The Official Scottish Rugby Thread

[Tichtheid]

Apparently it's only the 4th time that Lang and Bennett have started together this season, which I think might have contributed to our less than sparkling back play. To me, they are our best combination in the centres. For example, I like Currie a lot but he's been playing at 12 when he is probably more suited to 13 (at least at the moment).

Lang at his best is very good, but he's made of glass. I've been watching Mark Bennett very closely recently and he's proved very wrong - I was ready to write him off.

Having said that, I'm quite excited about the prospect of Mosese reaching the standards Sione had thrown down and Curripulotu being our centres for several years to come (apologies for repeating the joke, but Currie looks very much the part, if Mosese can emulate his brother that will be a huge fillip for this team)

Bennett has now played a lot more for Edinburgh than he did for Glasgow. Excellent player.

Yup, and he was playing well enough to get back into the Scotland squad when he had a ten at Edinburgh who went for it.

Ok Healy is a different player etc, but I read on the Weedgie board that Ross Thompson is coming over, if it's true I don't think it suits either him, Edinburgh or Glasgow.

[Wylie Coyote]

Edinburgh Rugby team to face Zebre Parma at Hive Stadium in the BKT United Rugby Championship
Friday 10 May (kick-off 7.35pm) – live on Premier Sports

15. Wes Goosen (29)
14. Matt Currie (36)
13. Mark Bennett (105)
12. James Lang (54)
11. Duhan van der Merwe (89)
10. Ben Healy (20)
9. Ali Price (14)

1. Pierre Schoeman (112)
2. Ewan Ashman (17)
3. WP Nel (204)
4. Sam Skinner (22)
5. Grant Gilchrist (202) CAPTAIN
6. Jamie Ritchie (111)
7. Hamish Watson (156)
8. Viliame Mata (135)

Replacements
16. Dave Cherry (90)
17. Boan Venter (63)
18. Javan Sebastian (14)
19. Marshall Sykes (59)
20. Luke Crosbie (97)
21. Ben Vellacott (58)
22. Cammy Scott (9)
23. Chris Dean (150)

Unavailable: Emiliano Boffelli (back), Connor Boyle (back), Tom Dodd (bicep), Darcy Graham (groin), Jake Henry (hamstring), Robin Hislop (knee), Harry Paterson (quad), D’Arcy Rae (ankle), Scott Steele (hip), Nathan Sweeney (groin), Glen Young (ankle).

Boffelli plays one match and is injured again? Also, I thought Harry Paterson was going to be back a few weeks ago, is he injured again? With Henry out too lots of players missing golden opportunities to stake a claim for a back three shirt towards the businnes end of the season.

[Tichtheid]

Boffelli plays one match and is injured again? Also, I thought Harry Paterson was going to be back a few weeks ago, is he injured again? With Henry out too lots of players missing golden opportunities to stake a claim for a back three shirt towards the businnes end of the season.

Paterson's is a new injury, it was his foot before, he was playing the Super 6 last week I think. Boff had a recurrence of his back spasm, or so I read, but yeah, we could really have done with everyone being fit for the run in.

[robmatic]

Boffelli plays one match and is injured again? Also, I thought Harry Paterson was going to be back a few weeks ago, is he injured again? With Henry out too lots of players missing golden opportunities to stake a claim for a back three shirt towards the businnes end of the season.

Paterson's is a new injury, it was his foot before, he was playing the Super 6 last week I think. Boff had a recurrence of his back spasm, or so I read, but yeah, we could really have done with everyone being fit for the run in.

I think there might be an element of not risking them against Zebre so they are fit for Munster and Benetton.

[dpedin]

Boffelli plays one match and is injured again? Also, I thought Harry Paterson was going to be back a few weeks ago, is he injured again? With Henry out too lots of players missing golden opportunities to stake a claim for a back three shirt towards the businnes end of the season.

Paterson's is a new injury, it was his foot before, he was playing the Super 6 last week I think. Boff had a recurrence of his back spasm, or so I read, but yeah, we could really have done with everyone being fit for the run in.

I think there might be an element of not risking them against Zebre so they are fit for Munster and Benetton.

