2024 Six Nations

[Which Tyler]

Re reading you only compared Bayliss to Croft in terms of pace. So I will pull back a bit
Bayliss is quick but Croft seriously quick top end speed

It was just indeed about the pace, and always being that bit quicker than you'd expect from... everything about him.
You see his size, his shoulders, his stride length and the speed his hips and knees are moving, and he's about half a metre per second quicker than he's got any right to be.
Josh is properly quick as well, maybe not quite the top end of Tom, but I'm not sure that's just because he doesn't get to show it as often (or train for it).

As for Croft not doing the hard work, and just hanging out on the wing - that's 100% coach's orders. England and Leicester both had plenty of close in grunt work in the likes of Moody and Corry inside him, so wanted to use Croft that way to maximise his point of difference.

Generally though, I thought you guys might just like some feedback form someone who's been watched the vast majority of his club matches for the last 8 years. (eg, he IS a lineout option, he covers more than just 6 & 8)

[Cameo]

Re reading you only compared Bayliss to Croft in terms of pace. So I will pull back a bit
Bayliss is quick but Croft seriously quick top end speed

It was just indeed about the pace, and always being that bit quicker than you'd expect from... everything about him.
You see his size, his shoulders, his stride length and the speed his hips and knees are moving, and he's about half a metre per second quicker than he's got any right to be.
Josh is properly quick as well, maybe not quite the top end of Tom, but I'm not sure that's just because he doesn't get to show it as often (or train for it).

As for Croft not doing the hard work, and just hanging out on the wing - that's 100% coach's orders. England and Leicester both had plenty of close in grunt work in the likes of Moody and Corry inside him, so wanted to use Croft that way to maximise his point of difference.

Generally though, I thought you guys might just like some feedback form someone who's been watched the vast majority of his club matches for the last 8 years. (eg, he IS a lineout option, he covers more than just 6 & 8)

That's interesting. For his international career so far he's been one of those always on the fringes that I don't feel I have enough information to judge. He's done some very good things but generally against worse teams or at the end when everyone is tired.

Doesn't excite me as I have a feeling he's just not as good as our other options, but I could be completely wrong.

[Jocky]

Gilchrist banned for the Wales match. Are we looking at Gray and Cummings to start? Apparently, Crosbie thinks we are world class - I would prefer if we kept our mouths shut and did our talking on the pitch.

[Mikey Brown]

Oh good. 7 weeks of Irish pundits going on about Scotland thinking they’re the best team in the world.

No idea what the original quote or question actually was, but it almost doesn’t matter. As long as they get the sound bite.

Gilchrist out isn’t good necessarily, but we do need to look beyond the rather slow and ancient RG/GG pairing. I thought Cummings would be a top international lock by this point. I know he’s had a bunch of unfortunate injuries but it would be really great to see him properly grab this chance.

[BaldiePete]

I haven’t seen the Glasgow v Toulon match but reports are that Cumming was very good. I’d like to see him start against Wales.

[Jocky]

"Now it's time to prove to the nation what we know ourselves - that we're a world-class team."
Even if you put it in context with other things he has said in the interview, the above feels cringe worthy. I'm all for them feeling good and confident, but they don't seem to learn about making statements like this.

[Jocky]

We are lacking a big tough bastard in the second row, someone like a Hines.

[Cameo]

"Now it's time to prove to the nation what we know ourselves - that we're a world-class team."
Even if you put it in context with other things he has said in the interview, the above feels cringe worthy. I'm all for them feeling good and confident, but they don't seem to learn about making statements like this.

Learn what though? That they might go on and lose? Unless we really think they lose because of what they say to the media then does it really matter. I'm happy for them to just be honest how they are feeling and not worry about whether some pundit will call them arrogant. I'm sure I've seen them criticised in the past for being too meek and not backing themselves.

[Cameo]

We are lacking a big tough bastard in the second row, someone like a Hines.

I agree, though I think what stood out with Hines was his skills. He was physical but he wasn't a monster.

People seem to have big hopes for Williamson. To me it is the area of the team with the most room for improvement. I think we have good players in every position but I think we are a bit short on people with surprising skills. By that I mean people who do something and make you think, wow, you don't expect that from a 'x'. E.g. it'd be great if Tuipolotu amd one of the front five became a jackaling threat, one of the front row had great hands, a lock had real pace or an offloading game, and one of the wingers turned out to have a great boot. It sometikes feels like we are happy for pack just to do its job but don't really expect game changing contributions from them.

The other thing is I will be interested to see what our defence looks like this tournament. To me, it looked a bit passive at the World Cup. With Darge in the team, I'd like to see more chop tackling and us committing a bit more to the breakdown but as ever it is a balance and depends a bit on the refs.

