The Official Scottish Rugby Thread

[Big D]

It's great that we can beat Australia well, in a game that I never really felt we were going to lose, but what a horrifically frustrating performance. They only really got their shit together in attack for 15 minutes which was luckily enough to put the game beyond doubt, but the amount of unforced errors was very disappointing.

I thought Ritchie and Fagerson (Z) were the standout performers in the pack and Kinghorn the best in a misfiring back line.

I think sometimes I/we forget to enjoy the wins. I'm certainly guilty of that.

We absolutely could have played better but it is refreshing to see we have the quality that cut rip the game away from the oppositions grasp like we did today.

[Slick]

It's great that we can beat Australia well, in a game that I never really felt we were going to lose, but what a horrifically frustrating performance. They only really got their shit together in attack for 15 minutes which was luckily enough to put the game beyond doubt, but the amount of unforced errors was very disappointing.

I thought Ritchie and Fagerson (Z) were the standout performers in the pack and Kinghorn the best in a misfiring back line.

I think sometimes I/we forget to enjoy the wins. I'm certainly guilty of that.

We absolutely could have played better but it is refreshing to see we have the quality that cut rip the game away from the oppositions grasp like we did today.

Quite. I’m feeling fuzzy inside

[Yr Alban]

Yeah, maybe we didn’t put in a complete performance, but we won with room to spare against a good SH side who just beat England. 4 tries to 1, and I think awarding the Aussie one was very generous - not enough angles on the highlights, but it looked to me that he lost control of the ball before touching it down and it was actually a knock on).

No team ever fires on all cylinders for 80 minutes straight. But good teams post convincing wins even when they didn’t have their best day at the office. Let’s enjoy that.

[Blackmac]

I think we will always have to accept that with the resources we have we will only ever be 5th or 6th in the world. At the moment I think we are 5th as I think we would likely beat England and Argentina more than they would beat us. I think progress would be for us to get a few wins against France, NZ and Ireland and be able to present a sterner challenge to SA.

[SomersetJock]

I’m quite happy with that one.

Zander just gets better and better, thought both locks had excellent games and Ritchie showed the form that set him up as a nailed on starter a few years ago.

The backs didn’t really perform as a unit all the time but all 7 of them had great individual moments that got us points and won us the game.

Never thought it looked like we were going to do anything other than win which doesn’t happen too often !

[Yr Alban]

I think we will always have to accept that with the resources we have we will only ever be 5th or 6th in the world. At the moment I think we are 5th as I think we would likely beat England and Argentina more than they would beat us. I think progress would be for us to get a few wins against France, NZ and Ireland and be able to present a sterner challenge to SA.

You’re probably right. We are too inconsistent to challenge for a higher spot. For every two steps forward we take one back.

[I like neeps]

Always good to thrash a Tier 1 side.

Line out was the difference between 27 and 50.

[Slick]

I’m quite happy with that one.

Zander just gets better and better, thought both locks had excellent games and Ritchie showed the form that set him up as a nailed on starter a few years ago.

The backs didn’t really perform as a unit all the time but all 7 of them had great individual moments that got us points and won us the game.

Never thought it looked like we were going to do anything other than win which doesn’t happen too often !

That’s a very good point about the backs

[SaintK]

Just finished watching
Thought Cummings had ab excellent game as did both Fagersons
Russell not as accurate as usual
Scotland set fair for the 6N

[Yr Alban]

I think we also need to remember this: we’ve played Australia 10 times in the last 15 years, and 8 of those 10 have been very close games:
2009 Scotland by 1
2012 Scotland by 3
2013 Australia by 6
2015 Australia by 1 (RWC)
2016 Australia by 1
2017 Scotland by 5
2021 Scotland by 2
2022 Australia by 1

Only twice has the winning margin been more than a score: 53-24 in 2017 (where we had 15 v 14 for most of the game) and today. We beat a supposedly resurgent Australia side by two clear scores and we’re frustrated with it. That says something in itself.

[Blackmac]

Quite an awful social media reaction from a lot of the Welsh fans. A real sense of entitlement on display, shouting about how the players were an embarrassment and disgrace. It's quite clear that a lot of them are nowhere near international standard but it is what it is and I thought they fronted up pretty well. They only lost the last 56 minutes by 7 points.

[Big D]

Looking at the rugbypass ratings and was surprised to see they scored Darge higher than Ritchie.

I thought King Blairhorn dealt with the kick offs well which we haven't always done..

