Scots Abroad VIII (or let's spot the new messiah)

[switchskier]

Watched the Sale - Saracens game earlier. None of the scits really stood out sadly. Nothing bad, just mostly anonymous. Ashman subbed off early around 50 minutes. Maitland still looks a classy player, while Roebuck at least came looking for work.

[Mikey Brown]

Sounds like Russell struggled after a bang to the leg and his kicking went to shit. Worrying for next week.

[septic 9]

Sounds like Russell struggled after a bang to the leg and his kicking went to shit. Worrying for next week.

he played the full 80. He nailed all his early kicks at goal, then missed a few, all from out wide and 2 of them hit the post. One big error was right at the end, Racing 4 pts down got a pen last minute, just in Toulouse half. Russell went for touch, fine, but over cooked it and kicked ball dead. Could have cost the game I suppose as Racing maul had been good. Otherwise his kicking from hand had been top notch, long clearing touch finders.

he and his flanker got in a right mess to allow 1st (I think) Toulouse try, otherwise he tackled hard and well defensively very good.

But that kick at the end and no magic will mean the usual folk will say he had poor game. He didn't.

BTW game was a terrific watch

[septic 9]

Watched the Sale - Saracens game earlier. None of the scits really stood out sadly. Nothing bad, just mostly anonymous. Ashman subbed off early around 50 minutes. Maitland still looks a classy player, while Roebuck at least came looking for work.

Gus Warr still keeping the second coming on the bench and was very good again. Even the pundits couldn't lavish enough praise on his season. Also thought Christie had a very decent game - and interesting to see how often he was Saracen's line out option

[Mikey Brown]

Sounds like Russell struggled after a bang to the leg and his kicking went to shit. Worrying for next week.

he played the full 80. He nailed all his early kicks at goal, then missed a few, all from out wide and 2 of them hit the post. One big error was right at the end, Racing 4 pts down got a pen last minute, just in Toulouse half. Russell went for touch, fine, but over cooked it and kicked ball dead. Could have cost the game I suppose as Racing maul had been good. Otherwise his kicking from hand had been top notch, long clearing touch finders.

he and his flanker got in a right mess to allow 1st (I think) Toulouse try, otherwise he tackled hard and well defensively very good.

But that kick at the end and no magic will mean the usual folk will say he had poor game. He didn't.

BTW game was a terrific watch

Yeah I read it was a good game. To be clear I wasn’t commenting so much on his performance but that from what I’d read his game had been affected by a leg injury of some sort. More just concerned he wouldn’t (fully) shake it off for Saturday.

[Mikey Brown]

[Cameo]

Loved the seamless switch from Bailey to Redpath by the commentator - must have missed the pass.

[septic 9]

Cam Henderson has signed a new contract with Leicester.
I'm still not convinced he is Scotland quality but good luck to him

[Mikey Brown]

I haven’t seen a whole lot of him to be honest but seems very highly rated by Leicester fans. I don’t know how many years Gilchrist and the Grays have in them but it may suddenly be very thin after that, so it would be nice if he can cut it.

He’s still very young for a lock I think.

[francoisfou]

Cam Henderson has signed a new contract with Leicester.
I'm still not convinced he is Scotland quality but good luck to him

He’ll get his chance this evening, as he’s in Leicester’s starting XV at home to Edinburgh.

[switchskier]

Cam Henderson has signed a new contract with Leicester.
I'm still not convinced he is Scotland quality but good luck to him

He’ll get his chance this evening, as he’s in Leicester’s starting XV at home to Edinburgh.

From the bits and pieces that I've seen I like him a lot. Offers a lot of power and looks Gilchrist's natural successor to me. Moving seems to have been great for him as he's had much more time and progressed faster than his peers (e.g. Sykes).

[Mikey Brown]

"Scottish international fly-half Adam Hastings could return for the last couple of club games of the season in a best-case scenario Gloucester head coach George Skivington has confirmed."

[Big D]

Andy Christie broke his arm last week.

[Mikey Brown]

I wondered why he was missing for this weekend. Seemed like he’d really stepped up for Saracens while MacFarland has been out.

Never quite sure where he’d fit in the Scotland mix but having some options who are playing regularly at the very highest club level can’t be a bad thing. Fastish, athletic, good skills, hard worker as far as I can see, just not sure if he’s more than that or not.

What does anyone make of Kelly Brown? Seems to be quietly picking up some decent experience with Saracens. I have no idea if he has the aspirations or the quality to go further?

[Puja]

What does anyone make of Kelly Brown? Seems to be quietly picking up some decent experience with Saracens. I have no idea if he has the aspirations or the quality to go further?

Only thing which I'd say is that grabbing successful Saracens assistant coaches hasn't greatly worked for England in the past - neither Farrell nor Gustard were the successes we hoped for when poaching then from Sarries. I suspect it's the whole environment and culture that makes a success and it's not quite the same when you transplant someone from there. We've gone back to the well again with Ian Peel, so we'll see how that goes.

Mind, Farrell has since gone on to be quite good when given a lot more experience...

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Beautiful line, pace, pirouette, sidestep and perfect wrong-handed pass from Harris for a try there.

It so odd how he does that shit out of the blue but then drops half a dozen passes.

[Adder]

Looks like our "old friend" the knee fairy has had a go at Jonny Gray. Hopefully nothing too serious, but potential bone break or ligament damage.

It looked like a sore one, the LaRochelle players were calling for the medics.

[Adder]

"Good" news, it seems it's "only" a dislocated knee :
https://www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby-un ... 9d0vnbfHs0

[Adder]

Bad news, its the kneecap

[BaldiePete]

Bad news, its the kneecap

So it was a visit from the knee fairy.

[Croft_No.5]

That particular faerie only usually appears at the RWC warm up matches...

[Cameo]

Sam Grahamslaw is Scottish isn't he? See he's named in the Championship team of the season with Adam Nicoll on the bench.

[septic 9]

Sam Grahamslaw is Scottish isn't he? See he's named in the Championship team of the season with Adam Nicoll on the bench.

Sam is. As is the named TH in the starting XV - Steve Longwell. Been around for ever, played premiership and S6, Major League Rugby for Old Glaory, trained with Glasgow but either didn't want to or didn't quite manage to step up. Formidable scrummager

[switchskier]

Sam Grahamslaw is Scottish isn't he? See he's named in the Championship team of the season with Adam Nicoll on the bench.

Sam is. As is the named TH in the starting XV - Steve Longwell. Been around for ever, played premiership and S6, Major League Rugby for Old Glaory, trained with Glasgow but either didn't want to or didn't quite manage to step up. Formidable scrummager

Think that Grahmslaw is also French qualified if I remember correctly. Was at Edinburgh but released. Given some of the props kept on that's hardly a vote of confidence, either in him or in the scrum coach.

[Cameo]

Tuipolotu Junior had a good game for the Waratahs against the Crusaders on the weekend. Don't know if the rumours about hm coming to Glasgow will ever come to anything.