AI Squad & general match thread

[Big D]

That's a hell of an attempt. Wonder if he's been practicing.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

looks like Hogg has done something. Sad but predictable after Toony rushed him back with no club rugby.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Hastings on for Horne.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

I fear this is a step too far. Every man on the pitch looks absolutely knackered. I hope I'm wrong though but I suspect it'll be a case of not having conceded one of those weak scores rather than doing something in the last 8 mins...

[Big D]

Thats totally unacceptable from Brown. He had the ball clearly at the back. He should never have been caught held up.

[Big D]

Sadly self inflicted.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

On the bright side we didn't get prison shamed by a team who are certainly in the top 4 in the world on form.

There are, however, a million downsides.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Sadly self inflicted.

And therein lies the problem. We are mentally soft.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

I honestly think if you swapped Le Roux, Pollard, Max and Vermuelen with our boys... that would have been a convincing and comfortable win for Scotland. Not because I think they're significantly better players at all but their decision making when it counted stood up to the test.

[Donny osmond]

Well SA clearly the better team, won almost every ruck, and used their brains. Sco lost almost every ruck and for all the skill on display refused point blank to engage brain, particularly in that 2nd half. Lots of positives for us, but the usual faults still on display too.

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[hugh_woatmeigh]

Well SA clearly the better team, won almost every ruck, and used their brains. Sco lost almost every ruck and for all the skill on display refused point blank to engage brain, particularly in that 2nd half. Lots of positives for us, but the usual faults still on display too.

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The fact that the usual faults have been on display for most of Toony's tenure is concerning though. Based on his tenure we'll make amends by putting Argentina to the sword only to revert to this crap in the first game of the 6N. Why can we not be consistent?

[hugh_woatmeigh]

[Which Tyler]

He's clearly been tasered by security

[hugh_woatmeigh]

We weren't a million miles off beating SA today. Which bodes well for the RWC. The only catch? We need to beat Ireland, Japan & the others in the group stage. To face them in a QF. Otherwise it'll be the ABs.

Over to Gregor to figure out how to beat the Irish in the 6N.

[whatisthejava]

I think Scotland’s problem is very much what ref they get. If they get a Ref who protects them in the breakdown they can do well, if they get a saffa or a French ref we are screwed and we don’t adapt. I thought SA offered very little this week and everything they got we gave them through bad decision making.

[Mikey Brown]

But are we ever going to be at a point we can reliably do the basics when we get in a position to win games? No. Probably not.

Jesus that game was so fucking annoying. We didn’t play well, but Hogg (mostly) dragged us back into a good position and we blew it. Repeatedly.

[ARM]

Same old same old. We come up against bigger, stronger athletes and struggle. We just don’t have the cattle to consistently beat teams with much more physicality. We were constantly second best on the gain line which made our play look very sluggish. Couple of decent tries first half after Hogg dragged us back into the game. Russell had one of his bombscare performances in the first 30 but always difficult for the halfbacks when your pack is going backwards.

[Mikey Brown]

It works both way. All this shit happening a mile behind the gainline puts us on the back foot before we even get to be contact zone. Russell stands so deep when he plays with Laidlaw, I don’t know if he doesn’t trust him or what it is, but we just can’t get any momentum going.

[Cameo]

I think the speed of Laidlaw's pass doesnt help vs rush defences.

When Hastings came on we seemed to have a few more moves that gave us a bit more space out wide. Don't know why we didnt use them earlier.

[switchskier]

That was a bit like watching a Rob Motfat era Edinburgh side. Capable of scoring some great tries and hanging in there but crying out for someone that can consistently get us over the gain line. On that evidence either Denton or Bradbury have to be in the 23, whatever their flaws. More outright power is required.

[Mikey Brown]

I was excited for Strauss to come on and carry but we then became obsessed with holding the ball in a static maul for as long as possible. The best number 8 continues to be the one who played the longest ago.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

I was excited for Strauss to come on and carry but we then became obsessed with holding the ball in a static maul for as long as possible. The best number 8 continues to be the one who played the longest ago.

He only had 20 mins in which to do that when SA had a fair bit of possession and everybody else on the park was knackered. Wilson to Strauss should have been done at half time IMO.

I feel the same way about LH btw. The two best options are those that haven't played this series. Marfo and Sutherland....

[Big D]

Marfo can't crack the Edinburgh team and I'm sure unread hasn't been great for 'Muir.

Sutherland has looked a step down on Dell this season. I do think if at his best Sutherland is Dells biggest challenger for the shirt.

[Mikey Brown]

I was excited for Strauss to come on and carry but we then became obsessed with holding the ball in a static maul for as long as possible. The best number 8 continues to be the one who played the longest ago.

He only had 20 mins in which to do that when SA had a fair bit of possession and everybody else on the park was knackered. Wilson to Strauss should have been done at half time IMO.

I feel the same way about LH btw. The two best options are those that haven't played this series. Marfo and Sutherland....

Yep. Wasn’t meaning to knock Strauss there. Wilson was again pretty anonymous and Strauss didn’t get much chance to do anything. Saying that though, who was in charge of deciding to get that fucking ball out of the maul?

[Chunks Baws]

He's been let off with barely a slap on the wrist. Apparently it was ok to headbutt Horne because he was holding him down. I hate whinging about cards and folk going through footage trying to highlight every injustice but that's twice this autumn we've been hard done by. Halfpenny should have seen yellow for his tackle in the air on Seymour and now this. I think the Halfpenny one actually pisses me off more though, considering the amount of cards we've seen for the same offence against the same opposition.