The Official Scottish Rugby Thread

[Big D]

I suspect that McDowell might start ahead of Redpath if Tuipulotu can't go.

[charltom]

Redpath did some great stuff, but was also defensively at fault for England's last try.

Glad he got his chance, but will be happy if Stafford gets his too.

[Big D]

Think the analysis by the TV panel is right. England are easy to defend. The one decent strike move led to a try. We still have work to do on that side of the ball.

[KingBlairhorn]

Frustrating not to get the tbp again. I’d love to see how often (hello Totm) Scotland have scored 3 tries in 60 minutes or fewer and not scored a bonus point. It feels like it happens a lot.

[Big D]

Watching that 1st try, I wonder if the knee on knee contact is what injured Tuipulotu.

[Blackmac]

I think that result says more about how poor England are that we can beat them with a sub standard performance. I think we will need to play better in Rome.

[Yr Alban]

I am glad that Fin Smith came on. In fact I’d like to rub his nose in it a bit and tell him that he could have played for a winning team.

Yes, I know he gets to play for who he wants to play for. Doesn’t mean I can’t be bitter about it!

[Yr Alban]

Frustrating not to get the tbp again. I’d love to see how often (hello Totm) Scotland have scored 3 tries in 60 minutes or fewer and not scored a bonus point. It feels like it happens a lot.

Agreed. We did deny England the LBP though, which we also haven’t always been great at.

[Tichtheid]

I suspect that McDowell might start ahead of Redpath if Tuipulotu can't go.

Are you sure? If that was the case, wouldn't he be on the bench ahead of Redpath today and in previous matches? I'm a fan of McDowall and I think he will have a lot to offer Scotland, but I don't see him being ahead of Redpath for the Italy game

[Yr Alban]

Random thought. We have little hope of the title even if we beat Ireland, but since they made the Triple Crown an actual trophy, we’ll still have the chance of silverware. No, I can’t see it happening either, but there’s still a chance!

[Dogbert]

Agreed - but Stafford would be a perfect bench option for Italy ( assuming Sione is not available )

[Big D]

I suspect that McDowell might start ahead of Redpath if Tuipulotu can't go.

Are you sure? If that was the case, wouldn't he be on the bench ahead of Redpath today and in previous matches? I'm a fan of McDowall and I think he will have a lot to offer Scotland, but I don't see him being ahead of Redpath for the Italy game

Not sure at all just a feeling. But he's a bigger body who can crash or pass and provides a similar option to Tuipulotu and its a good opportunity and environment to put him as that option at 12 to see whether we have a replacement option for Tuipulotu against a team with a lot of players he'll know well.

He's playing well and comfortable with Jones. We'll learn nothing about him in the summer v USA and Canada and GT likes to dabble at times v Italy.

[Tichtheid]

I suspect that McDowell might start ahead of Redpath if Tuipulotu can't go.

Are you sure? If that was the case, wouldn't he be on the bench ahead of Redpath today and in previous matches? I'm a fan of McDowall and I think he will have a lot to offer Scotland, but I don't see him being ahead of Redpath for the Italy game

Not sure at all. But he's a bigger body who can crash or pass and provides a similar option to Tuipulotu and its a good opportunity and environment to put him as that option at 12 to see whether we have a replacement option for Tuipulotu.

He's playing well and comfortable with Jones. We'll learn nothing about him in the summer v USA and Canada and GT likes to dabble at times v Italy.

That's a reasonable point, I just think we should put out our strongest available team v Italy - we'll need it - and if Sione isn't fit, then I'd think Redpath would start with probably McDowall over Hutch on the bench

[Big D]

Comfortably Cummings best game for a while in a while.

[dpedin]

Are you sure? If that was the case, wouldn't he be on the bench ahead of Redpath today and in previous matches? I'm a fan of McDowall and I think he will have a lot to offer Scotland, but I don't see him being ahead of Redpath for the Italy game

Not sure at all. But he's a bigger body who can crash or pass and provides a similar option to Tuipulotu and its a good opportunity and environment to put him as that option at 12 to see whether we have a replacement option for Tuipulotu.

He's playing well and comfortable with Jones. We'll learn nothing about him in the summer v USA and Canada and GT likes to dabble at times v Italy.

That's a reasonable point, I just think we should put out our strongest available team v Italy - we'll need it - and if Sione isn't fit, then I'd think Redpath would start with probably McDowall over Hutch on the bench

Russell and Redpath play a lot together for Bath and that partnership might sway it Redpath's way? I too like McDowell a lot and would be delighted to see him selected, either way we are blessed with some strong options to pick from!

