Scotland Autumn Series thread

[Mikey Brown]

Well that was a mixed bag. Again raises as many questions as answers, but it was certainly a step up in a lot of ways.

[Cameo]

Frustrating again, but we did well for a lot of that game. As someone said, need to work out our attack from 5 metres out as we had about 5 chances there.

The other big thing, obviously, was the breakdown. We just don't get support there or clear well enough. I don't know the solution.

Game showed how if we play centres like that (and even if we don't), Finn has to start. He is the only one who can get it to our dangermen in space. He can also control a game better than the others. Hogg wasn't flawless but his link with Finn looked sharp.

Also, good to see us compete in the lineouts for once. I thought Gray was decent.

[Adder]

On a positive, it was probably Tuipulotu best performance in the Scotland shirt

[paddy no 11]

That's a tough one 3 turnovers on their line, the hogg knock on and dempsey yellow all marginal calla went against ye. Discipline was a big improvement on 95% of games in last 5 years.

[morepork]

Finn is a fantastic beast. Definitely enjoys playing. Did you clock him catching an out of bounds kick over the touchline behind his back? Nice.

[Cameo]

Finn is a fantastic beast. Definitely enjoys playing. Did you clock him catching an out of bounds kick over the touchline behind his back? Nice.

Yeah, let's hope we get a bit of that joy back in our game all round. A win over NZ would definitely have helped!!

[Mikey Brown]

Gray for Gray because ban, Redpath for Bennet because??? Turner in for Ashman, Dempsey for Watson. Interesting to see how that backrow goes.

[Cameo]

Gray for Gray because ban, Redpath for Bennet because??? Turner in for Ashman, Dempsey for Watson. Interesting to see how that backrow goes.

Yeah, centres as always is the confusing one. Generally, I'm glad we've gone for continuity where possible.

Gray's ban is a bit mysterious - nowhere seems to have a clip of the incident. (Not saying it didn't happen, just that normally you can find a clip in one of the reports)

Turner should offer a bit more impact off the bench than Ashman. That was something we lacked last week.

Backrow is maybe slightly more traditionally balanced than with Watson (who's not been on top form anyway). I'm not sure Dempsey is the messiah some Glasgow fans think though. He is a decent carrier and decent all round but there is a reason he didn't establish himself as first choice for Australia. Not saying he doesn't deserve a go, but it is a lot easier to be a "big destructive carrier" in club rugby.

[septic 9]

Backrow is maybe slightly more traditionally balanced than with Watson (who's not been on top form anyway). I'm not sure Dempsey is the messiah some Glasgow fans think though. He is a decent carrier and decent all round but there is a reason he didn't establish himself as first choice for Australia. Not saying he doesn't deserve a go, but it is a lot easier to be a "big destructive carrier" in club rugby.

not sure he is seen as the messiah, but he is filling a real need as a ball carrier. And of course it is much easier in club rugby. But his form has been good enough for Rennie to try and persuade him to stick with Australia.

Point as you say is its a better balanced backrow.
And being a wee bit controversial, if it does well Toonie has to stick with it - which should mean Watson's place in the RWC squad could well be under threat. Something almost unthinkable a short while ago

[Cameo]

Backrow is maybe slightly more traditionally balanced than with Watson (who's not been on top form anyway). I'm not sure Dempsey is the messiah some Glasgow fans think though. He is a decent carrier and decent all round but there is a reason he didn't establish himself as first choice for Australia. Not saying he doesn't deserve a go, but it is a lot easier to be a "big destructive carrier" in club rugby.

not sure he is seen as the messiah, but he is filling a real need as a ball carrier. And of course it is much easier in club rugby. But his form has been good enough for Rennie to try and persuade him to stick with Australia.

Point as you say is its a better balanced backrow.
And being a wee bit controversial, if it does well Toonie has to stick with it - which should mean Watson's place in the RWC squad could well be under threat. Something almost unthinkable a short while ago

I think it depends on the opponent and ref a bit. When it has gone well, Ritchie, Watson and Fagerson is a top backrow and can really go along way to winning a game. When refs don't allow as much contest at ruck time, it can suddenly become a bit ineffectual.

I'm all for giving Dempsey a go (though I don't like the rule), but will take some persuading that he improves the backrow.

