2023 Six Nations

[Insane_Homer]

Can this finally be the moment we're shot of Youngs? He was dreadful.

Farrell first. Nothing about Eng will change until he goes.

[Biffer]

[sockwithaticket]

Can this finally be the moment we're shot of Youngs? He was dreadful.

Farrell first. Nothing about Eng will change until he goes.

We can weather Farrell, he's far enough out that the ball doesn't always end up in his hands. Youngs is there with hands on for almost every play and kills everything at source.

[JM2K6]

Very impressive time-to-gloat time there

[Slick]

Can this finally be the moment we're shot of Youngs? He was dreadful.

Farrell first. Nothing about Eng will change until he goes.

Move him to 10

[Lobby]

Can this finally be the moment we're shot of Youngs? He was dreadful.

Itoje needs to go as well; he contributes very little other than giving away stupid penalties. Farrell and Smith still not working either, so get a proper 12 to partner Smith.

However, England were at least playing rugby for the first time in a few years (well at least until Youngs started kicking the ball away).

[Hal Jordan]

Can this finally be the moment we're shot of Youngs? He was dreadful.

Farrell first. Nothing about Eng will change until he goes.

We can weather Farrell, he's far enough out that the ball doesn't always end up in his hands. Youngs is there with hands on for almost every play and kills everything at source.

Except as usual, he spent most of the second half standing at 10. Two playmakers something world class fly half something something.

[OomStruisbaai]

The scary thing about Scotland is that they haven't played well.

Still to much kicking and their defense system isn't good.. England looked lost.

[Mahoney]

Can this finally be the moment we're shot of Youngs? He was dreadful.

Farrell first. Nothing about Eng will change until he goes.

Move him to 10

He played 10. I reckon Smith was outside him at at least 75% of phases where both were available. Lord knows why they wore the wrong numbers.

It makes no sense to me. Smith at 1st receiver, Farrell inside centre, maybe. Farrell or Smith at 1st receiver with a proper centre outside them, sure. Smith at inside centre though… no.

[Openside]

Nel eaten by Genge that time.

Rubbish, he is so squint it's ridiculous.

That was certainly my take

Just nice to watch Scotland actually win having deserved to.

[Openside]

Can this finally be the moment we're shot of Youngs? He was dreadful.

Farrell first. Nothing about Eng will change until he goes.

Move him to 10

That’s 5th columnist stuff

[Hal Jordan]

The scary thing about Scotland is that they haven't played well.

Still to much kicking and their defense system isn't good.. England looked lost.

When we kept ball in hand, moved through the phases and didn't have Youngs shitting all over everything, we looked good and Scotland were in trouble.

Buy we kicked way too much and the subs were fucking garbage. Dombrandt had a curate's egg, but we seemed to drop off any backrow carrying when he got subbed.

[OomStruisbaai]

Very impressive time-to-gloat time there

The Scots are pretty humble.

[Paddington Bear]

Aaagggghhh

Thought we played well in attack, defence was terrible. Sinfield has plenty to do. Congrats Scotland, well and truly have our number

[Slick]

Farrell first. Nothing about Eng will change until he goes.

Move him to 10

He played 10. I reckon Smith was outside him at at least 75% of phases where both were available. Lord knows why they wore the wrong numbers.

It makes no sense to me. Smith at 1st receiver, Farrell inside centre, maybe. Farrell or Smith at 1st receiver with a proper centre outside them, sure. Smith at inside centre though… no.

It’s more getting rid of Smith in my opinion. Unless he gets it given to him on a plate I just don’t think he has been good enough at this level

[I like neeps]

Move him to 10

He played 10. I reckon Smith was outside him at at least 75% of phases where both were available. Lord knows why they wore the wrong numbers.

It makes no sense to me. Smith at 1st receiver, Farrell inside centre, maybe. Farrell or Smith at 1st receiver with a proper centre outside them, sure. Smith at inside centre though… no.

