6N squad - starting team

[Donny osmond]

That's been coming. The scoreboard is currently a massive lie, Italy have been the better team so far, by some distance.

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[Donny osmond]

I might be having an epiphany.

We're clearly pretty good at broken field running and support play. Maybe all our directionless shite is just an attempt to create a broken field which apparently is the only place and time in which we can produce anything.

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[Donny osmond]

Hahahahahhaaaaaa Harris is on for a hat trick. Feckin yes. 2022.

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[Big D]

Some very good. Some average and some shite.

I was fuming at Price for letting Schoeman pick and go off turnover ball but he's been decent since.

[Donny osmond]

That free kick for entering the line just sums up Scotland so much. The ref is actually telling you what to do and you still give away a free kick. Pathetic.

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[Donny osmond]

These aimless kicks down the middle aren't individually any good, but the sheer quantity of them makes up for the stunning lack of quality.

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[Donny osmond]

If fairness that's another quality try for DG, with Russell being excellent it has to be said

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[switchskier]

I love Graham. May be my favourite current player. Two good interventions from Russell there too, and Hogg

16 points ahead, bonus point secured, would love to see us cut loose now and build some confidence.

[Donny osmond]

I love Graham. May be my favourite current player. Two good interventions from Russell there too, and Hogg

16 points ahead, bonus point secured, would love to see us cut loose now and build some confidence.

Careful now

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[switchskier]

Why would you kick away an advantage? Top 2% missing again

[Donny osmond]

Why would you kick away an advantage? Top 2% missing again

Interesting use of 'again' there Switch.

Try at the end for Italy, well deserved.

If we play like this next week, Ireland will be openly laughing at us.

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[Big D]

Why would you kick away an advantage? Top 2% missing again

Interesting use of 'again' there Switch.

Try at the end for Italy, well deserved.

If we play like this next week, Ireland will be openly laughing at us.

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It'll be an embarrassment if we play like that next week. Ireland will hammer us if that is the best we have.

[Buggaluggs]

That Italian Shane Williams looked tasty

[Donny osmond]

That Italian Shane Williams looked tasty

Considering he's about 12 years old he's pretty good

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[switchskier]

Why would you kick away an advantage? Top 2% missing again

Interesting use of 'again' there Switch.

Try at the end for Italy, well deserved.

If we play like this next week, Ireland will be openly laughing at us.

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I was thinking of the Faegerson free kick at the line out mostly, but there are loads of examples.

[Donny osmond]

Why would you kick away an advantage? Top 2% missing again

Interesting use of 'again' there Switch.

Try at the end for Italy, well deserved.

If we play like this next week, Ireland will be openly laughing at us.

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I was thinking of the Faegerson free kick at the line out mostly, but there are loads of examples.

I was meaning more... we don't seem to have a top 2% so the 'again' is redundant.

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[Mikey Brown]

Well that was a mixed bag if I’ve ever seen it. Doesn’t feel that likely we’ll get Ireland to allow such unstructured play that we managed to score our tries from. Many of the same issues persisting and it really was tragic the way we let Italy back in to it at the point we needed to show a ruthless edge.

It’s a fairly comfortable away victory, so I guess that should be pleasing, but why can’t we ever really look in control for a sustained period.

Townsend’s use of the bench gets more and more frustrating. Is he even hoping to learn anything about Vellacott or White? Or does he just feel duty bound to include them as we need cover in the 23.

Johnson looked more lively. Steyn can handle himself at this level. Schoeman is good. That’s something.

[Cameo]

I don't know if I just watched that match when I was a bit grouchey but I thought we were pretty shite.

The pluses - We still clearly have better players than Italy and they each showed it at some point. We are also really good at counter attack (generally). We can win a kicking duel against a weak team. Finally, we had a couple of decent backs moves near the line which we hadn't really shown.

The minuses - We looked better than Italy but not out of their league. Play that ten times and it felt like we would be sucked into a really tight game at least a few times. To me, we can look at structure etc. but the main thing is these handling errors and losing the ball in contact. There are some main offenders but the annoying thing is that even the better players are doing it. I think M Fagerson has been great but he dropped one cold. Hogg had two passes to no one in dangerous positions. Shoemam had one ripped from him pretty easily and there were plenty others. Are the players just not the most natural ball handlers? Is it just a phase? Whatever it is, it kills us. Oh and the lineout looked shoddy, as if not everyone knew what they were doing.