[Biffer]

Quite an awful social media reaction from a lot of the Welsh fans. A real sense of entitlement on display, shouting about how the players were an embarrassment and disgrace. It's quite clear that a lot of them are nowhere near international standard but it is what it is and I thought they fronted up pretty well. They only lost the last 56 minutes by 7 points.

I see so many people saying ‘I think welsh rugby is in a crisis’.

No, really, how did you figure that out, you alpha level fucking genius?

[KingBlairhorn]

I think we will always have to accept that with the resources we have we will only ever be 5th or 6th in the world. At the moment I think we are 5th as I think we would likely beat England and Argentina more than they would beat us. I think progress would be for us to get a few wins against France, NZ and Ireland and be able to present a sterner challenge to SA.

You’re probably right. We are too inconsistent to challenge for a higher spot. For every two steps forward we take one back.

I also agree. There are the top 4 (SA, Ireland, NZ, France...not necessarily in that order) and then a clear gap to whomever is 5th. At the moment I think that is us, but it could quite as easily be England, Australia or Argentina. Any of 5th to 8th could beat any other on their day, and any of 1st to 4th could beat any other on their day, but it would be an unexpected result if anyone from 5th to 8th beat anyone from 1st to 4th.

Ireland were in the place we are now for many years and found a way to get to that next level. Alas, we have neither the pro-team base nor the development base to make that next step IMO so I think this is the peak. Enjoy it while it lasts as inevitably we will have a period like Wales are having now at some point in the future.

[KingBlairhorn]

Yeah, maybe we didn’t put in a complete performance, but we won with room to spare against a good SH side who just beat England. 4 tries to 1, and I think awarding the Aussie one was very generous - not enough angles on the highlights, but it looked to me that he lost control of the ball before touching it down and it was actually a knock on).

No team ever fires on all cylinders for 80 minutes straight. But good teams post convincing wins even when they didn’t have their best day at the office. Let’s enjoy that.

I thought it was a try but the lack of clarity is annoying. It seems to me it wouldn't take an absolute genius to solve the issue. Surely all footage is timestamped to the millisecond - is there not a tech solution to show two or more angles simultaneously so we can see what happened? It's like that try Scotland had disallowed against France. Across all the angles the information to make the decision was there, but as it couldn't be shown all at once there wasn't a single complete picture. In this occasion we had clear footage of a foot in touch and clear footage of the ball being placed - show them at the same time and the answer is there.

Obviously that still leaves the potential knock-on but that's a much easier call.

[C T]

I think we will always have to accept that with the resources we have we will only ever be 5th or 6th in the world. At the moment I think we are 5th as I think we would likely beat England and Argentina more than they would beat us. I think progress would be for us to get a few wins against France, NZ and Ireland and be able to present a sterner challenge to SA.

You’re probably right. We are too inconsistent to challenge for a higher spot. For every two steps forward we take one back.

I also agree. There are the top 4 (SA, Ireland, NZ, France...not necessarily in that order) and then a clear gap to whomever is 5th. At the moment I think that is us, but it could quite as easily be England, Australia or Argentina. Any of 5th to 8th could beat any other on their day, and any of 1st to 4th could beat any other on their day, but it would be an unexpected result if anyone from 5th to 8th beat anyone from 1st to 4th.

Ireland were in the place we are now for many years and found a way to get to that next level. Alas, we have neither the pro-team base nor the development base to make that next step IMO so I think this is the peak. Enjoy it while it lasts as inevitably we will have a period like Wales are having now at some point in the future.

My rather optimistic view of the current top 8 is something like:

South Africa
France
(gap)
New Zealand
Ireland
(gap)
Scotland
(gap)
Argentina
Australia
England

The best I could really hope for is that we remove the (gap) between us and New Zealand/Ireland.

But got to also add that I'm really enjoying watching Scotland at the moment, and I've essentially made a decision to just try and enjoy it while it lasts.

[Yr Alban]

I think we will always have to accept that with the resources we have we will only ever be 5th or 6th in the world. At the moment I think we are 5th as I think we would likely beat England and Argentina more than they would beat us. I think progress would be for us to get a few wins against France, NZ and Ireland and be able to present a sterner challenge to SA.

You’re probably right. We are too inconsistent to challenge for a higher spot. For every two steps forward we take one back.