It’s more getting rid of Smith in my opinion. Unless he gets it given to him on a plate I just don’t think he has been good enough at this level

Get rid of magic Marcus? The saviour of rugby? The king of kings? Slick, you've celebrated with a wee bit too much whisky.

[westport]

I thoroughly enjoyed it. Yes, there were mistakes from both sides but it all adds to it. It could have went either way and it is always good to watch a game like that.

[sockwithaticket]

Can this finally be the moment we're shot of Youngs? He was dreadful.

Itoje needs to go as well; he contributes very little other than giving away stupid penalties. Farrell and Smith still not working either, so get a proper 12 to partner Smith.

However, England were at least playing rugby for the first time in a few years (well at least until Youngs started kicking the ball away).

Itoje could certainly do with a dropping to give him a kick up the arse. Think he's far too comfortable in his position.

A proper 12 for Smith would be ideal. However, out of the current squad, who do you pick for that role? Best we've got with Kelly injured is late career Tuilagi.

[Big D]

The scary thing about Scotland is that they haven't played well.

Still to much kicking and their defense system isn't good.. England looked lost.

Yeah the system was a bit strange.

To be fair England piled the pressure on Russell and with 4 men back waiting it was good tactics.

[Biffer]

The scary thing about Scotland is that they haven't played well.

Still to much kicking and their defense system isn't good.. England looked lost.

Yeah the system was a bit strange.

To be fair England piled the pressure on Russell and with 4 men back waiting it was good tactics.

We didn't seem to compete at the breakdown for long parts of the game. And it looked intentional, no second man coming to the tackle area. Got to assume that was a choice for this game and come Wales the boys will have license to attack the ball.

[convoluted]

The scary thing about Scotland is that they haven't played well ...

This was the point about the ABs -Scotland match last Autumn.
Usual NZ forum suspects were grizzling about Foster and the ABs only winning by 7-8, but Scotland had beaten England at Twickenham just the year before, while 2 years prior at that ground they'd made the most thrilling and dazzling comeback to I think hit the lead only to drop the game to the English at the death.

Kind of like how we always used to underestimate Ireland.

[dpedin]

I thought Townsend out thought Borthwick there Geech's analysis after the game was spot on. Scotland passed the ball long and wide from White and Russell when in attack and basically left the English defence stranded and too many of them are just too slow to get back into position once the ball has gone past them. We created any number of overlaps and 1-on-1's. Scotland were more than happy for England to keep kicking long to them ... and they did!

England were pretty one dimensional. I still can't believe they play Smith and Farrell at 10 and 12, it just doesn't work with too many cooks trying to run the game. Farrell and Marchant were pretty poor defensively and Marchant was very much the weak link in defence, England need to decide who is there 10 and then find a 12 - 13 combination that can play. They also need to dump the likes of Vunipola, Cole, Youngs, George and take a risk on some younger guys, Itoji also needs dropped to give him a kick up the arse. They really miss Courtney-Lawes.

It felt like England were playing rugby from 10-15 years ago and haven't realised that the game has moved on. Scotland tried hard to play fast mobile rugby moving the ball with fast passes and it partially worked but enough to beat a cumbersome England.

[PCPhil]

Just didn’t get the kicking duels in the (mainly) first half. England were speeding up areas of play like line-outs then just aiming for opposition mistakes for kicking. England did look lost. Do we have any world class players on current form at the moment?
Remind me of our group opposition in world cup again.

[JM2K6]

Marchant got sold down the river by Farrell a few times. Farrell trying to smash every time regardless if the player was covered opened up huge holes.

[Biffer]

Marchant got sold down the river by Farrell a few times. Farrell trying to smash every time regardless if the player was covered opened up huge holes.

Farrell was very clearly hunting a big hit on Russell.

[Slick]

I did think England looked generally better than they have in the last couple of years and definitely something to work on.

I don’t mean this as a gloat but there are too many players who have been talked up but just don’t seem good enough at this level and a few that seemingly just had a bad day. It’s roughly the same guys who now have a terrible record against us over the last 5/6 years.

