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

[Big D]

Jamie Hodgson signed for Bristol on a short term loan.

[BaldiePete]

Russell and Redpath start for Bath against La Rochelle on Friday night. Bayliss on the bench.

Chris Harris starts for Gloucester against Edinburgh.

[BaldiePete]

Warr and Reed both start for Sale against Glasgow.
Miller-Mills start for Northampton with Hutchison on the bench against Castres.
Craig starts for Scarlets against Bayonne. Alec Hepburn not in the 23.
Richardson on the bench for the Sharks against Exeter.
Hurd on the Leicester bench against Bordeaux Begles who have Jonny Gray starting.
Ntamack is back for Toulouse so Ramos drops back to full back with Kinghorn out of the 23 completely.
White not in the 23 for Toulon against Stormers.
SQ standoff Fergus Burke starts for Saracens against Bulls.
Unsurprisingly, Hogg not in the Montpellier 23 against Dragons.

In France D2, Johnson starts for Oyannax against Agen.

[BaldiePete]

Friday games.
Warr starts for Sale against Racing 92. Reed not in the 23.
In France D2, Johnson starts for Oyannax

[BaldiePete]

Saturday/Sunday games
Hutchison and Miller-Mills both start for Northampton away to Bulls.
Hepburn and Craig both start for Scarlets against the Georgian team Black Lion.
Richardson starts for the Sharks against Leicester. Will Hurd not in the Leicester 23.
White not in the 23 for Toulon against Glasgow.
Kinghorn on the bench for Toulouse against Exeter
Gray starts for Bordeaux against Ulster.
Hogg at 10 for Montpellier against Ospreys.

From a Scottish perspective it’s worrying that two of our starters aren’t getting regular game time for their French teams. I can’t see anywhere if White is injured.

[septic 9]

White not in the 23 for Toulon against Glasgow.
Kinghorn on the bench for Toulouse against Exeter
Gray starts for Bordeaux against Ulster.

From a Scottish perspective it’s worrying that two of our starters aren’t getting regular game time for their French teams. I can’t see anywhere if White is injured.

that's a harsh and not wholly accurate interpretation

Both were starting regularly until the AIs
White was only ever be behind Serin, and the Toulon bench 9 is a young livewire who will be rotated in and out for both Serin and White.
Both teams but Toulouse especially have loads of top players. Kinghorn himself knew what the situation was when he moved over - didn't he talk about no complacency and no guarantee of a start, unlike Edinburgh? Again rotation will play a roll, crunch time for Kinghorn is when Toulouse inevitably get to the business end of the season when he has to get ahead of Ramos, Capuozzo, Lebel, Mallia - even Dupont if he fancies ago at 15 or wing

[Which Tyler]

Bayliss, Redpath and McConnochie all starting for Bath this week.
Russell is sitting on a beach somewhere

[Croft_No.5]

Cam Henderson (Leicester) and Jamie Hodgson both on their respective benches. Good to see Henderson back.
2 potential 10s in Burke and Lancaster starting
Murray McCallum, Kiran MacDonald, Tom Gordon start and Ollie Letherbow benches for Newcastle
Charlie CHapmen, Chris Harris start for Gloucester

[Cameo]

Greig Laidlaw apparently now head coach at Urayasu D-Rocks. One to watch.

[Mikey Brown]

Greig Laidlaw apparently now head coach at Urayasu D-Rocks. One to watch.

There's some interesting bits and pieces (as well as some waffle) in here.

https://www.rugbypass.com/plus/greig-la ... -lot-from/

It's funny to think back to the Laidlaw era now after a bit of time away. It was frustrating when we were at a point he was somehow central to the direction and leadership but simply not able to play at the pace we needed, yet every time I've heard him speaking you can totally see why you'd want that guy as a captain.

No idea how that translates to coaching but it sounds like he's got the right attitude for it.

[Cameo]

He actually helped coach the backs in the 2nds at my club for a little bit. Even from the touch games at the beginning, you could tell his energy and enthusiasm. There's obviously more to coaching than that, but he was a very smart player which must help.

Intereresting new path to the top. At the moment, we have three coaches that seem on their way right to the top:

- Horne: Traditional route - assistant to national assistant to A Team head coach to ? But then again, what happened with Blair shows that these thinggs don't always progress as you imagine.

- Clarke Laidlaw: NZ Sevens to Hurricanes to ? Big second season coming up for him at the Hurricanes. No idra if he ever wants to return to Scotland but another succesful year or two would set him up well if he does.

Greig Laidlaw: Assistant in Japan to head coach in Japan to ?

Given we only have two pro teams, there is merit in coaches trying to get some head coaching experience overseas first. I still don't have a good feel for the quality of the Japanese league though.

