6N squad - starting team

[morepork]

Fuck me that Scottish winger takes some putting down. Graham is it?

[Donny osmond]

Fuck me that Scottish winger takes some putting down. Graham is it?

Darcy Graham. Electric pace and step.

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[Adder]

Second half will be rough but Scotland doing better than expected.


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[switchskier]

Some positives from that half but undone by our indiscipline again. We're out own worst enemies in do many ways.

Graham fun to watch again. and I like the matchup against Lowe.

[Donny osmond]

Another golden chance goes begging. How the shitting fuck did we not score that?

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[Mr Mwenda]

Hogg butchered that. How many 2 v 1s does he run in training every week...

[morepork]

Hogg has an issue straightening and drawing and passing?

[Donny osmond]

Why am I even watching this shit? 10 penalties against us already.

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[switchskier]

Hogg has an issue straightening and drawing and passing?

I've always defended Hogg but that was inexcusable. Think he's so used to having to do it all himself that he feels he has to try that stuff sometimes.

Would like to see Russell on in the centres at this point

[morepork]

Hogg has an issue straightening and drawing and passing?

I've always defended Hogg but that was inexcusable. Think he's so used to having to do it all himself that he feels he has to try that stuff sometimes.

Would like to see Russell on in the centres at this point

He's done it twice now.

[General Zod]

Utter shite.

[Mr Mwenda]

Hogg should look at the Italy fullback's execution of a 2 v 1

[Which Tyler]

Hogg should look at the Italy fullback's execution of a 2 v 1

So could Ioane on the left wing.

TBF, so could a hell of a lot of players of all nations

[Big D]

I have very little positive to say, I am sure there are some just feel a bit "meh" about it all. Kinghorn wasn't a major problem which is better than I thought would happen. Schoeman played well.

Hogg ruined a decent day with inexcusable errors.

Steyn isn't an international winger.

Two 7s doesn't work v Ireland either.

[Mr Mwenda]

Hogg should look at the Italy fullback's execution of a 2 v 1

So could Ioane on the left wing.

TBF, so could a hell of a lot of players of all nations

Never ceases to vex me. However ioane was on the winning side.

[Donny osmond]

I have very little positive to say, I am sure there are some just feel a bit "meh" about it all. Kinghorn wasn't a major problem which is better thank I thought would happen. Schoeman played well.

Hogg ruined a decent day with inexcusable errors.

Steyn isn't an international winger.

Two 7s doesn't work v Ireland either.

[emoji817]

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[Cameo]

Funny feeling to that game.

In some ways went better than I thought. Kinghorn wasn't terrible and would be more comfortable with him as backup ten from the bench now, I actually thought the two sevens disrupted a lot of ball and stopped Ireland's momentum a bit, and we looked fairly dangerous (was looking out for it after the stats I posted last week, but we really do beat a lot of tacklers).

In others it went worse, the scoreline is one - it just seemed inevitable that Ireland would gradually pull away. They are just a better team than us.

Frankly, I'd say this year's tournament has had three pretty clear tiers but we screwed it up by losing to Wales!

[whatisthejava]

Our biggest issue is trying to clear the ruck with one man and has been for at least 3 seasons.

Look at the way Ireland clear, 2 men almost like a pincer and they continually get sub 3 second ruck ball. I cannot believe this is soo key to our game plan that we can’t change it but cost us badly against wales, iReland and France.

If the arriving player doesn’t mange to clear we concede a turnover or penalty and all momentum is gone.

We really can’t afford any more of this as that team is getting stymed by this stupidity

[septic 9]

Our biggest issue is trying to clear the ruck with one man and has been for at least 3 seasons.

Look at the way Ireland clear, 2 men almost like a pincer and they continually get sub 3 second ruck ball. I cannot believe this is soo key to our game plan that we can’t change it but cost us badly against wales, iReland and France.

If the arriving player doesn’t mange to clear we concede a turnover or penalty and all momentum is gone.

We really can’t afford any more of this as that team is getting stymed by this stupidity

there is certainly a bit of that. There are other factors like players being too slow to get to the ruck, or too slow to react when they see a counter ruck is on - or perhaps more accurately don't see a counter ruck is on (we don't always lose the ball in a counter ruck, but we get really slow rubbish ball)

The other big difference with Ireland is the pace a ball carrier runs on to short passes, putting the D on the back foot so easy to rinse and repeat as often as it takes before either crashing over or draw the defence before going wider.

We tend to have the runner starting from a virtual standstill, or sprinting and knocking on.

One other comment on this bit. One pen all game for pre-latching. Against Scotland. Despite repeated plays by Ireland doing the same

[septic 9]

Funny feeling to that game.

In some ways went better than I thought. Kinghorn wasn't terrible and would be more comfortable with him as backup ten from the bench now, I actually thought the two sevens disrupted a lot of ball and stopped Ireland's momentum a bit, and we looked fairly dangerous (was looking out for it after the stats I posted last week, but we really do beat a lot of tacklers).