The front row looks lovely but never dominates. Itoje has been discussed- thought Chessum had a good game. The back rows seem to get rave reviews in the prem but rarely have a good game as a unit at this level. Half backs are pretty gash imo.

Anyway, I do think it will get better with the new coach, and there were signs, but I also think a few players that seem established shouldn’t be

[JM2K6]

Marchant got sold down the river by Farrell a few times. Farrell trying to smash every time regardless if the player was covered opened up huge holes.

Farrell was very clearly hunting a big hit on Russell.

Sure, and he landed a few plus put in one great tackle on DvDM. But given that Marchant ended up going 6/1 and Farrell 5/3 plus the very obvious defensive error that led to a try under the posts, it's odd to point the fingers at the guy left defending 30m of space...

[sefton]

Congratulations to the Scots, the better team, no excuses.

[sockwithaticket]

I did think England looked generally better than they have in the last couple of years and definitely something to work on.

I don’t mean this as a gloat but there are too many players who have been talked up but just don’t seem good enough at this level and a few that seemingly just had a bad day. It’s roughly the same guys who now have a terrible record against us over the last 5/6 years.

The front row looks lovely but never dominates. Itoje has been discussed- thought Chessum had a good game. The back rows seem to get rave reviews in the prem but rarely have a good game as a unit at this level. Half backs are pretty gash imo.

Anyway, I do think it will get better with the new coach, and there were signs, but I also think a few players that seem established shouldn’t be

I know how this is going to sound given that you've just beaten us again, but in that same time period England have a better record against top teams than Scotland do.
We've beaten Ireland 3 times in the last 5 fixtures, we've won and drawn against New Zealand, we've won 3 against South Africa. Scotland have bupkiss against those teams in their last 5. It's what makes our current inability to beat you deeply frustrating.

[Tichtheid]

I did think England looked generally better than they have in the last couple of years and definitely something to work on.

I don’t mean this as a gloat but there are too many players who have been talked up but just don’t seem good enough at this level and a few that seemingly just had a bad day. It’s roughly the same guys who now have a terrible record against us over the last 5/6 years.

The front row looks lovely but never dominates. Itoje has been discussed- thought Chessum had a good game. The back rows seem to get rave reviews in the prem but rarely have a good game as a unit at this level. Half backs are pretty gash imo.

Anyway, I do think it will get better with the new coach, and there were signs, but I also think a few players that seem established shouldn’t be

I know how this is going to sound given that you've just beaten us again, but in that same time period England have a better record against top teams than Scotland do.
We've beaten Ireland 3 times in the last 5 fixtures, we've won and drawn against New Zealand, we've won 3 against South Africa. Scotland have bupkiss against those teams in their last 5. It's what makes our current inability to beat you deeply frustrating.

Imagine our frustration when we can beat England but not those other sides, we can run them close, like the ABs in November, but those top two inches have always been missing

[JM2K6]

I'd also say that this was a match that England were on top in for quite some time. It was a good close game - had England grabbed a fourth try and not Scotland, I don't think many Scots would be impressed if we started claiming your players aren't up to it.

[Slick]

I did think England looked generally better than they have in the last couple of years and definitely something to work on.

I don’t mean this as a gloat but there are too many players who have been talked up but just don’t seem good enough at this level and a few that seemingly just had a bad day. It’s roughly the same guys who now have a terrible record against us over the last 5/6 years.

The front row looks lovely but never dominates. Itoje has been discussed- thought Chessum had a good game. The back rows seem to get rave reviews in the prem but rarely have a good game as a unit at this level. Half backs are pretty gash imo.

Anyway, I do think it will get better with the new coach, and there were signs, but I also think a few players that seem established shouldn’t be

I know how this is going to sound given that you've just beaten us again, but in that same time period England have a better record against top teams than Scotland do.
We've beaten Ireland 3 times in the last 5 fixtures, we've won and drawn against New Zealand, we've won 3 against South Africa. Scotland have bupkiss against those teams in their last 5. It's what makes our current inability to beat you deeply frustrating.