[Slick]

Fair play to the SRU today.

I wrote last week about the awful cunts in front of us at the France game and that I thought a couple of people had complained about them on the day and I wrote a complaint the next day.

I didn’t get a reply so when I saw a couple of senior looking SRU badged guys hanging around before kick off I went up to them to ask them to keep an eye out. Before I could even get the whole sentence out one of the guys said there were 4 of them dotted about to specifically keep an eye on those seats and that CCTV had been told to cover them, so not to worry and enjoy the game.

Of course the main cunt wasn’t there this week and they others were well behaved (apart from turning their backs on GSTK), but still quite impressive

[Slick]

Not totally without hope for the Triple Crown game…

[Slick]

As a wee aside, an impressive number of:

Messi
10

Shirts at the ground today

[Tichtheid]

As a wee aside, an impressive number of:

Messi
10

Shirts at the ground today

Did you see the Edinburgh Rugby interview with Boff? He has a pic of the real Messi as a screen saver on his phone "Ay Loave heem" - Boff comes across as a very likeable guy. It made me laugh when he said he is getting a bit better at the language but he can't understand a word Luke Crosbie says

[Yr Alban]

Well, have now watched the match back.

Actually more comfortable for Scotland than I thought. The BBC feed said that Duhan’s first try was ‘entirely against the run of play’ which I’d say was utter bollocks. The preceding 10 minutes was back-and-forth play in midfield with a lot of errors on both sides, but it would be stretching it to say it was all England. I also think it’s interesting that people say Scotland took their chances when they came, because I think you could say the exact same about England. I’m struggling to recall a point in the game when they looked likely to score a try, aside from the two occasions they did. Both of which were defensive lapses on our part.

Good points: RESTARTS. We finally seem to have figured out how to deal with them. Gilchrist was there to collect the ball, with support, every time. I think we only lost one. I was worried about Millar-Mills, and he was pinged in the scrum the first couple of times, but after that he won some free kicks and one or two crucial turnovers. Well done. Obviously Duhan - it’s not a question of whether he will break the record, but how far ahead he will move the marker. Also, our lineout was reliable and our discipline was decent (can’t find any stats right now).

Bad points: shithouse defence for both England tries. At the second in particular, they gave the guy a clear run to the line. Lots of handling errors.

Overall: Scotland the better team, and with the outstanding talent on show. Last week now becomes even more annoying, because we would be a win in Rome away from a showdown for the Championship in Dublin.

[topofthemoon]

Frustrating not to get the tbp again. I’d love to see how often (hello Totm) Scotland have scored 3 tries in 60 minutes or fewer and not scored a bonus point. It feels like it happens a lot.

Not had a chance to check the times of the scores but these are the games Scotland have scored 3 tries in since the Six Nations introduced bonus points:

2024 v England (W by 9)
2024 v Wales (W by 1)
2023 v France (L by 11)
2021 v France (W by 4)
2021 v Ireland (L by 3)
2021 v Wales (L by 1)
2020 v France (W by 11)
2020 v Italy (W by 17)
2018 v England (W by 12)
2017 v England (L by 40)
2017 v Ireland (W by 5)

[I like neeps]

Great win.

Brian McNeise clearly factored in Scotland competition to Ireland's grand slam in his denial of reality two weeks ago.

[Slick]

Well, have now watched the match back.

Actually more comfortable for Scotland than I thought. The BBC feed said that Duhan’s first try was ‘entirely against the run of play’ which I’d say was utter bollocks. The preceding 10 minutes was back-and-forth play in midfield with a lot of errors on both sides, but it would be stretching it to say it was all England. I also think it’s interesting that people say Scotland took their chances when they came, because I think you could say the exact same about England. I’m struggling to recall a point in the game when they looked likely to score a try, aside from the two occasions they did. Both of which were defensive lapses on our part.

Good points: RESTARTS. We finally seem to have figured out how to deal with them. Gilchrist was there to collect the ball, with support, every time. I think we only lost one. I was worried about Millar-Mills, and he was pinged in the scrum the first couple of times, but after that he won some free kicks and one or two crucial turnovers. Well done. Obviously Duhan - it’s not a question of whether he will break the record, but how far ahead he will move the marker. Also, our lineout was reliable and our discipline was decent (can’t find any stats right now).

Bad points: shithouse defence for both England tries. At the second in particular, they gave the guy a clear run to the line. Lots of handling errors.