[BaldiePete]

Finn seems to have got through yesterday’s game OK but Ben White looks like he was injured while scoring for Toulon.

[Jocky]

Kinghorn had a decent game for Toulouse in their away win at Racing. 3 from 4 success in kicks.

[sharvey44]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/scottish

Sebastian and Thompson join squad with Nel out injured

Javan Sebastian has made a remarkable recovery from injury to be added to the Scotland Six Nations squad.

The tighthead prop was expected to miss at least the first few weeks of the competition, but has flown out to Spain where Scotland are preparing for the opener against Wales on Saturday.

He takes the place of 37-year-old WP Nel, who misses the Wales match with a neck strain.

Sebastian is joined by Glasgow fly-half Ross Thompson, who is called up for the first time since the 2022 autumn internationals.

Thompson, 24, has only started two games for the Warriors this season. He takes the place of Adam Hastings, who dropped out of the squad last week with a knee injury.

Glasgow youngsters Jamie Dobie and Euan Ferrie are training with the group.

[General Zod]

I am beginning to worry about our team now. Not quite threadbare, but Graham out, a fly-half called up, Ben white banging his knee when scoring, Kinghorn getting his knee strapped at the weekend, tighthead problems as ever, Gilchrist and Darge out.

Anyway, Andy Christie looked mint at the weekend, so hopefully gets a shout. No pressure on the lad…

[Mikey Brown]

I am beginning to worry about our team now. Not quite threadbare, but Graham out, a fly-half called up, Ben white banging his knee when scoring, Kinghorn getting his knee strapped at the weekend, tighthead problems as ever, Gilchrist and Darge out.

Anyway, Andy Christie looked mint at the weekend, so hopefully gets a shout. No pressure on the lad…

All that and the Welsh fully down in the dumps, underplaying their chances.

Price and Horne in the 23 is fine. Steyn is always solid on the wing, though Kinghorn carrying an injury is concerning.

Jones looked class at fullback a while back for Quins but I don’t know how much he would have trained there since, or if there is another player next in line with Smith out.

Feels like we can still pull together a decent enough 23, but that’s before the usual injury massacre we suffer early on.

Christie taking his chance would be very welcome. He always seemed a fringe choice for Saracens, but seems to have properly taken ownership of a shirt now.

[Big D]

I am beginning to worry about our team now. Not quite threadbare, but Graham out, a fly-half called up, Ben white banging his knee when scoring, Kinghorn getting his knee strapped at the weekend, tighthead problems as ever, Gilchrist and Darge out.

Anyway, Andy Christie looked mint at the weekend, so hopefully gets a shout. No pressure on the lad…

We are ok for now.

Toulouse said White should be fine and we could potentially call up Warr who is playing well (not sure his international choice). Kinghorn, Steyn and Duhan will be grand in the back 3.

I was thinking about 7. Darge has the talent to nail the shirt down but at international level hasn't quite hit the heights he has at club level. For example he and Jac Morgan have the same number of caps and Morgan probably had more stand out performances at the RWC than Darge has at international level. He definitely has the potential and skill but would be ideal to see him have a 6N like MFagerson had a few years back. If Christie gets the nod then he'll have deserved it. Christie is only a year older than Darge and can play across the back row so having both in form will be useful.

[Cameo]

I am beginning to worry about our team now. Not quite threadbare, but Graham out, a fly-half called up, Ben white banging his knee when scoring, Kinghorn getting his knee strapped at the weekend, tighthead problems as ever, Gilchrist and Darge out.

Anyway, Andy Christie looked mint at the weekend, so hopefully gets a shout. No pressure on the lad…

Is Darge out? Last I saw was this - https://www.rugbypass.com/news/the-scot ... ory-darge/ - which suggests he is on course.

[General Zod]

I am beginning to worry about our team now. Not quite threadbare, but Graham out, a fly-half called up, Ben white banging his knee when scoring, Kinghorn getting his knee strapped at the weekend, tighthead problems as ever, Gilchrist and Darge out.

Anyway, Andy Christie looked mint at the weekend, so hopefully gets a shout. No pressure on the lad…

Is Darge out? Last I saw was this - https://www.rugbypass.com/news/the-scot ... ory-darge/ - which suggests he is on course.

I thought he was out for the first 2, at least. Hope he is fit.

Have also read elsewhere that Ben White is fine, and that Steyn (importantly for me) is also match fit. Feeling slightly more optimistic now, but still concerned about our front 5. Last time down there they just kicked it to us and we couldn’t then find a way through, partly because our forwards had what might politely be described as an off-day.

[francoisfou]

Hope it’s not the kiss of death, but I’m expecting a good 6N from your team!

