6 Nations

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Is MacInally crocked? Always interested in seeing how he's doing since his conversion.

Qwenty! Fck me (not really) - we'll have grumpy back next and a monkey or two.

No mention of JPS - the American we adopted? He was a great poster and a sound lad. What about Kloz?

[Tobylerone]

Is MacInally crocked? Always interested in seeing how he's doing since his conversion.

Qwenty! Fck me (not really) - we'll have grumpy back next and a monkey or two.

What about Kloz?

Indeed..? Maybe the dungeon business is booming (or bottoming..) down Holyrood way..

[Edinburgh in Exile]

Is MacInally crocked? Always interested in seeing how he's doing since his conversion.

Qwenty! Fck me (not really) - we'll have grumpy back next and a monkey or two.

No mention of JPS - the American we adopted? He was a great poster and a sound lad. What about Kloz?

I'm pretty sure That JP cat still lurks on here. I'm sure I've seen him about.

Not seen Kloz in ages.

Isn't one of our monkeys fairly active on the weeg board?

[Matt Ha]

Is MacInally crocked? Always interested in seeing how he's doing since his conversion.

Hello. Still in sunny S'oaks?

[Chunks Baws]

Nel out for the whole 6N.

http://thescotlandteam.com/2017/01/20/w ... 6-nations/

[Mikey Brown]

Not a huge surprise I'm afraid.

Completely unrelated really but I stumbled on to the player profiles from that link, my god we have some weird looking chaps or a really, really insanely awful photographer/editor. Maybe the gaunt, drug-addled look was something they were going for.

Hardie/Seymour/Dunbar/Laidlaw look like fecking ladyboys.

Harley does not look human.

I don't even want to say what I think Swinson looks like.

http://thescotlandteam.com/squad-2/

They all seem to look relatively normal on the pitch.

[Chunks Baws]

Not a huge surprise I'm afraid.

Completely unrelated really but I stumbled on to the player profiles from that link, my god we have some weird looking chaps or a really, really insanely awful photographer/editor. Maybe the gaunt, drug-addled look was something they were going for.

Hardie/Seymour/Dunbar/Laidlaw look like fecking ladyboys.

Harley does not look human.

I don't even want to say what I think Swinson looks like.

http://thescotlandteam.com/squad-2/

They all seem to look relatively normal on the pitch.

Haha they are terrible pics right enough. Harley has always looked like his Mum cuts and styles his hair though.

[whatisthejava]

Great chance for Zander to step up, I think if we can get him more destructive in the loose then he could be talked bout for Lions


Dont think he would go if Cole, Tad and Nel were all fit but a good campaign and he could push his name forward

[whatisthejava]

Was thinking, can anyone remember a time since 99 when so many Scottish players were nailed on starters

Dickinson
Nel (and now Zander)
J Gray
Barclay
Ludlow
Russel
Seymore
Hogg
Maitland

I think you would struggle to find 5% of supporters who wouldn't have those names on the team sheet if all fit

5 - 6 years ago we were constantly arguing over

Blair or cusiter or lawson
parks or WCP
Henderson or Dewey
NDL or Cairns
Ford or hall
Rennie or barclay

and they were much the muchness of each other, now we have half a team that are nailed on starters and not because we don't have other options but because they are the best in that position

[Chunks Baws]

Was thinking, can anyone remember a time since 99 when so many Scottish players were nailed on starters

Dickinson
Nel (and now Zander)
J Gray
Barclay
Ludlow
Russel
Seymore
Hogg
Maitland

I think you would struggle to find 5% of supporters who wouldn't have those names on the team sheet if all fit

5 - 6 years ago we were constantly arguing over

Blair or cusiter or lawson
parks or WCP
Henderson or Dewey
NDL or Cairns
Ford or hall
Rennie or barclay

and they were much the muchness of each other, now we have half a team that are nailed on starters and not because we don't have other options but because they are the best in that position

It still stings when I see his name

[Matt Ha]

Not a huge surprise I'm afraid.

Completely unrelated really but I stumbled on to the player profiles from that link, my god we have some weird looking chaps or a really, really insanely awful photographer/editor. Maybe the gaunt, drug-addled look was something they were going for.

Hardie/Seymour/Dunbar/Laidlaw look like fecking ladyboys.

Harley does not look human.

I don't even want to say what I think Swinson looks like.

http://thescotlandteam.com/squad-2/

They all seem to look relatively normal on the pitch.

Haha they are terrible pics right enough. Harley has always looked like his Mum cuts and styles his hair though.

