6N squad - starting team

[Mikey Brown]

His tackling technique is insane, but I see why they like it from a physicality POV.

What’s the verdict on Crosbie? Felt like he was doing a lot of the tough stuff and forward performance was good overall but I didn’t find myself noticing him a huge amount. I like the balance with a more explosive 8 on the bench, but not sure where that leaves Watson.

Planning a rewatch without the anxiety though.

Also should mention Nel for battling on at this level. No idea what he was doing trying to make a sneaky break down the blindside off that lineout, but solid showing otherwise.

[BaldiePete]

If England hadn’t played fast and loose with the disciplinary system to ensure Farrell could play yesterday they would have been forced into playing a decent inside centre and they might have won the game yesterday.

[Big D]

His tackling technique is insane, but I see why they like it from a physicality POV.

What’s the verdict on Crosbie? Felt like he was doing a lot of the tough stuff and forward performance was good overall but I didn’t find myself noticing him a huge amount. I like the balance with a more explosive 8 on the bench, but not sure where that leaves Watson.

Planning a rewatch without the anxiety though.

Also should mention Nel for battling on at this level. No idea what he was doing trying to make a sneaky break down the blindside off that lineout, but solid showing otherwise.

That line out was a broken play due to good work by the English player taking out the lifter after the jumper hit the deck iirc.

I don't think either sides back rows particularly stood out but looked like we deliberately weren't competing at the breakdown. He was pretty good in defence, as were the pack to he fair. The backs missed a few.

[Big D]

It was good not seeing anyone really get carried away yesterday. Good BP win but plenty to work on especially as we can't rely on Duhan doing that every week.

We have to beat Wales next week. Have to.

[Mikey Brown]

Yep. Both backing up a good performance with another, and the bonus of beating a Gatland Wales side (only beating that Howley side, much like crowdless Twickenham “doesn’t count”) would be very pleasing.

Really liked the tone from Ritchie in the post match. No point getting carried away. Enjoy the win for an evening but it means nothing if we get to the end of the tournament without backing it up.

Any obvious changes to consider? The idea of dropping Hogg feels weird, but will he be 100% Kinghorn looked good.

Sutherland, Fagerson, Skinner, Watson, Price, Redpath should all be around the conversation but I’d be fairly happy with the same 23 again I think?

[Big D]

I'd keep Hogg in for the Wales game. He has decent especially considering he'd been out for a while. Except of course the pass to Steyn that I still think Steyn could've done better with but Hogg rightfully takes multiple of the blame.

Fagerson, Skinner and Redpath would all come onto the bench for me ahead of Berghan, Gray and Harris.

[Mikey Brown]

I'd keep Hogg in for the Wales game. He has decent especially considering he'd been out for a while. Except of course the pass to Steyn that I still think Steyn could've done better with but Hogg rightfully takes multiple of the blame.

Fagerson, Skinner and Redpath would all come onto the bench for me ahead of Berghan, Gray and Harris.

I blame Steyn for that to be honest, they showed the slow motion replay and you could see him sprinting flat alongside Hogg when he just needed to ease off and give him a touch more room to pass without the risk of it going forwards.

Not that the ref seemed to care a lot about forward passes yesterday.

Only about to rewatch now but I wonder if Huwipo really did enough to remove the security blanket of Harris. Redpath just gives such a different range of attacking options off the bench with either centre able to shift to 13.

[Big D]

I'd keep Hogg in for the Wales game. He has decent especially considering he'd been out for a while. Except of course the pass to Steyn that I still think Steyn could've done better with but Hogg rightfully takes multiple of the blame.

Fagerson, Skinner and Redpath would all come onto the bench for me ahead of Berghan, Gray and Harris.

I blame Steyn for that to be honest, they showed the slow motion replay and you could see him sprinting flat alongside Hogg when he just needed to ease off and give him a touch more room to pass without the risk of it going forwards.

Not that the ref seemed to care a lot about forward passes yesterday.

Only about to rewatch now but I wonder if Huwipo really did enough to remove the security blanket of Harris. Redpath just gives such a different range of attacking options off the bench with either centre able to shift to 13.

Tuipolotu missed a few but the defensive scheme was more an issue at times rather than the players IMO.

Ref was poor. Staying on feet at rucks was optional, missed forward passes and he gave one of the worst scrum pens you'll see. The anguish prop was at 90 degrees. I suspect there was a bit of Ref scouting given we didn't compete at the ruck at all until near the end.

[Cameo]

I'd keep it the same but there are a few I can see arguments for changing.