Agreed - that team should be good enough to get a BP win against Zebra at home. Anyone carrying a niggle or recovering doesn't have to be risked tonight. I suspect we might make heavy weather of it but will grind the Italians down in last 20mins. Hopefully we won't sustain any more injuries!

[Dogbert]

Teams out for the Bulls top of the table clash

The backs are as strong as Glasgow can put out

Some surprises from Franco - but some surprises in the Front Five - the front three ( have they ever played together as a front row ?)

And Gregor Brown in at second row along with Cummings - be interesting to see how the Scrum & lineout goes.

Pretty decent bench though

Obviously hoping for a win , but I'd be happy with a losing point for this one.

Should be a cracker


Glasgow Warriors (v Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, Saturday 1pm BST)

J McKay;
K Steyn (captain),
S McDowall,
S Tuipulotu,
S Cancelliere;
T Jordan,
G Horne;
J Bhatti,
G Stewart,
M Walker,
G Brown,
S Cummings,
M Fagerson,
R Darge,
J Dempsey.

Replacements: J Matthews, N McBeth, Z Fagerson, M Williamson, E Ferrie, H Venter, J Dobie, D Weir.

[KingBlairhorn]

Edinburgh Rugby team to face Zebre Parma at Hive Stadium in the BKT United Rugby Championship
Friday 10 May (kick-off 7.35pm) – live on Premier Sports
...
Unavailable: Emiliano Boffelli (back), Connor Boyle (back), Tom Dodd (bicep), Darcy Graham (groin), Jake Henry (hamstring), Robin Hislop (knee), Harry Paterson (quad), D’Arcy Rae (ankle), Scott Steele (hip), Nathan Sweeney (groin), Glen Young (ankle).

Boffelli plays one match and is injured again? Also, I thought Harry Paterson was going to be back a few weeks ago, is he injured again? With Henry out too lots of players missing golden opportunities to stake a claim for a back three shirt towards the businnes end of the season.

Such a shame some of the younger guys have had injuries when there were chances available (Boyle, Henry, Paterson and Muncaster for much of the season).

[Yr Alban]

My son is at the game v Zebre tonight. Was just thinking that he’d picked the wrong night. Though I see Ashman has gone over again.

[topofthemoon]

Match preview for Bulls v Glasgow:

https://www.scotlandrugbynews.com/analy ... -warriors/

[Yr Alban]

FGS, if Edinburgh arse this up, I will not be impressed.

[KingBlairhorn]

BP secured for Edinburgh (presuming they don’t fuck it up and lose) but they’ve been drawn into a shit fest by Zebre. A bit more structure and a little more smarts and they’d have skooshed this.

[Yr Alban]

BP secured for Edinburgh (presuming they don’t fuck it up and lose) but they’ve been drawn into a shit fest by Zebre. A bit more structure and a little more smarts and they’d have skooshed this.

I don’t know what the hell is wrong with Edinburgh. It’s been this way for years. They have a decent squad and often put together decent results, but they endlessly disappoint when it comes to crucial games.

I mean, they have won 10 out of 15 in the URC, but have the lowest number of BPs. Zebre have one win. And yet they are still making heavy weather of it, and at home.

[KingBlairhorn]

Good to see Cammy Scott on.

[Yr Alban]

Two late tries actually put some polish on this in the end. Ah well, the expected result. Need to keep pushing for top 8.

[KingBlairhorn]

Two late tries actually put some polish on this in the end. Ah well, the expected result. Need to keep pushing for top 8.

My guess was 6-8 points for a top 8 finish, 5 points in this game was a good start. There is still a decent chance Connacht get nothing in their final 3.

[dpedin]

Paterson's is a new injury, it was his foot before, he was playing the Super 6 last week I think. Boff had a recurrence of his back spasm, or so I read, but yeah, we could really have done with everyone being fit for the run in.

I think there might be an element of not risking them against Zebre so they are fit for Munster and Benetton.

Agreed - that team should be good enough to get a BP win against Zebra at home. Anyone carrying a niggle or recovering doesn't have to be risked tonight. I suspect we might make heavy weather of it but will grind the Italians down in last 20mins. Hopefully we won't sustain any more injuries!

