RugbyRebels

So much right but cannot explain how disappointed I am with Townsend to have brought Berghan straight into the starting XV.

Berghan lulz

Other than that pretty good shout. Would have Bennet for Harris and Denton over Wilson

OptimisticJock wrote:Berghan lulz

Other than that pretty good shout. Would have Bennet for Harris and Denton over Wilson

Modern day Gavin Kerr.

In an injury crisis, absolutely, start Berghan. But to think he is better than Welsh is very concerning.

Usual mix of good and bad.

What do folks make of Gilchrist in?

Very curious how the talk of not changing our game aligns with starting Laidlaw.

I was of the opinion he could definitely adapt to the quicker style but Saturday didn't reinforce that at all.

Also who do France have at loosehead? Still that stumpy little bastard? He'll turn Berghan inside out, surely?

Concerned about Laidlaw tbh. Yes Price was pish but he's been involved in several good wins and offers a threat that Laidlaw doesn't have.

My problems with Laidlaw are he has so little game time so there are fitness issues, has not shown he can play high tempo rugby in a while and has not offered a serious threat from 9 in a long time which means the defence can drift onto Finn and the centre's easily.

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:So much right but cannot explain how disappointed I am with Townsend to have brought Berghan straight into the starting XV.

That will be Macfarlane making that call.

Mikey Brown wrote:Usual mix of good and bad.

What do folks make of Gilchrist in?

Very curious how the talk of not changing our game aligns with starting Laidlaw.

I was of the opinion he could definitely adapt to the quicker style but Saturday didn't reinforce that at all.

Townsend/DMac has flipped flopped between BUT and GG fairly regularly.

I thought BBT had money in the bank but have no issue with GG.

great to see Kinghorn on the bench

Big D wrote:

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:So much right but cannot explain how disappointed I am with Townsend to have brought Berghan straight into the starting XV.

That will be Macfarlane making that call.

Find that hard to believe myself.

I suspect they see Berghan as a stop-gap between Nel and the younger THs coming through but I still cannot fathom why that puts him ahead of Welsh.

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:

Big D wrote:

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:So much right but cannot explain how disappointed I am with Townsend to have brought Berghan straight into the starting XV.

That will be Macfarlane making that call.

Find that hard to believe myself.

I suspect they see Berghan as a stop-gap between Nel and the younger THs coming through but I still cannot fathom why that puts him ahead of Welsh.

So you think Townsend consistently overrules his trusted forwards coach with regards to tightheads?

Every squad picked under them has had Berghan ahead of Welsh where possible. That is not just down to the head coach. Selection meetings don't happen that way.

Macfarlane will at the very least have a big say in who is playing up front. Especially when the pattern is repeated over and over again.

Have been reasonably quiet since last week - they were just shite, played like they had forgotten the fundamentals (earn the right to play, etc), and had no confidence or backbone. That aside, they were excellent for the first six minutes.

Anyway, Laidlaw doing lots of pointing and generally telling them to wind it in a bit is probably no bad thing.

Whilst I was disappointed with Harris on Saturday, he did get some terrible ball. Benching, as opposed to dropping entirely is probably fair. Good to see King Blairhorn in line for a debut, and Gilcho will hopefully bring a bit more nastiness.

Also keen to see Denton’s new barnet.

Big D wrote:

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:

Big D wrote:That will be Macfarlane making that call.

Find that hard to believe myself.

I suspect they see Berghan as a stop-gap between Nel and the younger THs coming through but I still cannot fathom why that puts him ahead of Welsh.

So you think Townsend consistently overrules his trusted forwards coach with regards to tightheads?

Every squad picked under them has had Berghan ahead of Welsh where possible. That is not just down to the head coach. Selection meetings don't happen that way.

Macfarlane will at the very least have a big say in who is playing up front. Especially when the pattern is repeated over and over again.

Given how Macfarlane turned the Glasgow pack around in his final season, I find it hard to believe he is pushing Beghan.
Perhaps he is - in which case I retract my comment. Either way given how awful he is and the fact he is going from no rugby in two months to the coal face against an excellent and bruising scrummaging team... it reflects badly on whoever selects him.