I also agree. There are the top 4 (SA, Ireland, NZ, France...not necessarily in that order) and then a clear gap to whomever is 5th. At the moment I think that is us, but it could quite as easily be England, Australia or Argentina. Any of 5th to 8th could beat any other on their day, and any of 1st to 4th could beat any other on their day, but it would be an unexpected result if anyone from 5th to 8th beat anyone from 1st to 4th.

Ireland were in the place we are now for many years and found a way to get to that next level. Alas, we have neither the pro-team base nor the development base to make that next step IMO so I think this is the peak. Enjoy it while it lasts as inevitably we will have a period like Wales are having now at some point in the future.

We had that period, and it seemed to last for ever. Yes, I know everyone is worried about the future and whether there are enough players coming through. But I think our previous period in the doldrums was the effect of Scottish rugby adjusting spectacularly badly to professionalism. Things have stabilised since then. And although Edinburgh are still a bit of an inconsistent mess, Glasgow just won the title again.

[Yr Alban]

Also, the game v SA gave me some hope. I know we still lost, but we gave them a proper game. We weren’t outmuscled as we have been so often before. We looked as though we might have figured out how to cope with teams like SA and Ireland who look to overwhelm us physically.

[KingBlairhorn]

You’re probably right. We are too inconsistent to challenge for a higher spot. For every two steps forward we take one back.

I also agree. There are the top 4 (SA, Ireland, NZ, France...not necessarily in that order) and then a clear gap to whomever is 5th. At the moment I think that is us, but it could quite as easily be England, Australia or Argentina. Any of 5th to 8th could beat any other on their day, and any of 1st to 4th could beat any other on their day, but it would be an unexpected result if anyone from 5th to 8th beat anyone from 1st to 4th.

Ireland were in the place we are now for many years and found a way to get to that next level. Alas, we have neither the pro-team base nor the development base to make that next step IMO so I think this is the peak. Enjoy it while it lasts as inevitably we will have a period like Wales are having now at some point in the future.

We had that period, and it seemed to last for ever. Yes, I know everyone is worried about the future and whether there are enough players coming through. But I think our previous period in the doldrums was the effect of Scottish rugby adjusting spectacularly badly to professionalism. Things have stabilised since then. And although Edinburgh are still a bit of an inconsistent mess, Glasgow just won the title again.

Haha, are you under the illusion anyone here needs reminded of that period?! Of course we had a poor period, but that doesn’t in any way insulate us from having another one. Sure, we are seeing moderate success right now but then so were Wales domestically both in the early 2010s when Ospreys won the Pro12 twice and the mid/late 2010s when Scarlets won one and lost one final. During that rough period (2010-2021) Wales won 4 6Ns including two grand slams, 5 and 3 if you go from 2008.

My point is, us it’s cyclical unless you are able to fundamentally shift the focus of a nation (ala Ireland) or already have the focus of a nation or sufficient population for it to be as good as (England, NZ, Sa, France). We have none of those things so we will rise and fall. Currently we’ve risen, it doesn’t take Newton to know what comes next.

[Yr Alban]

I quite agree - it’s likely to be cyclical (though it always has been in the 5/6N to some extent).

However, it seems that as a support, we are so obsessed with our own inadequacy that we are failing to appreciate it when things are good.

We’ve had an autumn fairly similar to Ireland’s - lost to an elite team, beat a decent TRC team, big win v Fiji. But we pick holes in every result, identify the negatives, and find new reasons to be depressed. It’s as if we can’t wait to be shite again so we can all say ‘told you so.’

[Tichtheid]

I quite agree - it’s likely to be cyclical (though it always has been in the 5/6N to some extent).

However, it seems that as a support, we are so obsessed with our own inadequacy that we are failing to appreciate it when things are good.

We’ve had an autumn fairly similar to Ireland’s - lost to an elite team, beat a decent TRC team, big win v Fiji. But we pick holes in every result, identify the negatives, and find new reasons to be depressed. It’s as if we can’t wait to be shite again so we can all say ‘told you so.’

Hear hear.

The relentless negativity over teams and players especially doesn't half get me down at times.

Not one who has watched Scotland for five decades as I have would have thought that game yesterday was a forgone conclusion. That we won it four tries to one while not playing particularly accurately is huge result. We should enjoy it.

[Slick]

You’re probably right. We are too inconsistent to challenge for a higher spot. For every two steps forward we take one back.