[Mikey Brown]

Blair is working with Rennie (and McDonald I want to say but probably wrong) in Japan too. I know he didn’t like the head coach role for Edinburgh but could still be a useful figure for Scotland you’d hope.

[BaldiePete]

Friday
Harris on the bench for Gloucester against Harlequins.
Johnson starts for Oyonnax in French Pro D2

Saturday
Russell, Redpath and Bayliss all start for Bath against Newcastle who have Gordon, McDonald and McCallum starting with Leatherbarrow on the bench. 20% Scottish starters in this match.
With Mbonambi injured Richardson starts for Sharks against the Bulls.
Hepburn and Craig both on the bench for Scarlets against Ospreys.
Reed starts for Sale with Warr on the bench against Exeter
Henderson starts for Leicester against Bristol who have Hodgson on the bench.
Still no sign of White in the Toulon squad.
Hogg still being selected at 10 for Montpellier.
Gray not in the Bordeaux squad but he did go off with an injury last week.

Sunday
Toulouse haven’t announced their team yet but I saw on Twitter that Kinghorn has been put up for their press conference this week. I wonder how good his French is?
Hutchison starts for Northampton against Saracens, with Millar-Mills on the bench and Not Yet Scottish Fergus Burke starts for Saracens

[Adder]

Jonny Gray has torn something in his ankle.

They have decided against surgery but he won't be back before mid-February.

https://www.rugbyrama.fr/2024/12/19/top ... 402249.php

[Adder]

White clearly not on top of picking order at Toulon.

[Adder]

White clearly not on top of picking order at Toulon.

[septic 9]

White clearly not on top of picking order at Toulon.

he was neer going to be as long as Serin is fit. Is he out of the squad altogether this week?

[BaldiePete]

White clearly not on top of picking order at Toulon.

he was neer going to be as long as Serin is fit. Is he out of the squad altogether this week?

Not in the squad. I can’t see anything on the Toulon website about players who are injured (although my French is poor so it’s definitely possible it’s there but I can’t find it). The bench scrum-half is Jules Danglot. According to Wikipedia he’s 23 and was on the books at Montpellier in 2020 and signed for Toulon in 2021.

[Cameo]

Very glad to see Henderson start. Going to be tough to break into that team but be great for him just to put some games together.

Shame re Gray.

[switchskier]

Friday
Harris on the bench for Gloucester against Harlequins.
Johnson starts for Oyonnax in French Pro D2

Saturday
Russell, Redpath and Bayliss all start for Bath against Newcastle who have Gordon, McDonald and McCallum starting with Leatherbarrow on the bench. 20% Scottish starters in this match.
With Mbonambi injured Richardson starts for Sharks against the Bulls.
Hepburn and Craig both on the bench for Scarlets against Ospreys.
Reed starts for Sale with Warr on the bench against Exeter
Henderson starts for Leicester against Bristol who have Hodgson on the bench.
Still no sign of White in the Toulon squad.
Hogg still being selected at 10 for Montpellier.
Gray not in the Bordeaux squad but he did go off with an injury last week.

Sunday
Toulouse haven’t announced their team yet but I saw on Twitter that Kinghorn has been put up for their press conference this week. I wonder how good his French is?
Hutchison starts for Northampton against Saracens, with Millar-Mills on the bench and Not Yet Scottish Fergus Burke starts for Saracens

McCallum starting at loosehead now I see. Newcastle must be really short at prop

[septic 9]

White clearly not on top of picking order at Toulon.

he was neer going to be as long as Serin is fit. Is he out of the squad altogether this week?

Not in the squad. I can’t see anything on the Toulon website about players who are injured (although my French is poor so it’s definitely possible it’s there but I can’t find it). The bench scrum-half is Jules Danglot. According to Wikipedia he’s 23 and was on the books at Montpellier in 2020 and signed for Toulon in 2021.

Danglot was bench 9 v Glasgow. Early 20s bit of livewire, gets a fair bit of time as they rotate
There was a strong rumour that Exeter were trying to lure White away, and break his contract, but that fell through at the last minute. Mignoni can e a wee nippy sweetie and of he thinks White was pushing a move.........

[BaldiePete]

Kinghorn starts at 15 for a heavily rotated Toulouse team against Lyon.

[Which Tyler]

Bayliss and Russell did well.
Redpath quietly competent, but not a day for silly skills

[BaldiePete]

Given our back row depth, barring injury I suspect Bayliss is always going to be a bench option for Scotland but he is a very useful player to have coming off the bench. Is it similar for Bath? He doesn’t seem to be a first choice player there either.

[Which Tyler]

Yes, but again, that says more about Bath's backrow depth than anything else, we've essentially got 7 first choice starters to cover the 3 positions.