Scotland v Ireland Tactics

[Cameo]

After that great performance, I should be nice and confident for two weeks time but I'm not because:

1. Ireland are much better at the breakdown than England and dont let their players get as isolated

2. Lots of refs don't let as much competition at the rucks as Owens did.

I'm not sure what that means really but if we are to develop in these big away games we need a plan if things start going wrong at the breakdown.

The wide game is still key as that is where Ireland can be got at but we possible need to cut down on the chips against them as they dont give the ball back easily (I know theyl now scor off three of them). If we are struggling for a while we will hopefully have learnt from the France game that we can play keep ball for a while. I also liked how we mixed up the maul defence v England.

Any other thoughts?

[Adder]

Réf is Wayne Barnes.

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[hugh_woatmeigh]

Fix the f*cking lineout. Ryan and Toner will steal half our ball minimum if it operates anything like it did on the weekend.

I think Ireland will have watched our passing and concluded there are intercepts to be won. Having said that England were found to be guilty of watching the ball and not the man when a few loopy passes were fired out. It worked out for us in the end but Ireland will certainly target that.

[Donny osmond]

If Ireland keep defending narrow Russell has a good enough passing game to punish them, esp in concert with Horne. Ireland have coughed up some soft tries so far, so will be looking to tighten up their defence. Getting the ball off their back row could be a problem tho, Irelands whole squad are excellent at winning possession so the quality of Russells passing game could be a moot point. Stay away from the set piece, Ireland will be a level above what England were.

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[bruce]

Fix the f*cking lineout. Ryan and Toner will steal half our ball minimum if it operates anything like it did on the weekend.

I think Ireland will have watched our passing and concluded there are intercepts to be won. Having said that England were found to be guilty of watching the ball and not the man when a few loopy passes were fired out. It worked out for us in the end but Ireland will certainly target that.

Ireland's lineout was pretty sloppy against Wales, should be an area where you can attack.

[af73]

Fix the f*cking lineout. Ryan and Toner will steal half our ball minimum if it operates anything like it did on the weekend.

I think Ireland will have watched our passing and concluded there are intercepts to be won. Having said that England were found to be guilty of watching the ball and not the man when a few loopy passes were fired out. It worked out for us in the end but Ireland will certainly target that.

Ball watching could be our problem as well as Ireland's multi-vector attack can pull defenders out of position.
Their other 'cute' tactic is sending parallel runners with the ball carrier. Not in front and blocking (well, not all the time ) but alongside just enough to hinder a tackler making a decent stop.

Their breakdown will be like a game of twister; hardly any binding but plenty of hands on the floor, bumping, flopping and "oops, fell over on the wrong side there, sorry"

[General Zod]

No interceptions!

Also, would like to see an air horn brought in for the kicks.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Fix the f*cking lineout. Ryan and Toner will steal half our ball minimum if it operates anything like it did on the weekend.

I think Ireland will have watched our passing and concluded there are intercepts to be won. Having said that England were found to be guilty of watching the ball and not the man when a few loopy passes were fired out. It worked out for us in the end but Ireland will certainly target that.

Ireland's lineout was pretty sloppy against Wales, should be an area where you can attack.

Aye but Toner is like 7 foot tall and Ryan isn't far off... The amount of darts that McInally over-threw was staggering. Toner will just pluck them out of the air.

Our lineout was abyssmal against England and I don't think it can be ignored.

[Tobylerone]

Hmm.. Common theme here re. interceptions.
No doubt the cheatin` Irish will be working hard on those, though they seem to have taken their forward passing game to the point of perfection.

[whatisthejava]

Lineout - Greg, what options do we have, we have one fit hooker and a guy my age on the bench

I think we lost 2 lineouts on Sat, mcInally just needs talked through the game and to make sure it all works

[Big D]

Lineout - Greg, what options do we have, we have one fit hooker and a guy my age on the bench

I think we lost 2 lineouts on Sat, mcInally just needs talked through the game and to make sure it all works

I agree java.

Every now and then line out units have bad days (clearly as a second row it's never our fault). It happens.

Rambo has been great since he came in and his darts have been mostly good.

I would be expecting Dan Mac to be looking at ways to get a free man up. I'd even consider throwing Watson up at the front as they'll mark the other guys.

[Stones of granite]

Given that there's a fair chance that Wilson will be banned for the remainder of the tournament, what options do we have to replace him? Denton starting at 8? Who goes on the bench? Harley?

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Lineout - Greg, what options do we have, we have one fit hooker and a guy my age on the bench

I think we lost 2 lineouts on Sat, mcInally just needs talked through the game and to make sure it all works

I wasn't suggesting we drop anyone? Just practice, practice, practice. We should not be losing any lineout ball.