I also agree. There are the top 4 (SA, Ireland, NZ, France...not necessarily in that order) and then a clear gap to whomever is 5th. At the moment I think that is us, but it could quite as easily be England, Australia or Argentina. Any of 5th to 8th could beat any other on their day, and any of 1st to 4th could beat any other on their day, but it would be an unexpected result if anyone from 5th to 8th beat anyone from 1st to 4th.

Ireland were in the place we are now for many years and found a way to get to that next level. Alas, we have neither the pro-team base nor the development base to make that next step IMO so I think this is the peak. Enjoy it while it lasts as inevitably we will have a period like Wales are having now at some point in the future.

My rather optimistic view of the current top 8 is something like:

South Africa
France
(gap)
New Zealand
Ireland
(gap)
Scotland
(gap)
Argentina
Australia
England

The best I could really hope for is that we remove the (gap) between us and New Zealand/Ireland.

But got to also add that I'm really enjoying watching Scotland at the moment, and I've essentially made a decision to just try and enjoy it while it lasts.

I think that’s it, none of us really think this is going to last forever but I’ve never enjoyed supporting Scotland as much as I am at the moment . There is genuine respect for the way we play, and some of the players we have, across the rugby world.

I was in the train down to London today thinking about some of the criticism GT gets about not winning anything with this generation. It’s difficult on the face of it to argue back, but I also don’t think we would be playing this immensely enjoyable style if anyone else was in charge and I think it will be the blueprint for Scotland and the next generations for a while. After they took away proper rucking it took away our advantages of being quicker and fitter than most other teams and we went into all sorts of shite styles of play. GT seems to have brought back a style we can compete with the resources we have.

[KingBlairhorn]

I also agree. There are the top 4 (SA, Ireland, NZ, France...not necessarily in that order) and then a clear gap to whomever is 5th. At the moment I think that is us, but it could quite as easily be England, Australia or Argentina. Any of 5th to 8th could beat any other on their day, and any of 1st to 4th could beat any other on their day, but it would be an unexpected result if anyone from 5th to 8th beat anyone from 1st to 4th.

Ireland were in the place we are now for many years and found a way to get to that next level. Alas, we have neither the pro-team base nor the development base to make that next step IMO so I think this is the peak. Enjoy it while it lasts as inevitably we will have a period like Wales are having now at some point in the future.

We had that period, and it seemed to last for ever. Yes, I know everyone is worried about the future and whether there are enough players coming through. But I think our previous period in the doldrums was the effect of Scottish rugby adjusting spectacularly badly to professionalism. Things have stabilised since then. And although Edinburgh are still a bit of an inconsistent mess, Glasgow just won the title again.

Haha, are you under the illusion anyone here needs reminded of that period?! Of course we had a poor period, but that doesn’t in any way insulate us from having another one. Sure, we are seeing moderate success right now but then so were Wales domestically both in the early 2010s when Ospreys won the Pro12 twice and the mid/late 2010s when Scarlets won one and lost one final. During that rough period (2010-2021) Wales won 4 6Ns including two grand slams, 5 and 3 if you go from 2008.

My point is, us it’s cyclical unless you are able to fundamentally shift the focus of a nation (ala Ireland) or already have the focus of a nation or sufficient population for it to be as good as (England, NZ, Sa, France). We have none of those things so we will rise and fall. Currently we’ve risen, it doesn’t take Newton to know what comes next.

I just read this back Yr Alban and it comes across quite snidey, that wasn’t my intention so apologies if it came across that way to you too.

Anyway, I take the points you and others have made and I agree that things are relatively great right now - I don’t disagree at all, but saying enjoy it while it lasts isn’t in opposition to the views you are all giving.

[robmatic]

I also agree. There are the top 4 (SA, Ireland, NZ, France...not necessarily in that order) and then a clear gap to whomever is 5th. At the moment I think that is us, but it could quite as easily be England, Australia or Argentina. Any of 5th to 8th could beat any other on their day, and any of 1st to 4th could beat any other on their day, but it would be an unexpected result if anyone from 5th to 8th beat anyone from 1st to 4th.

Ireland were in the place we are now for many years and found a way to get to that next level. Alas, we have neither the pro-team base nor the development base to make that next step IMO so I think this is the peak. Enjoy it while it lasts as inevitably we will have a period like Wales are having now at some point in the future.

My rather optimistic view of the current top 8 is something like:

South Africa
France
(gap)
New Zealand
Ireland
(gap)
Scotland
(gap)
Argentina
Australia
England

The best I could really hope for is that we remove the (gap) between us and New Zealand/Ireland.