5 points, couple of good tries in last 20mins and no serious injuries is a good outcome if not a good display!

[Biffer]

I think there might be an element of not risking them against Zebre so they are fit for Munster and Benetton.

Agreed - that team should be good enough to get a BP win against Zebra at home. Anyone carrying a niggle or recovering doesn't have to be risked tonight. I suspect we might make heavy weather of it but will grind the Italians down in last 20mins. Hopefully we won't sustain any more injuries!

5 points, couple of good tries in last 20mins and no serious injuries is a good outcome if not a good display!

Yeah, exactly. We want our teams to win, go on about them being more hard nosed and grinding out results, then when they do that, people get sniffy about not playing pretty rugby.

[Biffer]

From earlier in the season -

Utter shit from Edinburgh. Better side for the first twenty or so minutes with ball in hand, so we decided to kick it away from that point on. Including when they were on a yellow card, and we decided to take one phase and then box kick from the halfway line. All the old shite about us being a holding pen for Scotland internationals is back again, saw it happening while Blair was in charge. No leadership, the players were barely talking to each other and nobody, as ever, trying to get the guys going at the end when we're trying to win. And why the fuck would you go for the drop after a couple of Le of phases rather than trucking it up for ten or fifteen, when they're a man down and that man is a lock? For fucks sake, get half a yard every phase for ten or fifteen so he's not trying to drop it from forty metres out.

Fucking shambolic, and I'm pretty sure that loss will be the difference between champions cup and challenge cup next season.

Still worried about Edinburgh, and it’s all down to this game. If we had three point more and Benneton had three less, we’d be guaranteed top eight now.

[Yr Alban]

Agreed - that team should be good enough to get a BP win against Zebra at home. Anyone carrying a niggle or recovering doesn't have to be risked tonight. I suspect we might make heavy weather of it but will grind the Italians down in last 20mins. Hopefully we won't sustain any more injuries!

5 points, couple of good tries in last 20mins and no serious injuries is a good outcome if not a good display!

Yeah, exactly. We want our teams to win, go on about them being more hard nosed and grinding out results, then when they do that, people get sniffy about not playing pretty rugby.

This is fair comment. However, Embra had 10 wins (11 now) and were at home v the bottom side, who had 1 win. Yes, they put a gloss on it at the end, but the game was too close for too long. There’s no way any of the top four sides would have been only 5 up going into the late game.

[Biffer]

5 points, couple of good tries in last 20mins and no serious injuries is a good outcome if not a good display!

Yeah, exactly. We want our teams to win, go on about them being more hard nosed and grinding out results, then when they do that, people get sniffy about not playing pretty rugby.

This is fair comment. However, Embra had 10 wins (11 now) and were at home v the bottom side, who had 1 win. Yes, they put a gloss on it at the end, but the game was too close for too long. There’s no way any of the top four sides would have been only 5 up going into the late game.

Yeah, that is edinburghs problem, not converting opportunities into points. If we were better at that we wouldn’t be mid table, would have more bonus points etc.

[topofthemoon]

5 points, couple of good tries in last 20mins and no serious injuries is a good outcome if not a good display!

Yeah, exactly. We want our teams to win, go on about them being more hard nosed and grinding out results, then when they do that, people get sniffy about not playing pretty rugby.

This is fair comment. However, Embra had 10 wins (11 now) and were at home v the bottom side, who had 1 win. Yes, they put a gloss on it at the end, but the game was too close for too long. There’s no way any of the top four sides would have been only 5 up going into the late game.

Zebre getting put away in the final quarter is not that unusual. Zebre v Bulls was 29 - 36 with 68' gone (finished 29 - 54). Zebre v Glasgow was only 9 - 21 with 65' on the clock (finished 9 - 40).

Munster v Zebre was a bit different but the Italians picked up a try BP and closed to within 2 scores late on before Munster had the last word for a 45 - 29 scoreline.

Leinster were the only top 4 side to keep them at arms length but it took until the 3rd quarter to get to that position.