Overall: Scotland the better team, and with the outstanding talent on show. Last week now becomes even more annoying, because we would be a win in Rome away from a showdown for the Championship in Dublin.

Re restarts, yes, they were much better - we finally, after years, seemed to have realised that catching it and hoofing it upfield is perfectly acceptable- but we still have away 8(maybe 10) points directly from fucked up restarts, no other teams does this regularly

[KingBlairhorn]

Frustrating not to get the tbp again. I’d love to see how often (hello Totm) Scotland have scored 3 tries in 60 minutes or fewer and not scored a bonus point. It feels like it happens a lot.

Not had a chance to check the times of the scores but these are the games Scotland have scored 3 tries in since the Six Nations introduced bonus points:

2024 v England (W by 9)
2023 v France (L by 11)
2021 v France (W by 4)
2021 v Ireland (L by 3)
2021 v Wales (L by 1)
2020 v France (W by 11)
2020 v Italy (W by 17)
2018 v England (W by 12)
2017 v England (L by 40)
2017 v Ireland (W by 5)

Thanks!

2021 aside that doesn’t seem too bad. Perception never tells the full story. I guess it would be interesting to have context as to whether that is more or fewer than other teams.

[KingBlairhorn]

Well, have now watched the match back.

Actually more comfortable for Scotland than I thought. The BBC feed said that Duhan’s first try was ‘entirely against the run of play’ which I’d say was utter bollocks. The preceding 10 minutes was back-and-forth play in midfield with a lot of errors on both sides, but it would be stretching it to say it was all England. I also think it’s interesting that people say Scotland took their chances when they came, because I think you could say the exact same about England. I’m struggling to recall a point in the game when they looked likely to score a try, aside from the two occasions they did. Both of which were defensive lapses on our part.

Good points: RESTARTS. We finally seem to have figured out how to deal with them. Gilchrist was there to collect the ball, with support, every time. I think we only lost one. I was worried about Millar-Mills, and he was pinged in the scrum the first couple of times, but after that he won some free kicks and one or two crucial turnovers. Well done. Obviously Duhan - it’s not a question of whether he will break the record, but how far ahead he will move the marker. Also, our lineout was reliable and our discipline was decent (can’t find any stats right now).

Bad points: shithouse defence for both England tries. At the second in particular, they gave the guy a clear run to the line. Lots of handling errors.

Overall: Scotland the better team, and with the outstanding talent on show. Last week now becomes even more annoying, because we would be a win in Rome away from a showdown for the Championship in Dublin.

That’s good to read, I never felt hugely threatened through the match and thought we were quite comfortable. The only point I had a worry was around 74ish minutes when we conceded the try followed by a penalty against us while attacking in their 22; for a moment it felt like England might score again and make it a nervy finish.

[Slick]

Just watched some highlights - didn’t realise what an utterly miserable day Earl had against Duhan , bounced for the first try, left for dead for the 2nd and run over a couple of other times.

Anyway, great atmosphere at Murrayfield and in town yesterday. Isn’t always like that for the England game so enjoyed it

[Yr Alban]

Well, have now watched the match back.

Actually more comfortable for Scotland than I thought. The BBC feed said that Duhan’s first try was ‘entirely against the run of play’ which I’d say was utter bollocks. The preceding 10 minutes was back-and-forth play in midfield with a lot of errors on both sides, but it would be stretching it to say it was all England. I also think it’s interesting that people say Scotland took their chances when they came, because I think you could say the exact same about England. I’m struggling to recall a point in the game when they looked likely to score a try, aside from the two occasions they did. Both of which were defensive lapses on our part.

Good points: RESTARTS. We finally seem to have figured out how to deal with them. Gilchrist was there to collect the ball, with support, every time. I think we only lost one. I was worried about Millar-Mills, and he was pinged in the scrum the first couple of times, but after that he won some free kicks and one or two crucial turnovers. Well done. Obviously Duhan - it’s not a question of whether he will break the record, but how far ahead he will move the marker. Also, our lineout was reliable and our discipline was decent (can’t find any stats right now).

Bad points: shithouse defence for both England tries. At the second in particular, they gave the guy a clear run to the line. Lots of handling errors.

Overall: Scotland the better team, and with the outstanding talent on show. Last week now becomes even more annoying, because we would be a win in Rome away from a showdown for the Championship in Dublin.