Not at all, it’s a very fair point

[Slick]

I'd also say that this was a match that England were on top in for quite some time. It was a good close game - had England grabbed a fourth try and not Scotland, I don't think many Scots would be impressed if we started claiming your players aren't up to it.

I was gearing myself up to post that it was a great game and well done to England as the whole game was close

I genuinely didn’t want it to come over as a gloat but in retrospect a bit too soon after the game, apologies.

[Blackmac]

I'd also say that this was a match that England were on top in for quite some time. It was a good close game - had England grabbed a fourth try and not Scotland, I don't think many Scots would be impressed if we started claiming your players aren't up to it.


C'mon now. The English have been doing it pretty continually for decades.

[Yr Alban]

I did think England looked generally better than they have in the last couple of years and definitely something to work on.

I don’t mean this as a gloat but there are too many players who have been talked up but just don’t seem good enough at this level and a few that seemingly just had a bad day. It’s roughly the same guys who now have a terrible record against us over the last 5/6 years.

The front row looks lovely but never dominates. Itoje has been discussed- thought Chessum had a good game. The back rows seem to get rave reviews in the prem but rarely have a good game as a unit at this level. Half backs are pretty gash imo.

Anyway, I do think it will get better with the new coach, and there were signs, but I also think a few players that seem established shouldn’t be

I know how this is going to sound given that you've just beaten us again, but in that same time period England have a better record against top teams than Scotland do.
We've beaten Ireland 3 times in the last 5 fixtures, we've won and drawn against New Zealand, we've won 3 against South Africa. Scotland have bupkiss against those teams in their last 5. It's what makes our current inability to beat you deeply frustrating.

Not at all, it’s a very fair point

It’s entirely fair.

Scotland seem to have England’s number at the moment, as we have had Australia’s for a while (last game excepted). But we can’t buy a win v Ireland. I fully expect another hammering when we play them. We don’t seem to know how to play against either them or SA. Which is why our RWC will be a washout.

[Torquemada 1420]

Well that was much needed antidote to the earlier game. Congrats Scotland.

Russell Watch.
1st half
• Excellent to spot the gap when Farrell decided he was FH and flew up. Try Sco.
• Tried to be too clever (or shat the bed) for the poor hack though by Eng. Try Eng.
• Crabbed sideways on a promising attack. Smashed by Farrell, chance gone.
• Just as he did for Racing against LaR last week, misses easy conversion.
• 35 mins and he overplays it again. Kick is too deep and 2 mins of possession later, try Eng. Harsh? Good sides punish loose kicking.
• Watch him for the 42 min penalty. Headless chicken running around in defence and misses at least 2 tackles.
• Restarts throughout the half were on the nail. But they don’t yield points.

2nd half
o Good covering from kick through when Eng wasted an advantage.
o Poor pass to Ritchie who should have taken it but it was dying and not in front of the man.
o 56 minute kick “got that one horribly wrong”.
o 57 minutes, misses tackle on Smith. Tuipolotu’s not missed tackle on Smith saves Sco.
o 65 mins Russell gets a pen after running up a blind alley but Earl screws up. Sometimes cookie crumbles your way.
o 66 mins, crossfield kick correct option for potential try but execution not good enough for a toughie.
o 71 mins and Kinghorn gives Russell a high pressure pass. Should have gone for touch but didn’t. Split second choice but it was the wrong one or the right one poorly executed.
o 73 mins kicks direct to touch.
o 74 minute Sco try. 2 good passes by Russell in the build up but you’d expect any decent FH to have made them and a stretch to credit him with anything decisive in the try. V. good conversion.

It’s what he does week after week for Racing. Mixed moments of magic and madness. By my reckoning it was a significant net deficit this time just as it was v Quins a few weeks back. In neither game did it change the result but that’s immaterial to the individual performance.