[Big D]

Who goes on the bench? Harley?

Fuck no. He's done nothing at international level bar the odd ok performance.

My preference would be Strauss. And if not then one of the promising young lads.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Given that there's a fair chance that Wilson will be banned for the remainder of the tournament, what options do we have to replace him? Denton starting at 8? Who goes on the bench? Harley?

I was thinking the other day and obviously Toony has no crystal ball so no issues with the selection... but we got stuck into England for much of the first half and some early stages of the second half. Spent most of the last 20 minutes defending.

In hindsight it would have made more sense to have Denton on for a 50 min stretch with Wilson off the bench to make the tackles, disrupt the ball and generally be a niggly bugger.

It will be a farce if Wilson is banned. Farrell was not cited for much worse against Wales. I hope he's available & the same team plays.

I'd say TH is going to be a tough decision. Zander will surely have another game under his belt this weekend.

[Stones of granite]

It will be a farce if Wilson is banned. Farrell was not cited for much worse against Wales. I hope he's available & the same team plays.

.

Well, I don't disagree, but as it's in the hands of the disciplinary committee now, so the decision could go either way. I didn't really want to kick off a discussion about the citing itself, more what Toony's options are if the outcome isn't what we want.

[Mikey Brown]

If he’s banned then yeah 8. Denton 20. Strauss.

Defend better and counter-attack. Horne has been really good (bar that botched overlap, that would have been the BP right? Fuck) but him with Aki/Farrell running at him worries me both in terms of yards/line-breaks and letting Sexton get around the back. We need to fucking smash that 10/12 area.

What’s the feeling on Toolis v Gilchrist in the lineout? Was it just a bad day or did that play a part? I feel like it’s been pretty good whilst Toolis has been involved but Gilchrist has added a bit more elsewhere.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

It will be a farce if Wilson is banned. Farrell was not cited for much worse against Wales. I hope he's available & the same team plays.

.

Well, I don't disagree, but as it's in the hands of the disciplinary committee now, so the decision could go either way. I didn't really want to kick off a discussion about the citing itself, more what Toony's options are if the outcome isn't what we want.

Denton and then maybe Hamilton on the bench.

[General Zod]

What’s the feeling on Toolis v Gilchrist in the lineout? Was it just a bad day or did that play a part? I feel like it’s been pretty good whilst Toolis has been involved but Gilchrist has added a bit more elsewhere.

I don’t think our offensive line-out has gone as well as it could in any of the matches so far. Certainly not as well as it did in November. I’m not sure of exactly why - they just don’t seem to be “set” sometimes. Perhaps going too fast to communicate efficiently?

[switchskier]

We're not going to get 11 turnovers against Ireland so we need to be patient and a bit more conservative in defence. String the defensive line out and they do struggle to break teams down I think.

It's not going to be a popular opinion but I think that we have to be ambitious off turnover ball, no matter where we get it. It's possible to get around that defence and we have some pretty decent options out wide.

If Seymour doesn't make it does Kinghorn step in?

[Mikey Brown]

That's an interesting one. He literally has 1 game on the wing for Edinburgh doesn't he? It would be quite interesting to see us throw Ireland a real curveball though. With Russell/Jones/Hogg they have plenty to look out for already, and if we're going to really focus on counter-attacking it could be a great move to get Airhorn involved.

Seymour was at least walking at the final whistle.

My worry persists that we'll have Laidlaw dicking our forwards over with his point and lob approach to making yards around the fringes. The Irish will swallow that right up. The Lawes/Care moments in the England game should have served as a warning but yet again I'm reading that Laidlaw was fantastic.

[Cameo]

We're not going to get 11 turnovers against Ireland so we need to be patient and a bit more conservative in defence. String the defensive line out and they do struggle to break teams down I think.

It's not going to be a popular opinion but I think that we have to be ambitious off turnover ball, no matter where we get it. It's possible to get around that defence and we have some pretty decent options out wide.

If Seymour doesn't make it does Kinghorn step in?

I kinda hope so but would be nervous. A bit of height v Ireland is no bad thing

[morepork]

Fite them on the ground and counter. Maitland might have to get his boots dirty but.

[Cameo]

Fite them on the ground and counter. Maitland might have to get his boots dirty but.

Incidentally i think that was probably Maitlands best game for Scotland. Took his try well and looked quite powerful a few times

[General Zod]

Also thought Maitland played well.

If Kinghorn plays on the wing for Edinburgh, I guess he may well be looking at a start?