Re restarts, yes, they were much better - we finally, after years, seemed to have realised that catching it and hoofing it upfield is perfectly acceptable- but we still have away 8(maybe 10) points directly from fucked up restarts, no other teams does this regularly

We also seem to have cottoned on to the idea that lifting the guy collecting the restart is a good tactic to make sure you win it cleanly. Everyone else has been doing it for ages, but for some reason we haven’t.

I can’t recall the fucked up restarts you mention, but I believe you. I guess breaking the habit of years takes time, but we were certainly better at them than we have been for many years.

I’m not saying that we were brilliant yesterday. We weren’t. But it does occur to me that we are gradually fixing the things that used to turn potential wins into losses. Restarts are less of an issue. Our lineout has been reliable. We’re not coughing up cheap turnovers. Our discipline has been better (I’m not counting the Wales game as the refereeing was comically lopsided). Our mentality is better - we have learned how to close out a game.

We now need to fix maintaining our intensity for 80 minutes (even though we don’t seem to have had the same tendency to go to sleep for 10-20 minutes that we had last year) and find a way to compete with teams that bully us into submission.

[Begbie]

Heeds thumping, but reading the seeth from England fans on social media is helping ease the severe hangover.

[topofthemoon]

Frustrating not to get the tbp again. I’d love to see how often (hello Totm) Scotland have scored 3 tries in 60 minutes or fewer and not scored a bonus point. It feels like it happens a lot.

Not had a chance to check the times of the scores but these are the games Scotland have scored 3 tries in since the Six Nations introduced bonus points:

2024 v England (W by 9)
2023 v France (L by 11)
2021 v France (W by 4)
2021 v Ireland (L by 3)
2021 v Wales (L by 1)
2020 v France (W by 11)
2020 v Italy (W by 17)
2018 v England (W by 12)
2017 v England (L by 40)
2017 v Ireland (W by 5)

Thanks!

2021 aside that doesn’t seem too bad. Perception never tells the full story. I guess it would be interesting to have context as to whether that is more or fewer than other teams.

Just been looking at Ireland's Six Nations winning streak - there is a side that doesn't leave the BP hanging very often. 11 consecutive wins, 10 try BPs (the one they missed came down to a Kyle Steyn tap tackle and James Ryan losing the ball forward at Murrayfield last year).

Excluding games v Italy the minute they scored their 4th try in each match was:

76th, 78th, 73rd, 71st, 76th, 61st*, 80th

*scored a 5th try in the 77th minute.

[Biffer]

Heeds thumping, but reading the seeth from England fans on social media is helping ease the severe hangover.

It’s also a lot of fun when they rant on about foreign born players to point out their second try scorer is Welsh, by the standards that people hold us to.

[KingBlairhorn]

Heeds thumping, but reading the seeth from England fans on social media is helping ease the severe hangover.

It’s also a lot of fun when they rant on about foreign born players to point out their second try scorer is Welsh, by the standards that people hold us to.

Aye, but apparently if your team only has x* number of poaches it’s fine.


*x being the number they currently have. By adding an additional poach x changes. It is a flexible constant.

[Biffer]

Also saw a fuckwit claiming that Tuipolotu, Ashman, Steyn, and several others were all residency qualified. I have informed them they’re a twat

[topofthemoon]

Frustrating not to get the tbp again. I’d love to see how often (hello Totm) Scotland have scored 3 tries in 60 minutes or fewer and not scored a bonus point. It feels like it happens a lot.

Not had a chance to check the times of the scores but these are the games Scotland have scored 3 tries in since the Six Nations introduced bonus points:

2024 v England (W by 9)
2023 v France (L by 11)
2021 v France (W by 4)
2021 v Ireland (L by 3)
2021 v Wales (L by 1)
2020 v France (W by 11)
2020 v Italy (W by 17)
2018 v England (W by 12)
2017 v England (L by 40)
2017 v Ireland (W by 5)

Thanks!

2021 aside that doesn’t seem too bad. Perception never tells the full story. I guess it would be interesting to have context as to whether that is more or fewer than other teams.

Corrected the original post as I'd omitted this year's game v Wales (it was the early hours of the morning!)

So 11 times we've been left on 3 tries. 9 times collected the try BP (8 wins and 1 draw). 6 of the BPs have been against Italy.

[Yr Alban]

Heeds thumping, but reading the seeth from England fans on social media is helping ease the severe hangover.

It’s also a lot of fun when they rant on about foreign born players to point out their second try scorer is Welsh, by the standards that people hold us to.

Aye, but apparently if your team only has x* number of poaches it’s fine.


*x being the number they currently have. By adding an additional poach x changes. It is a flexible constant.