There are some classic pics there. Reid looks like he's doing porridge and Russel the idiot cousin from the countryside. Watson doing his best to look like a Wild West gun-slinger.

[Mikey Brown]

MacInally looks pretty middle-eastern too.

[Mikey Brown]

Visser/Watson/Pyrgos in some sort of competition to look the most like a rodent.

[Matt Ha]

MacInally looks pretty middle-eastern too.

He also looks a bit cross-eyed. How's his lineout throwing?

[Croft_No.5]

Tommy Seymour = Navid from Chewin' the Fat. Put round specs on Mark Bennett and he is Beeker from the Muppets. As for Tim Swinson, WTF

[ARM]

Nel out for the whole 6N.

http://thescotlandteam.com/2017/01/20/w ... 6-nations/

Fck.

I taunted the mockers the other day I'm afraid.

[Mikey Brown]

Tommy Seymour = Navid from Chewin' the Fat. Put round specs on Mark Bennett and he is Beeker from the Muppets. As for Tim Swinson, WTF

I was flicking through it on my phone so they were coming up one at a time, full screen, and I was a bit scared to see the rest of Swinson's face once I started. I had literally no idea who it was.

[ARM]

6N: there's an argument to throw the Glasgow team in plus Laidlaw, Maitland and R Gray.

Would mean all players from teams in the last 8 of Europe, bar Laidlaw.

Would like to see Watson and Barclay in the mix but don't think Wilson and Strauss could have done much more recently to put names forward for the 23. Anyone else from Edinburgh? Might see Ford but Brown's playing very well.

[OptimisticJock]

Not being able to do much more doesn't make them as good as or better than others though.

[ARM]

True. I think both will be in the 23, with Wilson starting. Against Ireland there's maybe even a case for Barclay, Wilson, Strauss as a backrow unit.

[whatisthejava]

Edinburgh are pretty anemic right now. Have no issue with no ed players starting for Scotland.

Think non weeg players should be maitland, barclay, Watson , laidlaw and jones.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

The most important combination to keep going is Price & Russell. Without that it matters very little who plays outside them.

[QwentyJ]

Is MacInally crocked? Always interested in seeing how he's doing since his conversion.

Qwenty! Fck me (not really) - we'll have grumpy back next and a monkey or two.

A pleasure Arm.

Got lost along the way somewhere.

[rowan]

Scotland leads the way in foreign-born representatives:

All told, the 2017 Six Nations Championship will have a grand total of 20 nations represented. The Americas contributes to this list through Argentina, Canada, St. Lucia, and the USA.

The Celtic nations each have players born in England. In total 16 English players will play for other countries in the tournament. The next highest producers, by birth, are New Zealand and South Africa who have 10 and 9 respectively.



SCOTLAND (18) Unsurprisingly it’s the Scots who have the most players in the group. The number of foreign-born players, though as risen from 14 a year ago to 18 today. It would have been one more had WP Nel not withdrawn from the squad with injury. With the smallest pool of players to choose from, Scotland is often forced to look beyond its borders to seek out eligible prospects. Avoiding an unfavorable draw for Rugby World Cup 2019 has seen Vern Cotter selecting many who did not play youth rugby for Scottish clubs. The result is Scotland has just under double the number of foreign-born players than Italy.

PLAYER POS PLACE OF BIRTH ELIGIBILITY
Alex Allan LH England Grandparent
Allan Dell LH South Africa Grandparent
Simon Berghan TH New Zealand Grandparent
Tim Swinson LO England Grandparent
Ben Toolis LO Australia Parent
John Barclay FL Hong Kong Parent
Cornell du Preez FL South Africa Residency (2016)
John Hardie FL New Zealand Grandparent
Rob Harley FL England Parent
Hamish Watson FL England Grandparent
Josh Strauss N8 South Africa Residency (2015)
Ryan Wilson N8 England Grandparent
Ali Price SH England Parent
Henry Pyrgos SH England Parent
Duncan Taylor CE England Parent
Sean Maitland WI New Zealand Grandparent
Tommy Seymour WI USA Parent
Tim Visser WI Netherlands Residency (2012)


WALES (10) The Welsh roster for the 2016 Six Nations tournament included 13 foreign-born players. The number for this year is down to 10. Most of the foreign-born players in the squad grew up in Wales, with prop Tomas Francis, second row Jake Ball, wing Alex Cuthbert, and newcomer Olly Cracknell the exceptions. Ross Moriarty played for England u20’s before being called up to follow in his father’s footsteps to play for Wales.

