it a lot to access UK stuff when I’m working overseas and to access non-UK stuff when I’m here. There are a bunch of different ones you can get and they’re all dead easy to install and use.

[Dogbert]

Won’t need it for this weekend, but in future use a VPN.

I'm aware of this in theory, but have no idea what to do in practice. Any pointers please?

It’s basically a bit of software you can download that allows you to pretend your machine is running in a different country. I use it a lot to access UK stuff when I’m working overseas and to access non-UK stuff when I’m here. There are a bunch of different ones you can get and they’re all dead easy to install and use.

Just do a bit of research first - not all VPN's are equal ( especially the free ones) with accessing Geo restricted material.

The below link is a reasonable starting point.

I've used NordVPN for years , and it's got a decent reputation

https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-netflix-vpn

[Tichtheid]

I'm aware of this in theory, but have no idea what to do in practice. Any pointers please?

It’s basically a bit of software you can download that allows you to pretend your machine is running in a different country. I use it a lot to access UK stuff when I’m working overseas and to access non-UK stuff when I’m here. There are a bunch of different ones you can get and they’re all dead easy to install and use.

Just do a bit of research first - not all VPN's are equal ( especially the free ones) with accessing Geo restricted material.

The below link is a reasonable starting point.

I've used NordVPN for years , and it's got a decent reputation

https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-netflix-vpn

I've been using the free Proton one for Rugby Championship matches, but I'm looking for a permanent paid-for one, that looks good.

[charltom]

I'm aware of this in theory, but have no idea what to do in practice. Any pointers please?

It’s basically a bit of software you can download that allows you to pretend your machine is running in a different country. I use it a lot to access UK stuff when I’m working overseas and to access non-UK stuff when I’m here. There are a bunch of different ones you can get and they’re all dead easy to install and use.

Just do a bit of research first - not all VPN's are equal ( especially the free ones) with accessing Geo restricted material.

The below link is a reasonable starting point.

I've used NordVPN for years , and it's got a decent reputation

https://www.tomsguide.com/best-picks/best-netflix-vpn

Thank you (all).

[Slick]

From Squidge - the 5th placed team right before the WC has made every final since rankings began in 2003.

Just confirming what we already knew, but nice all the same

[Tichtheid]

From Squidge - the 5th placed team right before the WC has made every final since rankings began in 2003.

Just confirming what we already knew, but nice all the same

Please don't - it's the hope that gets you

[Slick]

From Squidge - the 5th placed team right before the WC has made every final since rankings began in 2003.

Just confirming what we already knew, but nice all the same

Please don't - it's the hope that gets you

I thought we had collectively decided to damn all hope and just go for delirious, if unfounded, optimism? Apologies if I misunderstood.

[Dogbert]

The Stats / Spreadsheet king of Scottish Rugby - Disco - came up with an interesting stat in his pre match summary

https://www.scottishrugbyblog.co.uk/202 ... view-pt-i/

"Scotland have only ‘lost’ the penalty count twice in their last 14 games"

Our scrum has definitely improved, so fewer scrum penalties , but what is really noticeable is the amount of what you might call 'dumb' penalties have decreased.

My personal view is that you are always going to give away penalties if you are playing on the edge, and some will always be down to the individual refs interpretation - but we have definitely improved here, where that's down to better coaching , better understanding of each refs interpretation , or the fact that we are not always being seen as the 'weaker' team with our rise in or world rankings, probably a combination of these and other factors - but it is positive.

If only we could keep 15 men on the field ( looking at you Fagerson & Gilchrist )

[Tichtheid]

From Squidge - the 5th placed team right before the WC has made every final since rankings began in 2003.

Just confirming what we already knew, but nice all the same

Please don't - it's the hope that gets you

I thought we had collectively decided to damn all hope and just go for delirious, if unfounded, optimism? Apologies if I misunderstood.

Actually, I can get on board with that.

It's just that I know if we are leading against South Africa at any point, even five minutes in, the proper hope will kick in and that way only despair awaits.

[Slick]

Please don't - it's the hope that gets you

I thought we had collectively decided to damn all hope and just go for delirious, if unfounded, optimism? Apologies if I misunderstood.

Actually, I can get on board with that.

It's just that I know if we are leading against South Africa at any point, even five minutes in, the proper hope will kick in and that way only despair awaits.

Yeah, it's a risky and futile plan but I haven't got enough energy these days to start this far out.

[Slick]

The Stats / Spreadsheet king of Scottish Rugby - Disco - came up with an interesting stat in his pre match summary

https://www.scottishrugbyblog.co.uk/202 ... view-pt-i/

"Scotland have only ‘lost’ the penalty count twice in their last 14 games"

Our scrum has definitely improved, so fewer scrum penalties , but what is really noticeable is the amount of what you might call 'dumb' penalties have decreased.

My personal view is that you are always going to give away penalties if you are playing on the edge, and some will always be down to the individual refs interpretation - but we have definitely improved here, where that's down to better coaching , better understanding of each refs interpretation , or the fact that we are not always being seen as the 'weaker' team with our rise in or world rankings, probably a combination of these and other factors - but it is positive.

If only we could keep 15 men on the field ( looking at you Fagerson & Gilchrist )

That's really interesting. Like you say, probably a combination of all those things - hopefully also the opposition acknowledging we are a threat

[C T]

The Stats / Spreadsheet king of Scottish Rugby - Disco - came up with an interesting stat in his pre match summary

https://www.scottishrugbyblog.co.uk/202 ... view-pt-i/

"Scotland have only ‘lost’ the penalty count twice in their last 14 games"

Our scrum has definitely improved, so fewer scrum penalties , but what is really noticeable is the amount of what you might call 'dumb' penalties have decreased.

My personal view is that you are always going to give away penalties if you are playing on the edge, and some will always be down to the individual refs interpretation - but we have definitely improved here, where that's down to better coaching , better understanding of each refs interpretation , or the fact that we are not always being seen as the 'weaker' team with our rise in or world rankings, probably a combination of these and other factors - but it is positive.

If only we could keep 15 men on the field ( looking at you Fagerson & Gilchrist )

That's really interesting. Like you say, probably a combination of all those things - hopefully also the opposition acknowledging we are a threat

Seems to me that our really dumb, rage inducing penalties were against one of Gilchrist, Brown or Z Fagerson.

Definitely don't feel like I've been cursing Gilchrist's name so much these days, and Brown of course has been ousted. Z Fagerson though...

[robmatic]

From Squidge - the 5th placed team right before the WC has made every final since rankings began in 2003.

Just confirming what we already knew, but nice all the same

In these prior world cups, they probably didn't have three of the top 5 in one group though.

[Slick]

Is the Super6 only on the SRU website now? I thought iPlayer had it?

Found it on the website but I can’t hingmy it to the TV fire stick whatsit

[Tichtheid]

YouTube

[Slick]

Thanks! Figured it out all by myself seconds before your post!

[clydecloggie]

From Squidge - the 5th placed team right before the WC has made every final since rankings began in 2003.

Just confirming what we already knew, but nice all the same

Please don't - it's the hope that gets you

I thought we had collectively decided to damn all hope and just go for delirious, if unfounded, optimism? Apologies if I misunderstood.

I had clocked the abandon all hope stuff but not the delirious optimism bit and don't really feel like jumping on that particular train.

FWIW, I think we can beat SA first up but the maths of qualifying from the group make it almost impossible and we've got to factor in the luck of the Scots. If we beat SA, they are certain to beat Ireland and even delirious optimism wouldn't allow me to think we can beat Ireland. So a 3-way fight decided by bonus points and points difference and here's where the luck of the Scots dictates we finish third.