In others it went worse, the scoreline is one - it just seemed inevitable that Ireland would gradually pull away. They are just a better team than us.

would agree with that really.
I'm maybe a bit more positive. I thought we put in a decent performance. Errors, yes too many by us. Ireland made loads as well.

A few things cost us rather than being simply ground down by a very good Irish team.
Watch Gibson-Parks first break around the side of a ruck. we were well set up to defend. Gray was standing as a ruck guard, not part of ruck and was taken out by an Irish player, JGP of course went through the gap left. Planned foul play, changed momentum at that point in time.
Second Hogg's butchering of a try with 3 scots inside him. Game changer. We score and its game on, we are right back in the mix, momentum shift.
And third, the scrum pen decisions. Took Barnes 3 or 4 scrums to work out that the Irish replacement loose head was driving in, we then got 2 or 3 pens against him, having wrongly conceded 2 or 3. Now had all of those gone the correct way, the overall pen count looks very different, in our favour, the pressure and field position is totally different this so is who is under pressure.

Any one of those 3 issues going for us, and its every possibility of a closer game, maybe even a chance of sneaking it.

I'm rarely this positive, and concede there are several issues needing sorted, mainly not new ones and overdue. And of course a very good |Irish team might have reacted better from being under the cosh a bit more. Who knows.

I do suspect to was a performance, maybe even result that was better that many, probably most, expected; if we can see through the emotion and pre conceived biases

[stevedog1980]

Septic, totally agree about Irelands ruck play. For years it has been a bone on contention for me how many obvious offences they commit and get away with. It used to be primarily support players overrunning the ruck and stopping the opposition from competing.

I think the performance was much better than expected, Kinghorn went reasonably well at 10, certainly much better than I anticipated and the chaos of the opening 20 minutes suited us. Unfortunately, we weren't able to put points on the board and capitalise on that. Hogg totally butchered that 2 on 1, there were so many ways we could have scored from that position but somehow we conspire to find a way to miss out on a certain try.

To add to the comment about our rucking, we have some pretty shambolic support at times. Zander Fagerson is particularly guilty of having no clue what's going on around him. He'll try to make a break from 40m out with no support at least once a game and I don't understand it. Another facet to this is ball presentation, if you're a prop you don't expect to be running it in from half way so your primary focus is on ball retention. If there's a pass on, give it. If there's not a pass on, make sure you secure the ball in two hands and when you hit contact make sure you're in a position to present the ball well. Quick ball comes from a mix of good support and good presentation, too often we are playing with neither.

[septic 9]

To add to the comment about our rucking, we have some pretty shambolic support at times. Zander Fagerson is particularly guilty of having no clue what's going on around him. He'll try to make a break from 40m out with no support at least once a game and I don't understand it. Another facet to this is ball presentation, if you're a prop you don't expect to be running it in from half way so your primary focus is on ball retention. If there's a pass on, give it. If there's not a pass on, make sure you secure the ball in two hands and when you hit contact make sure you're in a position to present the ball well. Quick ball comes from a mix of good support and good presentation, too often we are playing with neither.

yes and no.

Fagerson and Turner are the only tight 5 forwards who really can accelerate into contact with any pace. We use Fagerson like many sides use a loose head, and to compensate for lack of locks who can do the same. Our problem is as much no support as anything

[I R Geech]

Fuck me that Scottish winger takes some putting down. Graham is it?

That smaller, faster, skilful players have shone is the highlight this year for me.

(Welsh players consistently going in with their knees on a prone try scorer being at the other end of the scale)

[Mikey Brown]

Couldn’t be bothered to start a new thread.

Zander Fagerson a doubt for 6 nations. He really might be our most important player. The options behind him just aren’t (yet) strong enough.

So, invest some time in Walker, Rae or McCallam? Give Kebble another go? Nel will probably be in the squad but can’t reasonably be expected to play more than 30, surely?

Is Berghan still going? Feel like I haven’t seen him for Glasgow at all.

[septic 9]

Couldn’t be bothered to start a new thread.

Zander Fagerson a doubt for 6 nations. He really might be our most important player. The options behind him just aren’t (yet) strong enough.

So, invest some time in Walker, Rae or McCallam? Give Kebble another go? Nel will probably be in the squad but can’t reasonably be expected to play more than 30, surely?

Is Berghan still going? Feel like I haven’t seen him for Glasgow at all.

McCallum is unemployed
Bergan started against Bath last week, went OK.
Rae is starting a lot for Bath (only because Stuart with Eng or injured). Don't think Bath fans are totally convinced
Nel is not the force he was, and can't play 80mins (as he might have to). Don't think he even has the reputation these days with refs. I hoped he could make the RWC but its time to move on and play others
Kebble is not a TH, I hope that experiment has been shelved

We need to invest in Walker (who is looking like a very decent back up to Fagerson), and Edinburgh need to re-sign McCallum - they desperately need a TH anyway