General Zod wrote:
Also keen to see Denton’s new barnet.

Its truly horrific.

I mean, even assuming Berghan is a superior player to Welsh in every aspect. Why would you not introduce him off the bench? Going from rugby to the most forwarded-oriented test match competition is idiotic whatever way you want to paint it.

General Zod wrote:Have been reasonably quiet since last week - they were just shite, played like they had forgotten the fundamentals (earn the right to play, etc), and had no confidence or backbone. That aside, they were excellent for the first six minutes.

Anyway, Laidlaw doing lots of pointing and generally telling them to wind it in a bit is probably no bad thing.

Whilst I was disappointed with Harris on Saturday, he did get some terrible ball. Benching, as opposed to dropping entirely is probably fair. Good to see King Blairhorn in line for a debut, and Gilcho will hopefully bring a bit more nastiness.

Also keen to see Denton’s new barnet.

Gilchrist...nastiness? He’s many things but hard and nasty is not of them. Still a better pick that the massively over-rated Toolis. Yet again it’s a soft and underpowered team but guess you can only piss with the c0ck you’ve got.

I seriously don't get why people don't want our best scrummaging TH on the pitch in the last 20. How many games has France snatched from defeat because they were propping against a shit scrummager.

I can count 3 against Scotland and at least 2 against Wales.

Welsh was out on his arse last week with the pace of the game. I'm assuming they think Berghan can deal with the pace for 60min and then Welsh can close it out.

whatisthejava wrote:I seriously don't get why people don't want our best scrummaging TH on the pitch in the last 20. How many games has France snatched from defeat because they were propping against a shit scrummager.

I can count 3 against Scotland and at least 2 against Wales.

Right. And we’ll be ahead at 60 due to... Berghan?

Wasn’t everybody knackered after the first 20 minutes? They played like fucking maniacs.

I think all the changes are fair enough. I am not sure I would have dropped Price or Toolis but no one can really complain. We could really do with Dunbar back though

Cameo wrote:I think all the changes are fair enough. I am not sure I would have dropped Price or Toolis but no one can really complain. We could really do with Dunbar back though

Oh and I see HW's point on Welsh/Berghan. Coaches seem to see something we don't in Berghan

[quote="ARM]

Gilchrist...nastiness? He’s many things but hard and nasty is not of them. Still a better pick that the massively over-rated Toolis. Yet again it’s a soft and underpowered team but guess you can only piss with the c0ck you’ve got.[/quote]

Meant grunt, but was willing nastiness. Anyway, it would be difficult to be more powder puff than we were in Cardiff.

Cokerill was talking positively about Berghan saying he's good enough for the Test arena but needs to keep focused and his head together.

Cocker's not going to say Berghan's crap but he's not a rent-a-quote type nor the sort to sugar coat his thoughts for the sake of a journo looking for an optimistic perspective. Given Cocker's playing days at Leicester I'd tend to trust his view that there is a Test-level prop there.

IMO Berghan definitely scrumaged better than Fagerson in the first half of the season and there wouldn't be the same noise if Fagerson was selected to start.

I think all would agree that Welsh is the 2nd best scrummager of the Scottish qualified props after WPN, though. I'd have started Welsh.

sharvey44 wrote:Welsh was out on his arse last week with the pace of the game. I'm assuming they think Berghan can deal with the pace for 60min and then Welsh can close it out.

Berghan who hasn't even played a prem 1 game in the last 2 months? Oh yeah. He'll be super match fit.

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:

sharvey44 wrote:Welsh was out on his arse last week with the pace of the game. I'm assuming they think Berghan can deal with the pace for 60min and then Welsh can close it out.

Berghan who hasn't even played a prem 1 game in the last 2 months? Oh yeah. He'll be super match fit.

fwck me, you are dramatic.

Of course he hasn't been training with everyone else because being banned from playing means that all he could do is spend the last two months sat on a park bench drinking Bucky and eating kebabs. He wasn't injured, he was banned so should be perfectly fine to play a game.