Scotland World Cup campaign

[Mikey Brown]

Yep. He made a mistake by calling this press conference in order to berate the referee/decision/Japan.

[laribold]

Yep. He made a mistake by calling this press conference in order to berate the referee/decision/Japan.

Is that what he did? Do you really think that's what happened?

Or is it more likely that he was asked a specific question at the team announcement press conference?

You may well question whether or not he should have spoken so candidly and I get that this is the Internet, but seriously, that's an utter nonsense statement to make.

[General Zod]

I do think that it is worth calling it out. Big bucks (for rugby anyway) to be made hyping a Japan - SA re-match.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Yep. He made a mistake by calling this press conference in order to berate the referee/decision/Japan.

Is that what he did? Do you really think that's what happened?

Or is it more likely that he was asked a specific question at the team announcement press conference?

You may well question whether or not he should have spoken so candidly and I get that this is the Internet, but seriously, that's an utter nonsense statement to make.

MB always encounters my 'a spade is a spade' attitude with a dollop of sarcasm. He's being facetious.

[Big D]

I do think that it is worth calling it out. Big bucks (for rugby anyway) to be made hyping a Japan - SA re-match.

Totally disagree. Our 9s will almost definitely feed in the remaining games.

He really should have straight batted that question.

[General Zod]

I do think that it is worth calling it out. Big bucks (for rugby anyway) to be made hyping a Japan - SA re-match.

Totally disagree. Our 9s will almost definitely feed in the remaining games.

He really should have straight batted that question.

I was more getting at making the ref think twice before he gives anything marginal to the home side. Am sure at the first Japanese scrum that Grieg will be drawing the ref’s attention to any feed so that he can get away with it too.

[Cameo]

Think that team is good enough to do the job quite comfortably but Russia have been better than I thought. Need to start well and get a couple of tries in the first 20 to make it comfortable. Ideally most of the starting pack will do the full 80 so don't want to have to rely on too much second half.

I know it is unlikely to matter but would like to win by enough (about 30) to get us ahead of Japan on points difference just in case there is a three way tie. That would need Ireland not to get four tries against Samoa and both us and Japan getting a bonus point in our final game.

[Puja]

I don't know it's a bad idea. The ref (and probably the Samoa captain when he called for the scrum from the free-kick, rather than booting it out and ending the game to a chorus of boos) got caught up in the atmosphere of the crowd and the event of it all - super-charged home advantage. It's probably quite good, from a Scotland perspective, to make a noise that that is not really acceptable and to ensure that the next ref isn't going to let himself get swayed by the excitement of the crowd.

Puja

[Big D]

I do think that it is worth calling it out. Big bucks (for rugby anyway) to be made hyping a Japan - SA re-match.

Totally disagree. Our 9s will almost definitely feed in the remaining games.

He really should have straight batted that question.

I was more getting at making the ref think twice before he gives anything marginal to the home side. Am sure at the first Japanese scrum that Grieg will be drawing the ref’s attention to any feed so that he can get away with it too.

Or our 9s start getting pinged. Best case is they watch both teams closer which will hurt us just as much. The Japanese 9 wasn't any worse than most 9s bar that one IIRC.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Odds on us conceding first & early?

I think Hastings is a better pick for this one than Russell, oddly enough. The first few minutes need to be simple phase building until we force a score - Hastings is much better at that.

[General Zod]

This is terrible. 90 seconds gone and we haven’t got the bonus point yet.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Naive. Someone should have called that and been in the air to claim it.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Russia toiling through the phases but getting nowhere. Discipline is good so far.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Still too many brainless sideways passes without considering whether its the right thing to do. Pinned Russia back now though.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

And of course Gordon Reid gives them the breathing space! Who else...

[Mikey Brown]

Well that was a surprisingly enjoyable opening 5.

[switchskier]

That's why I want horne in the team more often than not. His passing ability gets us going out wide better than Johnson, he's our best plan B.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Fantastic L/O steal from Toolis

[Mikey Brown]

Conditions seem a bit better than what we've seen?

[General Zod]

Wayne Barnes, “nyet!”.

[Mikey Brown]

We really are incredibly shit at executing strike moves.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

So whats new? Forcing passes as usual cause that's written on the script rather than reacting to whats happening in front of them. Lots of possession and enough territory without any points to show for it.

[switchskier]

Squint feed! Should we count them from now on?

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Totally trounced them in the scrum though. Turnover ball.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Simple as anything.