2024 Autumn Internationals

[Big D]

If you change “X” to “twitter” in the link then this site will embed the tweet.

Cheers, didn't know that.

[Cameo]

I am disappointed Dobie is in the A team. I think his length of pass has beem impressive and we should be looking to get him established on the bench at least. Having said that, Horne will do a good job if things break up. I hope they don't go for Price but it's not like he's a disaster either.

On the back three. I'd go Kinghorn, Graham amd VDM with Jordan on the bench.

Kinghorn - I would be fine with Jordan starting but Kinghorn is his best position is a danger and I'm attracted by the idea of Jordan coming off the bench and making an impact where it's needed most.

Graham - I see the comments about most of his tries coming against weaker teams but: a) that's the same with most players; and b) more importantly, he has made a big impact in loads of big games (e.g. the draw against England and setting up White's try in a recent win). He's dangerous and against a slightly loose Australia defence, I want that.

VDM - Yeah, his defence isn't all that but if this game is high scoring, we'd be silly not to have him on the pitch. The Australian wings are decent but I think we have them.

[BaldiePete]

Kinghorn gets the nod at full back and Ritchie gets the blindside spot. Kinghorn will have to play well with both Jordan and Rowe breathing down his neck. Those two make for very strong backs replacements and could be very effective late in the match. I hope Ritchie has learnt to keep his mouth shut around the ref, we don’t need him getting on the wrong side of the ref like he often does. The rest of the team is pretty much as expected, although I’d have liked to see Dobie on the bench rather than playing for the A team.

Scotland (versus South Africa at Murrayfield Stadium on Sunday @ 1.40pm UK time): B Kinghorn; D Graham, H Jones, S Tuipulotu©, D van der Merwe; F Russell, B White; P Schoeman, E Ashman, Z Fagerson, G Gilchrist, S Cummings, J Ritchie, R Darge (VC), M Fagerson. Subs: D Richardson, R Sutherland, W Hurd, A Craig, J Bayliss, G Horne, T Jordan, K Rowe.

[Cameo]

Yeah, as expectef. Happy with that team.

Hope the weather holds up.

[paddy no 11]

Should be a quality contest looking forward to it

Bert just passed over us, torrential rain for 10 hours, hopefully ye dodge it

[BaldiePete]

Should be a quality contest looking forward to it

Bert just passed over us, torrential rain for 10 hours, hopefully ye dodge it

Luckily it’s not a Saturday match. It’s been snowing here in Edinburgh today, all buses are cancelled and roads here (about 2 miles from Murrayfield) are blocked with stationary cars. Weather forecast for tomorrow is sunshine and 10 degrees so it’ll all be gone.

[Mikey Brown]

Well that was frustrating discipline and skills-wise, but stuck with it and a very good win in the end.

[Big D]

A win built on good defence.

Some good performances in there, some things to work.on ahead of the 6N but importantly a fairly comfortable win in the end.

[Cameo]

Yeah, defence great (and Ritchie selection vindicated for me, though nice finish from Bailiss) and attack looked decent.

There were a few frustrating knockons but the only real worry for me was the lineout. Must have lost three on their line. In a tighter game that is a big issue. Throwing is an issue I think but it is more than that.

[BaldiePete]

Thoughts on Rowe and Jordan not getting on? I thought they should both have got a chance after our 4th try. No need to keep Russell or Kinghorn on at that point, so give them a run to see how they go. On the plus side for Glasgow, with them having a game on Friday they might now be available for that match which they might not have been if they’d played.

Also, Schoeman, Gilchrist and Ritchie all had good games, how about keeping that going for Edinburgh lads?

[paddy no 11]

Comfortably the better team

[switchskier]

Was reflecting that the last time I saw Scotland beat Australia at Mirryfield it was pouring with rain and we relied on a Matt Giteau missed penalty to squeak home. And we were all delighted. Maybe now is a good time to acknowledge how much better this team is than that one from 10-15 years ago?

Ritchie was great. Big statement game from him to put himself in pole position for the six shirt.

[paddy no 11]

Was reflecting that the last time I saw Scotland beat Australia at Mirryfield it was pouring with rain and we relied on a Matt Giteau missed penalty to squeak home. And we were all delighted. Maybe now is a good time to acknowledge how much better this team is than that one from 10-15 years ago?

Ritchie was great. Big statement game from him to put himself in pole position for the six shirt.

Cummings, gilchrist and fagerson penalty count must be down 75%

Really need to target Ireland who have no pace in their side

[Cameo]

Thoughts on Rowe and Jordan not getting on? I thought they should both have got a chance after our 4th try. No need to keep Russell or Kinghorn on at that point, so give them a run to see how they go. On the plus side for Glasgow, with them having a game on Friday they might now be available for that match which they might not have been if they’d played.

Also, Schoeman, Gilchrist and Ritchie all had good games, how about keeping that going for Edinburgh lads?

Didn't really think about it at the time but fair point. Having said that, I am not really a fan of making changes just to give someone a cap. Would it have improved our performance in those last ten minutes? Maybe the fresh energy would have but arguable either way.

[Mikey Brown]

Yeah that’s tough on Rowe/Jordan, who would both have been fair shouts to start, but somehow it still felt pretty close for me even when the score said otherwise.

Great to see Ritchie have a good game. Darge has been pretty quiet for a little while now.

[Cameo]

Yeah that’s tough on Rowe/Jordan, who would both have been fair shouts to start, but somehow it still felt pretty close for me even when the score said otherwise.