Schoemann - not his most visible game but scrum went okay and no doubt played his part in defence
Turner - made a big impact
Nel - would be tempted to start Fagerson but maybe have him coming off the bench. Think Nel was helped fitness wise by England's kicking tactics.
Gilchrist - still don't massively rate him (just too many glaring errors) but sounds like he is important
R Gray - loving his renaissance
Ritchie
Crosbie - tempted to bring in Watson (I've not seen as much of Edinburgh this year as some of you) but let's give him another chance as he was by no means bad - just a little quiet
Fagerson - he's a star
White - happy for Townsend to pick on form here as Price is the best player if firing, but White did well.
Russel - not actually his best game (kicking wise at least) but he opens so many options in attack with his passing and reading of space.
Steyn - Graham when fully fit but Steyn was very good apart from dropping that pass (was a bit behind him but he was very flat so had to expect that)
Tuipolotu - him and Jones looked so much more dangerous in attack. The try was obvs the highlight, but it was so good to see them both hitting the ball at pace.
Jones - ditto. Also, I think his defence was good. England made some ground in the middle but didn't slice through us.
VDM - he's not bad is he.
Hogg - not at his very best (also sliced a couple of kicks) but I thought he was decent. His turnover before the first try was very important too. Kinghorn made an impact but that is part of why he's great on the bench - he offers something different.

Bench similar apart from Fagerson coming in and, ideally, Redpath for Harris. I'd also put Watson there for Dempsey. I know that leaves us 7 heavy but Watson has been a good impact player off the bench before and I'm not convinced by Demsey. Skinner for Gray maybe gives us more heavyweight backrow cover too.

[Big D]

I still worry about our back row against the more physical teams (esp Ireland) but they did their job yesterday, Crosbie and Fagerson were really visible in defence.

Russell and Steyn need to be better in defence, not sure of exact tackle counts but they missed plenty yesterday. It was like upside down day with the usually solid backs in defence being a little off.

[paddy no 11]

Hard to underestimate the impact of not having cummings and fagerson there to give away soft penalties

[Mikey Brown]

Speaking of dumb penalties Grant Gilchrist deserves a shout. I’ve always rated what he can do but seemed to constantly undermine his talent with pointless pens or getting caught on the wrong side too easily. He seems to have had big games in basically all our good wins recently and got his discipline in check. I really hope that can continue.

[sharvey44]

Only 9 penalties conceded on Saturday. That's got to be one of our best over the last few years. I'm glad Gilco hasn't continued his journey to being the New Jim Hamilton.

[Big D]

Of all available options GG and Gray make a nice complementary pairing.

[Cameo]

Gilchrist did still have his brainfart at lineout time. Agree, let's keep them together for now though.

I missed the Wales game, anything to watch out for?

[Big D]

Gilchrist did still have his brainfart at lineout time. Agree, let's keep them together for now though.

I missed the Wales game, anything to watch out for?

Nah, plus they have a Welsh ref for the weekend. I hadn't realised this before but why is Andrew Brace getting to referee a Wales match? I get that he is working for the IRFU but there are enough refs out there for this not to happen given he's Welsh.

[kk67]

So glad to see Richie Gray back in form. Tiny little pass for the winning try. Jim Hamilton pre match talking about Gregor bringing him back for the the hands out wide and sure enough.....

[kk67]

Just a tiny little pass......in the 79nth minute

[Cameo]

AWJ now fit apparently after Gatland previously ruled him out.

I am not sure that is a bad thing for us.

[Mikey Brown]

Wales: 15. Leigh Halfpenny, 14. Josh Adams, 13. George North, 12. Joe Hawkins, 11. Rio Dyer, 10. Dan Biggar, 9. Tomos Williams, 1. Wyn Jones, 2. Ken Owens, 3. Dillon Lewis, 4. Dafydd Jenkins, 5. Adam Beard, 6. Christ Tshiunza, 7. Tommy Reffell, 8. Jac Morgan.

[Mikey Brown]

Well apparently it’s Williams at 15 not Halfpenny.

Same Scotland team except Fagerson starts with Nel on the bench. As expected I guess.

[sharvey44]

Well apparently it’s Williams at 15 not Halfpenny.

Same Scotland team except Fagerson starts with Nel on the bench. As expected I guess.

What?? No Toony Tombola? Does he not realise that this messageboard thrives on his team selection conundrums?

[Cameo]

Lot of new faces in that Wales team. That will probably mean they come out firing with some of the energy they've lacked recently, but I also like to think they'll be a little less resilient so if we get a lead they might not do their usual and find a way to come back that leaves us all scratching our heads.

[switchskier]

Garland showing us no respect again. To be fair we havent ever given him a reason to do so. Hope we can finally change that, but his style seems tailor made to cause us problems.

[BaldiePete]

We need to get over our Welsh hoodoo and 2nd game losses. They’ve deservedly beaten us a few times but we should have won the last two matches against them and somehow contrived to lose. We have the team to win this but I’m always nervous when we play Wales and are expected to win. It would help if Fagerson (Z) could keep up the good discipline we saw from the team last week.