Other top 8 contenders had to work hard to put away Zebre - Ulster, Ospreys. Even Stormers were only really comfortable after 2 tries in the last 15 minutes.

Munster next week will give a real indication of where Edinburgh sit. The Irish side are flying and have an excellent record in the capital. If Edinburgh want a statement win to show how far they've progressed then this game will be the opportunity.

[Yr Alban]

Some comeback from Glasgow, I see. Gave themselves a bit too much to do for a win, but two BPs from the Bulls away is decent.

[SomersetJock]

Brilliant comeback from being absolutely dead and buried.

Annoyingly they waited until I had to pop out for 15 mins before switching on the afterburners

Couldn’t believe the score when I got back in

[Biffer]

Some comeback from Glasgow, I see. Gave themselves a bit too much to do for a win, but two BPs from the Bulls away is decent.

I said in the URC thread, the yellow card cost them 14 points.

[charltom]

Hoping one of you knows how this should work...

My Viaplay subscription ends in a week. The URC matches are now on Premier Sports.

Viaplay are offering me a good deal (£59 for the year) to continue the subscription. But am I right in thinking that won't give me Premier Sports access?

Do I need to subscribe to Premier on its own now to keep watching?

The thing that confuses me slightly is that I can still see the URC logo on the Viaplay app. But I still had to sign into Premier yesterday to watch Bulls-Glasgow.

Yours,

Old and Confused

[GrahamWa]

Hoping one of you knows how this should work...

My Viaplay subscription ends in a week. The URC matches are now on Premier Sports.

Viaplay are offering me a good deal (£59 for the year) to continue the subscription. But am I right in thinking that won't give me Premier Sports access?

Do I need to subscribe to Premier on its own now to keep watching?

The thing that confuses me slightly is that I can still see the URC logo on the Viaplay app. But I still had to sign into Premier yesterday to watch Bulls-Glasgow.

Yours,

Old and Confused

replied on the other thread, but the answer is no.

[Yr Alban]

Hoping one of you knows how this should work...

My Viaplay subscription ends in a week. The URC matches are now on Premier Sports.

Viaplay are offering me a good deal (£59 for the year) to continue the subscription. But am I right in thinking that won't give me Premier Sports access?

Do I need to subscribe to Premier on its own now to keep watching?

The thing that confuses me slightly is that I can still see the URC logo on the Viaplay app. But I still had to sign into Premier yesterday to watch Bulls-Glasgow.

Yours,

Old and Confused

replied on the other thread, but the answer is no.

Apologies. ‘No’ as in your Viaplay sub will give you Premier Sports access, or as it won’t?

My Viaplay sub has now expired. Would be happy to pay another £59, but probably not much more.

[KingBlairhorn]

Hoping one of you knows how this should work...

My Viaplay subscription ends in a week. The URC matches are now on Premier Sports.

Viaplay are offering me a good deal (£59 for the year) to continue the subscription. But am I right in thinking that won't give me Premier Sports access?

Do I need to subscribe to Premier on its own now to keep watching?

The thing that confuses me slightly is that I can still see the URC logo on the Viaplay app. But I still had to sign into Premier yesterday to watch Bulls-Glasgow.

Yours,

Old and Confused

replied on the other thread, but the answer is no.

Apologies. ‘No’ as in your Viaplay sub will give you Premier Sports access, or as it won’t?

My Viaplay sub has now expired. Would be happy to pay another £59, but probably not much more.

Viaplay official ‘switch off’ is 21st May (this year). Until then both apps will work. You should have received an email from both Viaplay and premier sports about your account transitioning to premier sports, as far as I know it the account switch process itself was automatic. It certainly was for me.

Weirdly the premier sports app doesn’t show up in search on a chromecast (which is how I watch it) but last night I got an ‘apps installed on your other devices’ list I’ve never seen before randomly appear on my home screen which allowed me to download the app. Bit weird and not sure why it can’t simply be searched for.

[Jock42]

My switchover wasn't automatic but I subscribe through sky.

[GrahamWa]

Hoping one of you knows how this should work...

