Way too early RWC Squad

[Big D]

I think Skinner is pretty safe in the squad, and I'd be keen to let Rambo and GG get last week out their systems. But that being said, I wouldn't be against Skinner starting on Saturday.

[General Zod]

I think Rambo will play again. Brown not yet for - was listening to the commentary and he spoke about maybe playing in Georgia.

I think Skinner and Wilson will start. Possibly Watson at some point.

[francoisfou]

Only four changes in the French starting XV. -Ramos, Guirado, Lambert and Iturria. I wonder how many changes Townsend will make? The Scots in France will surely play, Laidlaw and Russell, and maybe a surprise guest appearance of big Richie! What’s Richie done to upset Townsend? Has he rogered his missus, or what?!!

[Big D]

Only four changes in the French starting XV. -Ramos, Guirado, Lambert and Iturria. I wonder how many changes Townsend will make? The Scots in France will surely play, Laidlaw and Russell, and maybe a surprise guest appearance of big Richie! What’s Richie done to upset Townsend? Has he rogered his missus, or what?!!

Full head of hair, earning a small fortune and an ex miss Scotland for a girlfriend/wife.

[francoisfou]

Only four changes in the French starting XV. -Ramos, Guirado, Lambert and Iturria. I wonder how many changes Townsend will make? The Scots in France will surely play, Laidlaw and Russell, and maybe a surprise guest appearance of big Richie! What’s Richie done to upset Townsend? Has he rogered his missus, or what?!!

Full head of hair, earning a small fortune and an ex miss Scotland for a girlfriend/wife.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

I've lost track of how many of our players had a Miss Scotland as their bird at some point... Didn't Finn? Kelly Brown and Fergus Thomson had some kind of pageant keen birds as well..

Much more fun chat than the rugby.

[whatisthejava]

I think Strauses time is up

We need to see if Blade can give us an option at 8

I htink my 23 would be

Dell
Turner
Fagerson
GG
SS
Barclay
Mish
Blade

G Horne
Hastings
Graham
Taylor
Jonnstone
Maitland
Hogg

Reid
Rambo - Needs a kick in the arse, while he was OK he needs to find the ability to pull the rest of the team up
Nel
JG
Bradbury
Laidlaw
Finn
Hutchinson

[Mikey Brown]

Have Hastings and Taylor earned that starting spot or is it just to see them get more gametime?

If I had to play those centres I’d definitely put Taylor at 13 where I think he is better anyway.

Seems there’s now quite a lot riding on Chib actually being any good at this level.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

I'd rather play a small child at 2 than George Turner.

[Chunks Baws]

Have Hastings and Taylor earned that starting spot or is it just to see them get more gametime?

If I had to play those centres I’d definitely put Taylor at 13 where I think he is better anyway.

Seems there’s now quite a lot riding on Chib actually being any good at this level.

I'd be surprised if he turns out to be pish. He was knocking on the All Blacks door before an injury put him down the pecking order. Knowing our luck he'll be brilliant but only available once in a blue moon due to injuries.

[af73]

We have to see Thomson at some point so now is as good a time as any. It would be good if it was done with specific purpose rather than in isolation.
If his ball playing , carrying and decision making as as good as reputed, then a combination of him at 8, leaving Watson to do the breakdown stealing & dynamic carrying/linking alongside the abrasive close quarter stuff of one of Fagerson/Skinner/Wilson/Bradbury at 6 might be a good blend.

Hastings might be worth a start. If he can put last week behind him & control a game in the familiarity of Murrayfield then the Russia WC game + back up position should be ok. If that's beyond him at this stage, then we have to know now and have a contingency ready to go for the Georgia games. Perhaps Hutchison at 60 minutes for example.

The urge to abandon whatever plan was in place in the desire to win this game must be strong but might only provide a temporary confidence boost. That's part of our boom & bust results - the temptation to rectify the previous game. ("give them another chance/put hands up for selection/getting a reaction" and all that guff).

[hugh_woatmeigh]

The urge to abandon whatever plan was in place in the desire to win this game must be strong but might only provide a temporary confidence boost. That's part of our boom & bust results - the temptation to rectify the previous game. ("give them another chance/put hands up for selection/getting a reaction" and all that guff).

Perfect articulation and it's a moronic approach to most things in life and most certainly running an international sports team.

[Chunks Baws]

According to the times Toony has promised "sweeping changes". Taylor has said some guys have basically played their way off the plane already "you've had your go, that's it".

Teams out at 11:30.