[BaldiePete]

I am beginning to worry about our team now. Not quite threadbare, but Graham out, a fly-half called up, Ben white banging his knee when scoring, Kinghorn getting his knee strapped at the weekend, tighthead problems as ever, Gilchrist and Darge out.

Anyway, Andy Christie looked mint at the weekend, so hopefully gets a shout. No pressure on the lad…

Is Darge out? Last I saw was this - https://www.rugbypass.com/news/the-scot ... ory-darge/ - which suggests he is on course.

I thought he was out for the first 2, at least. Hope he is fit.

Have also read elsewhere that Ben White is fine, and that Steyn (importantly for me) is also match fit. Feeling slightly more optimistic now, but still concerned about our front 5. Last time down there they just kicked it to us and we couldn’t then find a way through, partly because our forwards had what might politely be described as an off-day.

John Dalziel has said that Darge is “still in the mix” for selection. My preference would be to not take any unnecessary risks, we’re strong in back row options.

https://www.theoffsideline.com/six-nati ... ury-doubt/


Last time in Cardiff we were coming off winning the Calcutta Cup the week before and thought we were the dog’s bollocks and would win it easily. A very Scottish reaction and also very Scottish was us playing terribly and losing. I know Wales have problems in domestic rugby and they’ve had retirements but it would be idiotic to treat them lightly.

[Donny osmond]

Right now Wales are dangerous and will - rightly - fancy their chances against us.

[switchskier]

Right now Wales are dangerous and will - rightly - fancy their chances against us.

I'm worried about Wales. Last year was great but it was a thrown together Welsh team, trying to rapidly get some players experience before the WC and those that are on the downside of their careers. They had us in trouble in the first half but were wasteful.

Now they have some good young players coming through and freedom to build a bit, plus they're always much better at home. Would love us to win, but won't be betting on it.

[General Zod]

Almost 48 hours to kick off. About now is when the optimism just takes hold and there’s no reasoning with me.

I hope it’s a back row of Crosbie/ Christie/ Fagerson and a pissed off Ritchie and Dempsey to come off the bench. Would leave Darge if there’s any doubt.

Think we could see young Glen Young at some point as well.


Is the team named today?

[sharvey44]

Scotland team to face Wales at the Principality Stadium, Cardiff, in the Guinness Six Nations on Saturday 3 February, kick-off 4.45pm – live on BBC (caps in brackets)
15. Kyle Rowe – Glasgow Warriors (1)
14. Kyle Steyn – Glasgow Warriors (15)
13. Huw Jones – Glasgow Warriors (43)
12. Sione Tuipulotu – Vice-Captain – Glasgow Warriors (22)
11. Duhan van der Merwe – Edinburgh Rugby (34)

10. Finn Russell – Captain – Bath Rugby (75)
9. Ben White – Toulon (18)

1. Pierre Schoeman – Edinburgh Rugby (26)
2. George Turner – Glasgow Warriors (40)
3. Zander Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (62)
4. Richie Gray – Glasgow Warriors (78)
5. Scott Cummings – Glasgow Warriors (33)
6. Luke Crosbie – Edinburgh Rugby (7)
7. Jamie Ritchie – Vice-Captain – Edinburgh Rugby (46)
8. Matt Fagerson – Glasgow Warriors (40)

Replacements

16. Ewan Ashman – Edinburgh Rugby (12)
17. Alec Hepburn – Exeter Chiefs (uncapped)
18. Elliot Millar-Mills – Northampton Saints (uncapped)
19. Sam Skinner – Edinburgh Rugby (30)
20. Jack Dempsey – Glasgow Warriors (15)
21. George Horne – Glasgow Warriors (26)
22. Ben Healy – Edinburgh Rugby (4)
23. Cameron Redpath – Bath Rugby (9)

Injury update: Blair Kinghorn has been ruled out with a knee injury for the first two matches of the championship.

Rory Darge’s recovery is progressing well and he is due to be available for selection next week.

[Jocky]

Shame about Kinghorn but it is what it is. Not sure how much gametime Rowe has had at full back, but I rate him as a player and has been good for Glasgow this season. Ritchie is a surprise considering all the talk of losing captaincy and form, but he is still a fantastic player and maybe might have a point to prove. Sub props are a surprise - Bhatti and Sebastian not fit? I know Sebastian has just returned from injury so maybe not ready yet. I thought we might go for a 6:2 split on the bench. The rest as expected, but thought Christie might offer more options from the bench.

[Big D]

Big blow to lose Kinghorn who has been playing very well. Rowe has one start two seasons ago (Rainbow Cup) at 15. Obviously GT prefers that way over Jones at 15 and McDowell/Redpath into the centres, or even Hutchinson, who GT has used at 15 before.