But got to also add that I'm really enjoying watching Scotland at the moment, and I've essentially made a decision to just try and enjoy it while it lasts.

I think that’s it, none of us really think this is going to last forever but I’ve never enjoyed supporting Scotland as much as I am at the moment . There is genuine respect for the way we play, and some of the players we have, across the rugby world.

I was in the train down to London today thinking about some of the criticism GT gets about not winning anything with this generation. It’s difficult on the face of it to argue back, but I also don’t think we would be playing this immensely enjoyable style if anyone else was in charge and I think it will be the blueprint for Scotland and the next generations for a while. After they took away proper rucking it took away our advantages of being quicker and fitter than most other teams and we went into all sorts of shite styles of play. GT seems to have brought back a style we can compete with the resources we have.

I think it is true that Scotland could or should have won a Six Nations in this current era but luck is a big factor. It is a short championship that can be made or broken by one game, and often the games are quite close and can rest on one incident.

[Biffer]

I quite agree - it’s likely to be cyclical (though it always has been in the 5/6N to some extent).

However, it seems that as a support, we are so obsessed with our own inadequacy that we are failing to appreciate it when things are good.

We’ve had an autumn fairly similar to Ireland’s - lost to an elite team, beat a decent TRC team, big win v Fiji. But we pick holes in every result, identify the negatives, and find new reasons to be depressed. It’s as if we can’t wait to be shite again so we can all say ‘told you so.’

Yeah, absolutely. When we’re good, we’re never good enough for a section of the support. There’s a Private Fraser mentality that’s always been there. We all know things are cyclical but some people can’t wait for us to be shit so they can say ‘told you so’.

The really damaging thing about that though is it damns and belittles anything good that’s been done. The academies have brought through a lot more depth in our game, but the ‘everything is shit’ brigade ignore that. I think part of this is the old club mentality where the pro teams shouldn’t exist, and they will never deliver for Scotland the way the clubs would (which completely flies in the face of the clubs being unable to develop players for Scotland).

[I like neeps]

I quite agree - it’s likely to be cyclical (though it always has been in the 5/6N to some extent).

However, it seems that as a support, we are so obsessed with our own inadequacy that we are failing to appreciate it when things are good.

We’ve had an autumn fairly similar to Ireland’s - lost to an elite team, beat a decent TRC team, big win v Fiji. But we pick holes in every result, identify the negatives, and find new reasons to be depressed. It’s as if we can’t wait to be shite again so we can all say ‘told you so.’

I don't think the Irish fans will be very happy with their Autumn either...

The game vs Fiji really was a pointless money making exercise. Fiji with their European based players a good test. Fiji without them an exercise in plugging gaps in the SRU accounts. And the game was Portugal was also pointless.

Played well against South Africa and for a bit of luck would've won. Why am I not surprised we haven't seen any more red cards for the Cummings incident. And a really entertaining last 20 vs Australia in a game the coaches and players will tell you the performance wasn't great. So for me a good autumn but I'd have loved to play Argentina or New Zealand instead of Fiji and had the Portugal game in that window.

We haven't won a six nations with this group because we've come up against Ireland and France who have better players. The covid six nations I have largely wiped from my brain as covid was awful but for Gary Graham's performance vs Wales we might have done.

[Biffer]

The third Tuipolotou brother is being actively encouraged to get himself over here as well

https://www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby-un ... fi-4801477

[Yr Alban]

We had that period, and it seemed to last for ever. Yes, I know everyone is worried about the future and whether there are enough players coming through. But I think our previous period in the doldrums was the effect of Scottish rugby adjusting spectacularly badly to professionalism. Things have stabilised since then. And although Edinburgh are still a bit of an inconsistent mess, Glasgow just won the title again.

Haha, are you under the illusion anyone here needs reminded of that period?! Of course we had a poor period, but that doesn’t in any way insulate us from having another one. Sure, we are seeing moderate success right now but then so were Wales domestically both in the early 2010s when Ospreys won the Pro12 twice and the mid/late 2010s when Scarlets won one and lost one final. During that rough period (2010-2021) Wales won 4 6Ns including two grand slams, 5 and 3 if you go from 2008.

My point is, us it’s cyclical unless you are able to fundamentally shift the focus of a nation (ala Ireland) or already have the focus of a nation or sufficient population for it to be as good as (England, NZ, Sa, France). We have none of those things so we will rise and fall. Currently we’ve risen, it doesn’t take Newton to know what comes next.