PLAYER POS PLACE OF BIRTH ELIGIBILITY
Tomas Francis TH England Grandparent
Jake Ball LO England Parent
Luke Charteris LO England Residency (1986)
Olly Cracknell FL England Grandparent
James King FL Australia Residency (1993)
Ross Moriarty FL England Parent
Taulupe Faletau N8 Tonga Residency (2001)
Jonathan Davies CE England Parent
Alex Cuthbert WI England Parent
George North WI England Parent


ITALY (8) Jacques Brunel had 10 foreign-born players a year ago. His replacement, Conor O’Shea has 8. Argentine props Matías Agüero and Martín Castrogiovanni have played their final test matches for Italy, as has midfielder Gonzalo García. South African lock Quintin Geldenhuys has also retired from international duty. Canadian Robert Barbieri has missed out. The Argentine-Italian Sergio Parisse continues to captain the team. Often criticized as failing to produce home-grown talent, Italy is fielding fewer players from abroad than many rivals.

PLAYER POS PLACE OF BIRTH ELIGIBILITY
Ornel Gega HK Albania Residency (2002)
Dario Chistolini TH South Africa Parent
George Biagi LO Scotland Parent
Joshua Furno LO Australia Parent
Dries van Schalkwyk LO South Africa Residency (2015)
Sergio Parisse N8 Argentina Parent
Braam Steyn N8 South Africa Residency (2015)
Luke McLean CE/FB Australia Grandparent


ENGLAND (7) Stuart Lancaster had three foreign born players on his World Cup roster. Eddie Jones swiftly went about making personal changes in 2016. This included increasing the number of players born outside of England to 12. In 2017 the number stands at 7 though it would likely be higher if Manu Tuilagi and the Vunipola brothers were available. The Americas are represented by Marland Yarde, born in Castries, St. Lucia, who moved to England aged nine. Jack Clifford is another whose parents returned to England when he was young. His father is Kenyan and mother English. Zimbabwe’s Mike Williams grew up idolizing the Springboks but is now to play for England. He was eligible for South Africa, having got an academy scholarship at the Sharks aged 18. Nathan Hughes turned down playing for Fiji at RWC 2015.

PLAYER POS PLACE OF BIRTH ELIGIBILITY
Dylan Hartley HK New Zealand Parent
Jack Clifford FL Australia Parent
Teimana Harrison FL New Zealand Parent
Mike Williams FL Zimbabwe Grandparent
Nathan Hughes N8 Fiji Residency (2016)
Ben Te’o CE New Zealand Parent
Marland Yarde WI St. Lucia Residency (2004)


IRELAND (6) Ireland’s policy of restricting places in their provincial sides for Irish-eligible players has had the knock-on effect of an increase in the number of so-called ‘project’ players who qualify, or will qualify, on residency. Yet CJ Stander is the only such player selected for the Six Nations this year. Ireland’s foreign-born legion is down from 9 a year ago to 6 today. Jake Heenan, Jared Payne, Quinn Roux, and Richardt Strauss are a sampling of additional project players.

PLAYER POS PLACE OF BIRTH ELIGIBILITY
Finlay Bealham TH Australia Grandparent
Ultan Dillane LO France Parent
CJ Stander FL South Africa Residency (2015)
Jamie Heaslip N8 Israel Parent
Kieran Marmion SH England Parent
Luke McGrath SH Canada Parent


FRANCE (4) Guy Novès has again selected four foreign-born players. It is a marked change in philosophy to his predecessor, Phillipe Saint-Andre who took 10 to the World Cup in England. Fijians Noa Nakaitaci and Virimi Vakatawa account for 50% of the wingers selected. Sébastien Vaha’amahina was born in New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific that could well become independent in the relatively near future. If new FFR president Bernard Laporte has his way these could well be the last ‘imports’ to play for France for some time.

PLAYER POS PLACE OF BIRTH ELIGIBILITY
Uini Atonio TH New Zealand Residency (2014)
Noa Nakaitaci WI Fiji Residency (2014)
Virimi Vakatawa WI Fiji Residency (2013)
Scott Spedding FB South Africa Residency (2011)

[Cameo]

Interesting, while I knew about each of the individuals I hadnt considered it was that many. With the movement of people between Scotland and England we'll always have a few who just happened to be born down there and were always looking to play for Scotland but I think that is probably just Jones and Harley from that list (there are a couple of the young guys Im not sure on).

Hopefully as our academies and pro teams improve the number will come down over time. Definitely feels like more home grown players are coming through now than a few years ago