This is so true. X number of foreign born, residency or whatever players is fine. Y is ridiculous (Y being the number fielded by Scotland). I know I keep saying it, but it boils my piss that Ireland’s first choice back line includes an Aussie and three Kiwis, and nobody seems to care much, even as they steamroller everyone, but we get constant criticism.

[Blackmac]

Well, have now watched the match back.

Actually more comfortable for Scotland than I thought. The BBC feed said that Duhan’s first try was ‘entirely against the run of play’ which I’d say was utter bollocks. The preceding 10 minutes was back-and-forth play in midfield with a lot of errors on both sides, but it would be stretching it to say it was all England. I also think it’s interesting that people say Scotland took their chances when they came, because I think you could say the exact same about England. I’m struggling to recall a point in the game when they looked likely to score a try, aside from the two occasions they did. Both of which were defensive lapses on our part.

Good points: RESTARTS. We finally seem to have figured out how to deal with them. Gilchrist was there to collect the ball, with support, every time. I think we only lost one. I was worried about Millar-Mills, and he was pinged in the scrum the first couple of times, but after that he won some free kicks and one or two crucial turnovers. Well done. Obviously Duhan - it’s not a question of whether he will break the record, but how far ahead he will move the marker. Also, our lineout was reliable and our discipline was decent (can’t find any stats right now).

Bad points: shithouse defence for both England tries. At the second in particular, they gave the guy a clear run to the line. Lots of handling errors.

Overall: Scotland the better team, and with the outstanding talent on show. Last week now becomes even more annoying, because we would be a win in Rome away from a showdown for the Championship in Dublin.

Re restarts, yes, they were much better - we finally, after years, seemed to have realised that catching it and hoofing it upfield is perfectly acceptable- but we still have away 8(maybe 10) points directly from fucked up restarts, no other teams does this regularly

Gilchrist was superb at the restarts yesterday, possibly some of the best collections of catches I have seen us take in a long time and the ball was easily secured. The first one after he went off was appalling. Itoje just ran right across the front of them, nowhere near the ball but they all got totally distracted. Pretty much led to the second try.

[Blackmac]

Just watched some highlights - didn’t realise what an utterly miserable day Earl had against Duhan , bounced for the first try, left for dead for the 2nd and run over a couple of other times.

Anyway, great atmosphere at Murrayfield and in town yesterday. Isn’t always like that for the England game so enjoyed it

Earls got absolutely minced by White of all people as well. I thought he and the rest of the back row got away with murder. Constantly infringing and slowing down but Beace just seemed to coach them rather than whistle. Their penalty under the posts against Ritchie, where the Genge clear out was looked at was ridiculous. Brace must have been wincing looking at the Genge reviews as he could see what a mess he had made of it.

[Yr Alban]

Just watching the highlights again and remembered something. At Duhan’s first try, Furbank tackles Huw Jones around the neck. Furbank’s lucky that Jones (who was brilliant yesterday, made the second try too) gets the offload off the deck to Duhan and it’s a try, because he could easily have been in the bin.

Also, at England’s first try, one of the England players bodychecks a Scotland defender - neither has the ball, he just shoves him to the ground. The gap this creates isn’t actually the gap that Furbank runs through, so you could argue that it didn’t affect play, but it’s an off the ball tackle and a penalty. Not sure exactly what the laws say about this?

[Slick]

Well…. Assuming we should beat Italy that just about secures us 2nd at least doesn’t it?

[S/Lt_Phillips]

Well…. Assuming we should beat Italy that just about secures us 2nd at least doesn’t it?

Not sure. France have Wales & England to play - they should win both, and probably a BP against Wales. So that's 8 or 9 more points, which puts them on 14 or 15.

We're on 9, so a BP against Italy (by no means a certainty) puts us on 14. So we might need a LBP or 4 tries at least against Ireland.

But this is Scotland, so Garbisi hitting the post will be what denies us 2nd place. It is written.

[Slick]

Well…. Assuming we should beat Italy that just about secures us 2nd at least doesn’t it?

Not sure. France have Wales & England to play - they should win both, and probably a BP against Wales. So that's 8 or 9 more points, which puts them on 14 or 15.

We're on 9, so a BP against Italy (by no means a certainty) puts us on 14. So we might need a LBP or 4 tries at least against Ireland.

But this is Scotland, so Garbisi hitting the post will be what denies us 2nd place. It is written.

I hadn’t put much thought into that, pleased to be brought back tk earth