paddy no 11 wrote:He had a kick out on the full, intercept, grubber kick that went to a try down the other end
He wasn't exactly a calming influence on the hare em scare em racing back line when it was needed, imhoff showed the way really
the grubber could have gone anywhere off an Exeter knee. One of then things. Russell was stretching Exeter all over the park, it wasn't harem scarem - you may not have noticed but no-one beats Exeter by being as boring as they can be. Imhoff made a howler as well IIRC.
As to dropping him for that display ................... did he sneak off behind the bike sheds with your beloved last time he was in Ireland?
No I think that was your national coach
The excuses never stop coming for Russell, truth is he hasn't earned that sort of loyalty from Scottish supporters yet
paddy no 11 wrote:He had a kick out on the full, intercept, grubber kick that went to a try down the other end
He wasn't exactly a calming influence on the hare em scare em racing back line when it was needed, imhoff showed the way really
the grubber could have gone anywhere off an Exeter knee. One of then things. Russell was stretching Exeter all over the park, it wasn't harem scarem - you may not have noticed but no-one beats Exeter by being as boring as they can be. Imhoff made a howler as well IIRC.
As to dropping him for that display ................... did he sneak off behind the bike sheds with your beloved last time he was in Ireland?
No I think that was your national coach
The excuses never stop coming for Russell, truth is he hasn't earned that sort of loyalty from Scottish supporters yet
Not sure I agree with that last line. We have all in time been critical of Finn. Although to be fair, we have rarely lost games at international level solely because of him. He also wasn't the sole reason R92 lost on Saturday, the kicker kicks any of the conversions, SHC gets pinged for entering from the side or indeed the flanker doesn't get white line fever and they probably score in that phase. But they didn't, shit happens and Finn must carry some of the blame but it was hardly as bad as you are trying to make out.
He had his up and down moments on Saturday and it wasn't close to one of his best games by any stretch, but he did do good things amongst the bad.
Hastings will probably get the start v Georgia but Finn is a better player and should start the other games.
septic 9 wrote:
the grubber could have gone anywhere off an Exeter knee. One of then things. Russell was stretching Exeter all over the park, it wasn't harem scarem - you may not have noticed but no-one beats Exeter by being as boring as they can be. Imhoff made a howler as well IIRC.
As to dropping him for that display ................... did he sneak off behind the bike sheds with your beloved last time he was in Ireland?
No I think that was your national coach
The excuses never stop coming for Russell, truth is he hasn't earned that sort of loyalty from Scottish supporters yet
Not sure I agree with that last line. We have all in time been critical of Finn. Although to be fair, we have rarely lost games at international level solely because of him. He also wasn't the sole reason R92 lost on Saturday, the kicker kicks any of the conversions, SHC gets pinged for entering from the side or indeed the flanker doesn't get white line fever and they probably score in that phase. But they didn't, shit happens and Finn must carry some of the blame but it was hardly as bad as you are trying to make out.
He had his up and down moments on Saturday and it wasn't close to one of his best games by any stretch, but he did do good things amongst the bad.
Hastings will probably get the start v Georgia but Finn is a better player and should start the other games.
I agree with that, what i'd like to see is the penny drop with him that playing 80/20 risk versus 50/50 will yield better results until then....
septic 9 wrote:
the grubber could have gone anywhere off an Exeter knee. One of then things. Russell was stretching Exeter all over the park, it wasn't harem scarem - you may not have noticed but no-one beats Exeter by being as boring as they can be. Imhoff made a howler as well IIRC.
As to dropping him for that display ................... did he sneak off behind the bike sheds with your beloved last time he was in Ireland?
No I think that was your national coach
The excuses never stop coming for Russell, truth is he hasn't earned that sort of loyalty from Scottish supporters yet
Not sure I agree with that last line. We have all in time been critical of Finn. Although to be fair, we have rarely lost games at international level solely because of him. He also wasn't the sole reason R92 lost on Saturday, the kicker kicks any of the conversions, SHC gets pinged for entering from the side or indeed the flanker doesn't get white line fever and they probably score in that phase. But they didn't, shit happens and Finn must carry some of the blame but it was hardly as bad as you are trying to make out.
He had his up and down moments on Saturday and it wasn't close to one of his best games by any stretch, but he did do good things amongst the bad.
Hastings will probably get the start v Georgia but Finn is a better player and should start the other games.
Id also add that I don't think that Russell is getting credit for tweaking Racing's approach in game when they got down early and it wasn't working.
paddy no 11 wrote:
No I think that was your national coach
The excuses never stop coming for Russell, truth is he hasn't earned that sort of loyalty from Scottish supporters yet
Not sure I agree with that last line. We have all in time been critical of Finn. Although to be fair, we have rarely lost games at international level solely because of him. He also wasn't the sole reason R92 lost on Saturday, the kicker kicks any of the conversions, SHC gets pinged for entering from the side or indeed the flanker doesn't get white line fever and they probably score in that phase. But they didn't, shit happens and Finn must carry some of the blame but it was hardly as bad as you are trying to make out.