[Mikey Brown]

That understandable on one hand, but I really do wonder how much it was the players (as all but about 3 of our players seem to be sporadically totally shite) and how much it's about what they're trying to do, or the plan they're trying to follow.

Chib will save us.

[Chunks Baws]

That understandable on one hand, but I really do wonder how much it was the players (as all but about 3 of our players seem to be sporadically totally shite) and how much it's about what they're trying to do, or the plan they're trying to follow.

Chib will save us.

Taylor has a bit of a cheek, he's the one overseeing pish defensive performance after pish defensive performance. He's fixed fuck all since the 6N.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

That understandable on one hand, but I really do wonder how much it was the players (as all but about 3 of our players seem to be sporadically totally shite) and how much it's about what they're trying to do, or the plan they're trying to follow.

Chib will save us.

Taylor has a bit of a cheek, he's the one overseeing pish defensive performance after pish defensive performance. He's fixed fuck all since the 6N.

Agreed. We have a very passive defence & poor technique. It used to be far better under previous coaches but we couldn't score for love nor money. Now we don't seem to be able to do either.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

The whole set up sounds like a complete f*cking shambles from Toony all the way down to the fringe players.

[Chunks Baws]

The whole set up sounds like a complete f*cking shambles from Toony all the way down to the fringe players.

This from the Scottish Rugby Blog is grim reading:

During the Toony Test era, Scotland’s tackle completion percentage has slipped below 85% in 7 matches:

France (3 times)
Fiji (2 times)
New Zealand
England

And this is concerning before playing Japan: "it also seems Scotland’s systems struggle to contain sides who keep the ball alive with high numbers of offloads out of contact". If both sides are firing that day and Japan are as pish at tackling as we are then we could see a hell of a score.

[Mikey Brown]

Jesus, and that’s with Jonny Gray hitting 98%, desperately trying to hold everything together.

[Mikey Brown]

[Mikey Brown]

In case you can’t view that;

1. Reid
2. Turner
3. Nel
4. Cummings
5. Skinner
6. Wilson
7. Watson
8. Thomson

9. Laidlaw
10. Russel
11. Mainland
12. Horne
13. Harris
14. Seymour
15. Hogg

Stewart, Dell, Berghan, Gilchrist, Barclay, Horne, Hutchinson, Kinghorn

[General Zod]

Chib’s face looks a wee bit like mine after about 20 minutes on Saturday.

Will be interesting to see how front row fares throughout the match.

[Mikey Brown]

Initial thoughts;

Still don't like Laidlaw as captain and think he slows us down in various different way. Little choice with McInally, GG, Barclay all out of the side.

Obviiously there's some experiments in the pack but I like the look of it. Don't fancy Turner at this level (not yet anyway) but he's obviously going to be needed so lets see it. Really keen to see what Skinner and Thomson can add. Wilson is best at 6 if he's going to play.

Centre pairing, on paper, is quite nicely balanced, but in reality probably leaves something to be desired. I'd love to have seen Hutchinson get a start but I'm actually in agreement it's these two that really need to prove their worth right now, but Harris hasn't had many starts to state his case.

I hope Kinghorn gets a decent chance to put his hand up as he's a potential to get cut?

I guess Dell needs gametime, but would have been good to see Berghan get a bit more time at LH with fresh legs. Maybe they'll manage that somehow.

I wonder who is leading the lineout?

How many warm-ups do we have?

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Worrying because they will want to make amends for last week. Problem is Harris is in that team and under no circumstances should be be travelling to Japan.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

The whole set up sounds like a complete f*cking shambles from Toony all the way down to the fringe players.

This from the Scottish Rugby Blog is grim reading:

During the Toony Test era, Scotland’s tackle completion percentage has slipped below 85% in 7 matches:

France (3 times)
Fiji (2 times)
New Zealand
England

And this is concerning before playing Japan: "it also seems Scotland’s systems struggle to contain sides who keep the ball alive with high numbers of offloads out of contact". If both sides are firing that day and Japan are as pish at tackling as we are then we could see a hell of a score.

And this is why I think it's a mentality thing. The first time that happens there is no way that someone like Jones, Gatland or Edwards would ever let that happen in the next game. You'd fear for your life let alone your place if you defended like that again.

We're consistently bad at a lot of things and they never seem to be addressed.

We need to be on our game and for the opposition to have an 'off day' these days to win. You can only play what's in front of you but we needed a hell of a lot of stars of align when registered convincing wins against England in 2018 & the AI tonking of Australia in 2017. You cannot rely on that sort of stuff in professional sport.