I just read this back Yr Alban and it comes across quite snidey, that wasn’t my intention so apologies if it came across that way to you too.

Anyway, I take the points you and others have made and I agree that things are relatively great right now - I don’t disagree at all, but saying enjoy it while it lasts isn’t in opposition to the views you are all giving.

Thanks - I appreciate the post, but you’re fine, I didn’t take it personally (may have raised an eyebrow but that’s all!)

[Yr Alban]

My rather optimistic view of the current top 8 is something like:

South Africa
France
(gap)
New Zealand
Ireland
(gap)
Scotland
(gap)
Argentina
Australia
England

The best I could really hope for is that we remove the (gap) between us and New Zealand/Ireland.

But got to also add that I'm really enjoying watching Scotland at the moment, and I've essentially made a decision to just try and enjoy it while it lasts.

I think that’s it, none of us really think this is going to last forever but I’ve never enjoyed supporting Scotland as much as I am at the moment . There is genuine respect for the way we play, and some of the players we have, across the rugby world.

I was in the train down to London today thinking about some of the criticism GT gets about not winning anything with this generation. It’s difficult on the face of it to argue back, but I also don’t think we would be playing this immensely enjoyable style if anyone else was in charge and I think it will be the blueprint for Scotland and the next generations for a while. After they took away proper rucking it took away our advantages of being quicker and fitter than most other teams and we went into all sorts of shite styles of play. GT seems to have brought back a style we can compete with the resources we have.

I think it is true that Scotland could or should have won a Six Nations in this current era but luck is a big factor. It is a short championship that can be made or broken by one game, and often the games are quite close and can rest on one incident.

Like the red card Fagerson got v Wales. Mathematically we’d have been champions if we had won

[Yr Alban]

One more thing on the subject of our all being dreadful pessimists. I’m going to post a list of players who have recently retired, or fallen out of contention for Scotland.

Stuart Hogg
Hamish Watson
Richie Gray
WP Nel
Stuart McInally
Fraser Brown
George Turner
Mark Bennett
Sam Johnson
Chris Harris

The first three on the list could be described as generational talents. All of the others have been regarded as indispensable at some point. You would have thought we would struggle to replace any of them. But I honestly don’t think we have missed even one. Even Hogg, who hadn’t been the Hogg of old for some years.

If you go back slightly further, you could add the likes of Sean Maitland, Duncan Taylor and Tommy Seymour. What’s more, most of the players on this list just stopped getting picked, as opposed to retiring. We’ve dealt with it and moved on, and we haven’t become crap yet.

I know we all fear that our good players will retire and we’ll go back to being crap again. And yes, it’s entirely possible. But you could argue that this has been happening for a while, and we haven’t actually noticed because others who were just as good have taken their place.

[Biffer]

One more thing on the subject of our all being dreadful pessimists. I’m going to post a list of players who have recently retired, or fallen out of contention for Scotland.

Stuart Hogg
Hamish Watson
Richie Gray
WP Nel
Stuart McInally
Fraser Brown
George Turner
Mark Bennett
Sam Johnson
Chris Harris

The first three on the list could be described as generational talents. All of the others have been regarded as indispensable at some point. You would have thought we would struggle to replace any of them. But I honestly don’t think we have missed even one. Even Hogg, who hadn’t been the Hogg of old for some years.

If you go back slightly further, you could add the likes of Sean Maitland, Duncan Taylor and Tommy Seymour. What’s more, most of the players on this list just stopped getting picked, as opposed to retiring. We’ve dealt with it and moved on, and we haven’t become crap yet.

I know we all fear that our good players will retire and we’ll go back to being crap again. And yes, it’s entirely possible. But you could argue that this has been happening for a while, and we haven’t actually noticed because others who were just as good have taken their place.

At the end of the next World Cup, I’m guessing our squad will have these players continuing (age at that time)

Hookers - Ashman (27), Harrison (25), Richardson (28)
Props - Fagerson (31), Hurd (28), McBeth (29), Rae (32)
Locks - Craig (30), Cummings (30), Johnson (28), Samuel (24), Williamson (25)
Back Row - Brown (26), Darge (27), Douglas (22), Fagerson (29), Muncaster (26), Ritchie (31)
Scrum half - White (29), Donnie (26)
Fly half - Hastings (31), Jordan (29)
Centre - Tuipolotou S (30), Tuipolotou M (26), Currie (26), McDowell (29)
Back three - Graham (30), Reed (28), Rowe (29), Kinghorn (30), Paterson (26)

There’s a good team in there already.