He had his up and down moments on Saturday and it wasn't close to one of his best games by any stretch, but he did do good things amongst the bad.
Hastings will probably get the start v Georgia but Finn is a better player and should start the other games.
I agree with that, what i'd like to see is the penny drop with him that playing 80/20 risk versus 50/50 will yield better results until then....
Yep, in situations like where he threw the intercept it’s hard to know who is making that call at the time, or if they are just sticking to their general plan.
There was space to be exploited, but Russell should have known the move was off when Machenaud’s pass went up over his head and he had to check his run.
Mikey Brown wrote:
Yep, in situations like where he threw the intercept it’s hard to know who is making that call at the time, or if they are just sticking to their general plan.
.
Vakatawa, Zebo and Imhoff all wider than the last Exeter defender - Exeter defending too narrow and drawn to Russell like bees to a honey pot. Vakatawa screaming for the ball.
This was like the chip over to win the semi final. That is it was planned after analysing the opponents defence, but wait and only go for it when its on. It was clearly on. The execution was not good enough and cost them dearly, but it was nothing to do with maverick decisions. Make that pass and its 3 players with little between them and the Exeter goal line
Big D wrote:FWIW someone posted all Finns attacking and defensive plays on a YT video.
His defence is underrated too.
its absolutely top notch, and unlike 2 possibly 3 of his main rivals for the best 10 in europe slot, he does it with legal tackles and not trying to take anyone's head off
Big D wrote:FWIW someone posted all Finns attacking and defensive plays on a YT video.
His defence is underrated too.
Here you go. Doesn't look too bad on this basis. If one of those chips had gone to hand or that pass had been two inches higher he's the man who won the match.
I get that he is a risk taker compared to many fly half's but the idea that he doesn't calculate the risks at all and just plays brainlessly is nonsense. If you take 80/20 risks you are going to have games where only 50% of them come off. It sounds like in this game he made some mistakes that Racing paid for and also make some plays that they massively gained from. I'm sure he'd have got much less criticism if he had just done nothing. It's not like the safety first fly half's never get intercepted.
Fair enough that not everyone rates him equally highly but he has been this idea that he is just a talented flake that needs to learn how to use his brain is guff.
Happy for Hastings to start the Georgia game and I rate him but Russell is clearly our best 10 (and I'd say best in my lifetime).
Cameo wrote:I get that he is a risk taker compared to many fly half's but the idea that he doesn't calculate the risks at all and just plays brainlessly is nonsense. If you take 80/20 risks you are going to have games where only 50% of them come off. It sounds like in this game he made some mistakes that Racing paid for and also make some plays that they massively gained from. I'm sure he'd have got much less criticism if he had just done nothing. It's not like the safety first fly half's never get intercepted.
Fair enough that not everyone rates him equally highly but he has been this idea that he is just a talented flake that needs to learn how to use his brain is guff.
Happy for Hastings to start the Georgia game and I rate him but Russell is clearly our best 10 (and I'd say best in my lifetime).
well said.
he is the best Scottish 10 since John Rutherford. No-one else comes close to the two of them. Townsend himself was a great player, good enough to be the starting 10 in a winning Lions team in SA, but never had the control/kicking game of these two (and TBF except for a season or two players alongside him just not good enough to take advantage, and he was mucked about from pillar to post by Scotland coaches, including McGeechan)
That I put him in the same category as Rutherford is the highest praise, And deserved
Big D wrote:FWIW someone posted all Finns attacking and defensive plays on a YT video.
His defence is underrated too.
Here you go. Doesn't look too bad on this basis. If one of those chips had gone to hand or that pass had been two inches higher he's the man who won the match.
The 2 grubber kicks went the lenght of the field and were tries and the intercept, roll on the internationals and hopefully for scotland it clicks
Seems like there are many different versions of events floating around, to be honest.
This is him supposedly in a group with Robshaw, who seems like the last person to intentionally break the rules and throw away his already meagre sendoff from English/European rugby.
Mikey Brown wrote:Seems like there are many different versions of events floating around, to be honest.
This is him supposedly in a group with Robshaw, who seems like the last person to intentionally break the rules and throw away his already meagre sendoff from English/European rugby.
12 players broke the covid bubble, that is not in doubt. For Maitland its a second offence
Mikey Brown wrote:Seems like there are many different versions of events floating around, to be honest.
This is him supposedly in a group with Robshaw, who seems like the last person to intentionally break the rules and throw away his already meagre sendoff from English/European rugby.
12 players broke the covid bubble, that is not in doubt. For Maitland its a second offence