Of course, if Darge gets back to top form, he is hard to leave out too.

[septic 9]

I think it depends on the opponent and ref a bit. When it has gone well, Ritchie, Watson and Fagerson is a top backrow and can really go along way to winning a game. When refs don't allow as much contest at ruck time, it can suddenly become a bit ineffectual.

I'm all for giving Dempsey a go (though I don't like the rule), but will take some persuading that he improves the backrow.

Of course, if Darge gets back to top form, he is hard to leave out too.

IMHO Darge has passed Watson - he is a once in a generation talent. We may only take 5 proper back row players - if so who misses out.

[Mikey Brown]

Assuming all are fit I think Ritchie, Fagerson, Watson, Darge are non-negotiables. Maybe Watson isn’t where he was a couple of years back, but he is too good and too experienced to leave out. Unless he loses his Edinburgh spot I can’t see him not being in the RWC squad.

Dempsey has a good shot to keep the fringe guys like Crosbie, Christie, Bayliss, Haining out.

[Big D]

A lot will depend on when and how Darge comes back from his injury.

[Mikey Brown]

Some incredible stuff so far from both Graham and Harris, in slightly different ways.

[Donny osmond]

Not sure how I feel about that refereeing... Yes he's applying the rules and Arg players have been fuckwits, but he did seem a bit quick with that 2nd yellow

[Donny osmond]

Hahahahhahaaaaaaa only in Scotland can 12 men score a cracking try against 15

[Big D]

Some really embarrassing play in this game.

[Big D]

We've played basically10min against 12 and 30 v 14 and they are still well in it.

[Donny osmond]

This is beyond stupid from Scotland. Argentina are totally at it... and Scotland are just falling for it hook line and sinker

[Banquo]

brilliant wumming from montoya

[Donny osmond]

brilliant wumming from montoya

Got to hand it to him, that was a couple of minutes of masterful devilry

[Banquo]

both sides shooting themselves in the feet

[Adder]

There was 20-man brawl between Scotland and Argentina as tempers boiled over during their ill-disciplined clash at Murrayfield.

Darcy Graham was hauled into touch looking for a hat-trick, and what followed was pretty serious scrap.

Argentina captain Julian Montoya, who had been told by Ritchie to ‘set a good example’ moments earlier, repeated the same words to the Scotland skipper as he was sent to the sin-bin.

He also said to the Scotland skipper: “You’ve finally done something in the game. You should be really proud of yourself”

Montoya also reportedly said mid-brawl: “Do you want me to speak Afrikaans,” to South Africa-born Scotland winger Duhan van der Merwe.

[Cameo]

Strange game but even before the red I thought we had some of our attacking game back.

Basically, my view is our attack should be based around however Finn thinks he can get the best from our back three. Those are the two really world class elements of our team and give us a chance of beating some good teams.

The rest was a real mix. Some random thoughts in no particular order:

- In light of the discussion above, I was looking out for Dempsey. In the main he did fine but nothing standout (which you might hope for a team on top). The mistake vs 12 was a bit shit though. For me, I'd stick with Watson or Darge when fit. Fagerson is the 8 we need and, again, carried really well. Ritchie to me is more of a six than a seven now. He's not been on top form but he'll come good.

- Centres - At last showed something in attack. Harris hit two good lines and I was getting ready to concede he was having a good game, then he dropped a couple and tried to butcher that try. Tuipolotu played well and enjoyed the slightly more space.

- Finishing - We either need to improve drastically from five metres out (avoing getting held up in particular) or we need to spread it more and trust our backs. Ideally a combo of the two.

- State of play - It's so hard to judge where we are. There are a lot of teams at the moment who can beat each other and look very good or very bad (often in the same match). Our games against Ireland and France will be the ones that really show where we are at. With Finn in the team, we should hopefully at least have our attack back and be more watchable.

[switchskier]

Though Blair's comments after were interesting. First that we've shown that we can attack against teams where we can get the ball wide but have yet to do so against a really aggressive defence, namechecking Ireland and South Africa. Of course, who do we have in the RWC?

Also that they try not to coach Graham too much, just tell him to get his hands on the ball and do what comes naturally. It's evidently working atm. Such fun to watch.