[Paddington Bear]

We’re talking about a game where had England tackled a bloke they failed to five times after an average kick they would have won. Easy to overthink

[Ymx]

We’re talking about a game where had England tackled a bloke they failed to five times after an average kick they would have won. Easy to overthink

Is commitment to your New Year’s resolution being tested??

[weegie01]

Well that was much needed antidote to the earlier game. Congrats Scotland.

Russell Watch.
1st half
• Excellent to spot the gap when Farrell decided he was FH and flew up. Try Sco.
• Tried to be too clever (or shat the bed) for the poor hack though by Eng. Try Eng.
• Crabbed sideways on a promising attack. Smashed by Farrell, chance gone.
• Just as he did for Racing against LaR last week, misses easy conversion.
• 35 mins and he overplays it again. Kick is too deep and 2 mins of possession later, try Eng. Harsh? Good sides punish loose kicking.
• Watch him for the 42 min penalty. Headless chicken running around in defence and misses at least 2 tackles.
• Restarts throughout the half were on the nail. But they don’t yield points.

2nd half
o Good covering from kick through when Eng wasted an advantage.
o Poor pass to Ritchie who should have taken it but it was dying and not in front of the man.
o 56 minute kick “got that one horribly wrong”.
o 57 minutes, misses tackle on Smith. Tuipolotu’s not missed tackle on Smith saves Sco.
o 65 mins Russell gets a pen after running up a blind alley but Earl screws up. Sometimes cookie crumbles your way.
o 66 mins, crossfield kick correct option for potential try but execution not good enough for a toughie.
o 71 mins and Kinghorn gives Russell a high pressure pass. Should have gone for touch but didn’t. Split second choice but it was the wrong one or the right one poorly executed.
o 73 mins kicks direct to touch.
o 74 minute Sco try. 2 good passes by Russell in the build up but you’d expect any decent FH to have made them and a stretch to credit him with anything decisive in the try. V. good conversion.

It’s what he does week after week for Racing. Mixed moments of magic and madness. By my reckoning it was a significant net deficit this time just as it was v Quins a few weeks back. In neither game did it change the result but that’s immaterial to the individual performance.

It's getting a bit unhealthy now.

[Slick]

Well that was much needed antidote to the earlier game. Congrats Scotland.

Russell Watch.
1st half
• Excellent to spot the gap when Farrell decided he was FH and flew up. Try Sco.
• Tried to be too clever (or shat the bed) for the poor hack though by Eng. Try Eng.
• Crabbed sideways on a promising attack. Smashed by Farrell, chance gone.
• Just as he did for Racing against LaR last week, misses easy conversion.
• 35 mins and he overplays it again. Kick is too deep and 2 mins of possession later, try Eng. Harsh? Good sides punish loose kicking.
• Watch him for the 42 min penalty. Headless chicken running around in defence and misses at least 2 tackles.
• Restarts throughout the half were on the nail. But they don’t yield points.

2nd half
o Good covering from kick through when Eng wasted an advantage.
o Poor pass to Ritchie who should have taken it but it was dying and not in front of the man.
o 56 minute kick “got that one horribly wrong”.
o 57 minutes, misses tackle on Smith. Tuipolotu’s not missed tackle on Smith saves Sco.
o 65 mins Russell gets a pen after running up a blind alley but Earl screws up. Sometimes cookie crumbles your way.
o 66 mins, crossfield kick correct option for potential try but execution not good enough for a toughie.
o 71 mins and Kinghorn gives Russell a high pressure pass. Should have gone for touch but didn’t. Split second choice but it was the wrong one or the right one poorly executed.
o 73 mins kicks direct to touch.
o 74 minute Sco try. 2 good passes by Russell in the build up but you’d expect any decent FH to have made them and a stretch to credit him with anything decisive in the try. V. good conversion.

It’s what he does week after week for Racing. Mixed moments of magic and madness. By my reckoning it was a significant net deficit this time just as it was v Quins a few weeks back. In neither game did it change the result but that’s immaterial to the individual performance.

You are fucking nuts