My Viaplay subscription ends in a week. The URC matches are now on Premier Sports.

Viaplay are offering me a good deal (£59 for the year) to continue the subscription. But am I right in thinking that won't give me Premier Sports access?

Do I need to subscribe to Premier on its own now to keep watching?

The thing that confuses me slightly is that I can still see the URC logo on the Viaplay app. But I still had to sign into Premier yesterday to watch Bulls-Glasgow.

Yours,

Old and Confused

replied on the other thread, but the answer is no.

Apologies. ‘No’ as in your Viaplay sub will give you Premier Sports access, or as it won’t?

Viaplay have the rugby on it until the 21st May then it will be no more. Unless you are right into Scandi noir crime dramas £59 isn't worth it.

[Biffer]

I don't know, I go to the games. So I thought there was no point in paying for the subscription

[westport]

Edinburgh Rugby
15m ·
Edinburgh Rugby has continued to strengthen its squad for the new season with the extension of Scotland internationalist Marshall Sykes until 2026

[Yr Alban]

Is the Munster game fully sold out? I was considering going, but if the website is to believed, there isn’t a single seat in the house.

[Biffer]

Is the Munster game fully sold out? I was considering going, but if the website is to believed, there isn’t a single seat in the house.

Yeah, heard that yesterday. Munster travel in big numbers, should be a good night.

[Tichtheid]

Just once I'd love to see Edinburgh step up and beat Munster, especially in a very important game. The backline looked all over the place against Zebre, absolutely no fluidity or cohesion, big Duane tries to batter through 14 players in any direction, Mark Bennett should be more accurate given all his experience, Lang is not up to this, even Goosen was making mistakes. Matt Currie is about the only bright spark in the outside backs. Yeah we're missing Graham and Boffelli, but it's not academy players who are there in their place.
I can't see us destroying the Munster scrum the way we did Zebre's and we were given an easy ride at the lineout, POM is not going to give us that. Munster will be coming fully loaded because they would go top of the table with a win and they will be looking for five points.

Just once I'd love Edinburgh to click and beat them, we'd be doing Glasgow a huge favour too.

[robmatic]

Just once I'd love to see Edinburgh step up and beat Munster, especially in a very important game. The backline looked all over the place against Zebre, absolutely no fluidity or cohesion, big Duane tries to batter through 14 players in any direction, Mark Bennett should be more accurate given all his experience, Lang is not up to this, even Goosen was making mistakes. Matt Currie is about the only bright spark in the outside backs. Yeah we're missing Graham and Boffelli, but it's not academy players who are there in their place.
I can't see us destroying the Munster scrum the way we did Zebre's and we were given an easy ride at the lineout, POM is not going to give us that. Munster will be coming fully loaded because they would go top of the table with a win and they will be looking for five points.

Just once I'd love Edinburgh to click and beat them, we'd be doing Glasgow a huge favour too.

They really need to pick something up because I would put Benetton favourites for the last game of the season.

[Tichtheid]

Just once I'd love to see Edinburgh step up and beat Munster, especially in a very important game. The backline looked all over the place against Zebre, absolutely no fluidity or cohesion, big Duane tries to batter through 14 players in any direction, Mark Bennett should be more accurate given all his experience, Lang is not up to this, even Goosen was making mistakes. Matt Currie is about the only bright spark in the outside backs. Yeah we're missing Graham and Boffelli, but it's not academy players who are there in their place.
I can't see us destroying the Munster scrum the way we did Zebre's and we were given an easy ride at the lineout, POM is not going to give us that. Munster will be coming fully loaded because they would go top of the table with a win and they will be looking for five points.

Just once I'd love Edinburgh to click and beat them, we'd be doing Glasgow a huge favour too.

They really need to pick something up because I would put Benetton favourites for the last game of the season.

I agree.

Last season we managed a long BP in half the games we lost, this season we've had 1 BP from 5 losses. Last year we got 8 try BPs, this year we've named 3. In terms of wins we are equal third in the league, only Glasgow and Leinster have won one more game each than us.
Mossy was correct at the weekend in that turning things around was the first part of the project and in getting the wins Everitt has done that part, but the poor discipline and lack of creativity in the backs is killing us.