I also found the ref grating. That knock on advantage call seemed to be him trying to prove a pathetic point. They knock on on the half way, we regather under pressure in our twenty two - he insists on "seeing how it develops" despite us repeatedly asking him just to blow it. Eventually, we can't risk him just deciding it's advantage over if we screw around in our 22 so we kick it back to the halfway and he calls advantage over. In what way is he seeing we have gained an advantage from their knock on!? I get we could have been cute and accidentally on purpose knocked it on, but who knows what he would have called - probs a pen for a deliberate knock on.

[switchskier]

Yeah, I thought that was pretty poor in general with some lovely tries mixed in there. Even by their standards this is not a good Italy team but we allowed them to score some good tries and rarely looked like prising them open through just good structured phase play.

Thought that Turner was motm and good to see him back to his rumbuctuous best. Price was also better, and Graham is just fun to watch and game for anything.

Darge also good again but using him as your go to tight carrier really doesn't get the best out of him. Felt that both the Faegerson's were a bit annoymous in that regard and one of the locks needs to be much more active as a carrier too if we're going to play two opensides. Will be interested to see the stats.

Both Johnson and Harris had solid, 6/7 out of 10 games. But there's just no threat with them in midfield, I just don't like the mix. Something needs to change there. Disagree on Steyn. I've always thought that he was a bit military medium - good at lots of things but lacking an outstanding attribute to make him a nailed on international. Thought that yesterday showed that he lacks the burst to play international wing regularly and he's a squad utility option at best that you hope you don't have to start. If anything he should be looked at as a centre that can cover wing.

We did at least seem to adjust after giving away multiple ruck penalties early on, which is good. But that's been three of the four games now where we've seemingly started out on the wrong side of the ref and had to adjust. Is there something about preparing for the red of that game in advance?

[Big D]

Some of it was good, some muddled (why is Price letting Schoeman pick and go in our 22 off turnover ball?) and some poor (individuals tackling for example).

My concern is the lack of consistent and good attacking patterns that are producing chances. 3 of 5 tries today were well taken but aren't chances that better defences will give us from loose kicks/quick throw in and poor defensive chases. The 4th ( I think) gave a glimpse of what they are trying to do but aren't doing it anywhere near consistently enough.

Also two 7s didn't work.

[Cameo]

On Steyn, I was a bit disappointed with him yesterday, especially in defence, but he also did some good things (especially the kick for Harris' first try).

He is on the slow side for an international wing and I agree that he is best at 13, but I think he's not a bad back up.

I suppose Kinghorn might get a start Vs Ireland. I saw a suggestion his ommision was booster related.

[Big D]

On Steyn, I was a bit disappointed with him yesterday, especially in defence, but he also did some good things (especially the kick for Harris' first try).

He is on the slow side for an international wing and I agree that he is best at 13, but I think he's not a bad back up.

I suppose Kinghorn might get a start Vs Ireland. I saw a suggestion his ommision was booster related.

Kinghorn or Rowe. Steyns kick for Harris was nice, but missing that many (5) tackles is really bad at international level and if Saturday was representative of his true pace even at 13 he will find it hard. He will rightfully get other chances but it shouldn't be v Ireland.

[Mikey Brown]

I can't say I noticed Steyn's defensive frailty, I don't know if they were glaring misses or those technical failures that only show up on stats post-game. He always looks like a centre to me too though. He always seems assured with the ball in his hands and makes good decisions. A good allrounder, but feels (a bit like Johnson) like another glue player. Not necessarily a bad thing in a back 3 alongside Hogg and Graham (like Maitland before him) but in a backline that already has two very one-paced centres it's not ideal.

I'd have loved to have looked at him at 13 if we're completely uninterested in Bennet.

Rowe against Ireland surely cannot be a serious option?

[Big D]

I can't say I noticed Steyn's defensive frailty, I don't know if they were glaring misses or those technical failures that only show up on stats post-game. He always looks like a centre to me too though. He always seems assured with the ball in his hands and makes good decisions. A good allrounder, but feels (a bit like Johnson) like another glue player. Not necessarily a bad thing in a back 3 alongside Hogg and Graham (like Maitland before him) but in a backline that already has two very one-paced centres it's not ideal.

I'd have loved to have looked at him at 13 if we're completely uninterested in Bennet.

Rowe against Ireland surely cannot be a serious option?

Maitland was a lot more than a "glue" player to be fair.

It will and should likely be Kinghorn but I don't see why Rowe couldn't start v Ireland. Its no less a risk than Steyn who has two starts v Tonga and Italy.

[Big D]

Some stats from https://mobile.twitter.com/RosscoHamilton.

Some good things and some worrying things in there. Notably gainline success and collision dominance considering who is next and a bit of a bogey team.