Great to see Ritchie have a good game. Darge has been pretty quiet for a little while now.

Darge does a lot of work but the way we defend isn't really set up for him to make the big plays. We are all about holding ball carriers up and slowing ball down that way rather than chop tackling and getting turnovers. To some extent it is the same at Glasgow, but his ball carrying and link play is more of a feature at that level.

We shouldn't underestimate his work around the park though. We go wide wide a lot and need work horses like him (and/or Ritchie and Fagerson).

[Big D]

I don't mind players getting on. The back 3 played pretty well and there was no need to make changes. I've said before caps get handed out too easily so can't criticise here.

That win had our largest margin of victory against a 15man OZ side in modern times. Shouldn't be understated.

Underrated but important, Kinghorn was pretty tidy dealing with kick offs today and it is tough. Obviously helped by their 13 going off but he did well.

[BaldiePete]

somehow it still felt pretty close for me even when the score said otherwise.

Only Scotland fans can worry they won’t win when they’re 14 points up with 3.5 minutes to play. Scarred by the match against Wales in 2010.

Australia had the best of the opening 15 minutes or so, but after weathering that I didn't actually get the feeling we would lose. Even though we didn’t take some chances and had set piece problems we were still plainly the better side overall.

[Cameo]

I think the game actually proved what Joe Schmidt said about us being a really well balanced side. Australia had done really well in their last two games and aee improving, but they also played two quite strange sides. We are not unbeatable but we don't have the clear flaws that England and Wales have at the moment (other than lineout).

Take England. I'm not at all confident we'll beat them in the six nations but even from the game against Japan you could see their defence has serious issues that everyone fancies themselves to exploit. Against us, you will have to be better than us, against England you might win just be having a cunning plan.

[septic 9]

somehow it still felt pretty close for me even when the score said otherwise.

that is pretty much always my default setting

Until my team are 3 scores clear with less than 10mins to go - at that point I start to get a wee bit more optimistic

Same yesterday, but by end of game, I said to my mate same as Paddy said here. Comfortably the better side, and in reality a very comfortable win. Their late try put a gloss on the score for them

[Mikey Brown]

somehow it still felt pretty close for me even when the score said otherwise.

that is pretty much always my default setting

Until my team are 3 scores clear with less than 10mins to go - at that point I start to get a wee bit more optimistic

Same yesterday, but by end of game, I said to my mate same as Paddy said here. Comfortably the better side, and in reality a very comfortable win. Their late try put a gloss on the score for them

Yep, it’s not purely down to that 2010 Wales game but that was the first real crushing one I remember.

I do wonder how many of the players feel similarly and whether this feeling of not truly being able to mix it amongst the big boys is just projection on my part.

I feel Aus have always been a team that can manage great comebacks too, even when they’re not in a particularly good spot. Not the same situation at all, but the confused silence when they stole it at the death vs England was incredible.

[septic 9]

somehow it still felt pretty close for me even when the score said otherwise.

that is pretty much always my default setting

Until my team are 3 scores clear with less than 10mins to go - at that point I start to get a wee bit more optimistic

Same yesterday, but by end of game, I said to my mate same as Paddy said here. Comfortably the better side, and in reality a very comfortable win. Their late try put a gloss on the score for them

Yep, it’s not purely down to that 2010 Wales game but that was the first real crushing one I remember.

I do wonder how many of the players feel similarly and whether this feeling of not truly being able to mix it amongst the big boys is just projection on my part.

we will all have different feelings on a personal level, players no different. For me its just a personal trait. It ain't over until the fat lady sings.
When I played (and occasionally reffed) I could usually finish games unsure who had won never mind knowing the score!

[General Zod]

I never felt like we would lose to Australia, but despite a good performance, I didn’t think we’d get near the Boks. The main reason is just individual errors when we don’t need to make them. Jones’ pass over Duhan’s head, Matt Fagerson’s drop. Innumerate brain farts v Australia and Portugal too that the top 3 teams don’t make as often. I guess we just need to keep working on skills all the time, but not become paralysed by fear like we seemed to be in the Andy Robinson era.

Another reason is starting with our heads in the shed. That and the fecking offensive line-outs. I appreciate there isn’t a lot of time to practice them, but perhaps, given the destruction they cause when they go wrong, we should change the training schedule a bit. Or they just have to do more uncontested work in training to assist with timing. So there’s three negative things that I’ve posted about now, despite being really happy come full time on Sunday! Overall, it was probably a success, but will it get us 4 wins out of 5 in the 6N if we don’t address those areas?

Also, I may as well put this here. Am posting from SA tonight and hearing some interesting stories! Won’t detail but being a complete gobshite/ shithouse, I reserve the right to come back and use this as an “I told you so”!

[septic 9]

Also, I may as well put this here. Am posting from SA tonight and hearing some interesting stories! Won’t detail but being a complete gobshite/ shithouse, I reserve the right to come back and use this as an “I told you so”!

If you don't tell us now you can't say "told you so"

Stay off the Castle lager (Windhoek is better), there's a good lad

[Cameo]

Can't be bothered to start a new thread but looks like it we are playing a test in Fiji next summer with one more test and maybe a couple of tour matches (maybe in New Zealand but not against the All Blacks).

That would be fun, and it's a joke how few home matches Fiji play. But it would also be a very tough tour if we are missing a bunch of players to the Lions. Based on the Drua's home results in Super Rugby, I am not sure our top team would be favourites against a full strength Fiji team in Suva if they play it in daytime.

Great experience for whoever plays.