[Biffer]

Just once I'd love to see Edinburgh step up and beat Munster, especially in a very important game. The backline looked all over the place against Zebre, absolutely no fluidity or cohesion, big Duane tries to batter through 14 players in any direction, Mark Bennett should be more accurate given all his experience, Lang is not up to this, even Goosen was making mistakes. Matt Currie is about the only bright spark in the outside backs. Yeah we're missing Graham and Boffelli, but it's not academy players who are there in their place.
I can't see us destroying the Munster scrum the way we did Zebre's and we were given an easy ride at the lineout, POM is not going to give us that. Munster will be coming fully loaded because they would go top of the table with a win and they will be looking for five points.

Just once I'd love Edinburgh to click and beat them, we'd be doing Glasgow a huge favour too.

They really need to pick something up because I would put Benetton favourites for the last game of the season.

I agree.

Last season we managed a long BP in half the games we lost, this season we've had 1 BP from 5 losses. Last year we got 8 try BPs, this year we've named 3. In terms of wins we are equal third in the league, only Glasgow and Leinster have won one more game each than us.
Mossy was correct at the weekend in that turning things around was the first part of the project and in getting the wins Everitt has done that part, but the poor discipline and lack of creativity in the backs is killing us.

To be a little bit fair, our main creative influence was taken away unexpectedly earlier in the season. If we had BK all season, it's reasonable to suggest another few tries would have come across the season, and some of those would have earned us that BP. But fundamentally, that lack of creativity is a real problem and I don't see where it's going to come from atm.

[Tichtheid]

They really need to pick something up because I would put Benetton favourites for the last game of the season.

I agree.

Last season we managed a long BP in half the games we lost, this season we've had 1 BP from 5 losses. Last year we got 8 try BPs, this year we've named 3. In terms of wins we are equal third in the league, only Glasgow and Leinster have won one more game each than us.
Mossy was correct at the weekend in that turning things around was the first part of the project and in getting the wins Everitt has done that part, but the poor discipline and lack of creativity in the backs is killing us.

To be a little bit fair, our main creative influence was taken away unexpectedly earlier in the season. If we had BK all season, it's reasonable to suggest another few tries would have come across the season, and some of those would have earned us that BP. But fundamentally, that lack of creativity is a real problem and I don't see where it's going to come from atm.

I agree and disagree, Blair playing at ten made us very creative, it got Mark Bennett back into the Scotland squad, he's a very good fullback as we are seeing with Toulouse, but I don't think it's down to the players. Our hand skills earlier in the season were better than I think I'e ever seen at Edinburgh, but the lack of penetration in the midfield comes (or doesn't) from the training paddock, Glasgow aren't scoring multiple tries from the midfield but they are ripping the opposition apart from there, that's where they really pressurise the opposition.

[Biffer]

I agree.

Last season we managed a long BP in half the games we lost, this season we've had 1 BP from 5 losses. Last year we got 8 try BPs, this year we've named 3. In terms of wins we are equal third in the league, only Glasgow and Leinster have won one more game each than us.
Mossy was correct at the weekend in that turning things around was the first part of the project and in getting the wins Everitt has done that part, but the poor discipline and lack of creativity in the backs is killing us.

To be a little bit fair, our main creative influence was taken away unexpectedly earlier in the season. If we had BK all season, it's reasonable to suggest another few tries would have come across the season, and some of those would have earned us that BP. But fundamentally, that lack of creativity is a real problem and I don't see where it's going to come from atm.

I agree and disagree, Blair playing at ten made us very creative, it got Mark Bennett back into the Scotland squad, he's a very good fullback as we are seeing with Toulouse, but I don't think it's down to the players. Our hand skills earlier in the season were better than I think I'e ever seen at Edinburgh, but the lack of penetration in the midfield comes (or doesn't) from the training paddock, Glasgow aren't scoring multiple tries from the midfield but they are ripping the opposition apart from there, that's where they really pressurise the opposition.

Ah, right, fair enough I hadn't realised that was what you meant.