Others in pro teams atm include Hodgson, Sykes, Boyle, Thompson, Richardson, Walker. hiddleston, Afshar, Trotter, Smith and we all see promising guys in the academies, don’t even need to be a booster to be ready for the squad post 25RWC.

[I like neeps]

I think that’s it, none of us really think this is going to last forever but I’ve never enjoyed supporting Scotland as much as I am at the moment . There is genuine respect for the way we play, and some of the players we have, across the rugby world.

I was in the train down to London today thinking about some of the criticism GT gets about not winning anything with this generation. It’s difficult on the face of it to argue back, but I also don’t think we would be playing this immensely enjoyable style if anyone else was in charge and I think it will be the blueprint for Scotland and the next generations for a while. After they took away proper rucking it took away our advantages of being quicker and fitter than most other teams and we went into all sorts of shite styles of play. GT seems to have brought back a style we can compete with the resources we have.

I think it is true that Scotland could or should have won a Six Nations in this current era but luck is a big factor. It is a short championship that can be made or broken by one game, and often the games are quite close and can rest on one incident.

Like the red card Fagerson got v Wales. Mathematically we’d have been champions if we had won

The red card wasn't the reason we lost that match. The first half performance and the performance of Gary Graham a legitimate 0/10 effort.

We might have won had we played so badly and Fagerson never got sent off. We'd definitely have won had the first half performance not been incredibly wasteful/Blade Thomson (wow) didn't get an early injury.

[SomersetJock]

One more thing on the subject of our all being dreadful pessimists. I’m going to post a list of players who have recently retired, or fallen out of contention for Scotland.

Stuart Hogg
Hamish Watson
Richie Gray
WP Nel
Stuart McInally
Fraser Brown
George Turner
Mark Bennett
Sam Johnson
Chris Harris

The first three on the list could be described as generational talents. All of the others have been regarded as indispensable at some point. You would have thought we would struggle to replace any of them. But I honestly don’t think we have missed even one. Even Hogg, who hadn’t been the Hogg of old for some years.

If you go back slightly further, you could add the likes of Sean Maitland, Duncan Taylor and Tommy Seymour. What’s more, most of the players on this list just stopped getting picked, as opposed to retiring. We’ve dealt with it and moved on, and we haven’t become crap yet.

I know we all fear that our good players will retire and we’ll go back to being crap again. And yes, it’s entirely possible. But you could argue that this has been happening for a while, and we haven’t actually noticed because others who were just as good have taken their place.

Excellent post and a very good point. As someone who has recently started to lose faith in Gregor and have even called for him to be replaced I am now switching back to where I was before in thinking he is doing a good job.

There is a lot of other factors involved below international level but Gregor has brought players into the squad and given them experience to seamlessly step in and take over from their fading peers and as a result we have replaced what many thought were irreplaceable.

Compare that to Wales who held on to players for far too long and are now in a total mess. Once again there is more to it than that below international level.

So yeah, it’s time to enjoy where we are rather than worrying about going back to where we were !

[KingBlairhorn]

Connor Boyle out with an ACL for the rest of the season. Terrible luck for the lad.

The clamour for Freddy Douglas will only grow now.

[robmatic]

Connor Boyle out with an ACL for the rest of the season. Terrible luck for the lad.

The clamour for Freddy Douglas will only grow now.

That is rubbish for Boyle, he should have been getting a chance ahead of Watson recently anyway.

[I like neeps]

Connor Boyle out with an ACL for the rest of the season. Terrible luck for the lad.

The clamour for Freddy Douglas will only grow now.

That is rubbish for Boyle, he should have been getting a chance ahead of Watson recently anyway.

To be fair Watson has been dropped, Muncaster has been starting 7.

[Yr Alban]

Connor Boyle out with an ACL for the rest of the season. Terrible luck for the lad.

The clamour for Freddy Douglas will only grow now.

If they’re good enough then they’re old enough..:

[Biffer]

McDowall’s deal is for three years, nice bit of business by Glasgow.

[Tichtheid]

McDowall’s deal is for three years, nice bit of business by Glasgow.

Their midfield squad is pretty formidable - Huwipulotu, McDowall and Steyn is not bad at all.

[Slick]

What happened with Biffer and Oom?