Scots Abroad VIII (or let's spot the new messiah)

[BaldiePete]

Saturday Games

Playing in England

Leicester
Henderson - starts against Harlequins
Hurd - not in squad
Whitcombe - bench

Bath
Russell - bench against Newcastle. They must feel they can afford to rest him.
Redpath - starts
Bayliss - bench

Newcastle
McCallum - bench against Bath
McDonald - not available
Leatherbarrow - bench
Gordon - not available

Northampton
Rory Hutchison - starts against Bristol
Elliot Millar-Mills - bench
Charlie Savala - not available

Playing in Wales

Scarlets
Hepburn - starts against Leinster
Craig - starts

Cardiff
Litterick - bench against Munster

Playing in France

Toulon
White - not in squad

Toulouse
Kinghorn - starts at 15

Bordeaux-Begles
Gray - starts

Sunday Games

Playing in England

Gloucester
Harris - starts against Exeter
Charlie Chapman - not in squad

[BaldiePete]

Arron Reed 95m try at about 1’15”.

[Mikey Brown]

Sounds as though the knee fairy has paid Kinghorn a visit.

Horrible timing for him. Gutted.

[Cameo]

Sounds as though the knee fairy has paid Kinghorn a visit.

Horrible timing for him. Gutted.

Sounds like it might be okay according to the assistant coach:

“Blair Kinghorn suffered a direct blow to the knee,” the former scrum-half said.

“We don’t know if there’s a twist or not. We’ll see what the tests do. But it didn’t seem too serious.”

[Mikey Brown]

Great news. From what I’d read it sounded 100% like he’d be out for the rest of the season. Fingers crossed.

[septic 9]

Sounds as though the knee fairy has paid Kinghorn a visit.

Horrible timing for him. Gutted.

Sounds like it might be okay according to the assistant coach:

“Blair Kinghorn suffered a direct blow to the knee,” the former scrum-half said.

“We don’t know if there’s a twist or not. We’ll see what the tests do. But it didn’t seem too serious.”

hope the coach is right, cos I didn't see a blow to the knee. Kinghorn jumped and turned as he came down to take a high ball, seemed to twist his knee on impacting the ground.
He was clearly worried at the time

[Mikey Brown]

Apparently will miss most of May but should be back for playoffs. Not sure how that leaves his Lions chances though.

[BaldiePete]

Apparently will miss most of May but should be back for playoffs. Not sure how that leaves his Lions chances though.

I might just be being paranoid but I fully expect his injury to be used as an excuse not to pick him. Similarly for Tuipolotu, Jones, VDM and quite possibly Fagerson (Z).

[Mikey Brown]

What happened to Zander?

Possibly another paranoid thought, but it never feels like it does anything good for Scottish players to go with the Lions.

Maybe I’m misremembering but Grant, Sutherland, Watson, Price, Seymour, Hogg all seemed to be pretty much done as internationals after touring. I’m trying to think of anyone beyond Laidlaw and VDM who ever looked the same afterwards. Granted, Sutherland had a load of injuries anyway.

[Which Tyler]

Finn?

[Cameo]

Finn?

He wasn't permanently harmed by the Lions but he did seem knackered the next season and it culminated in his falling out with Townsend. Dunno how much of that was a lions hangover though.

[septic 9]

What happened to Zander?

Possibly another paranoid thought, but it never feels like it does anything good for Scottish players to go with the Lions.

Maybe I’m misremembering but Grant, Sutherland, Watson, Price, Seymour, Hogg all seemed to be pretty much done as internationals after touring. I’m trying to think of anyone beyond Laidlaw and VDM who ever looked the same afterwards. Granted, Sutherland had a load of injuries anyway.

Zander IIRC picked up a knock but then did his calf in training. Seen in a moon boot, which I think was a precaution. He was wandering around behind Jake white during the Bulls game

Many players from all countries have poor seasons after touring with the Lions.
Of those you mention
Grant was a late call up, but it was the change in the engage rules that did for him. He was good at "the hit"
Sutherland - injuries were horrendous series. TBH he has never recovered to his earlier levels
Watson - unpopular view I know, but he was lucky to be picked, but form did dip and consistently so until a few weeks back when he thought he wasn't getting anew contract, then upped his game.
Seymour - disagree. Had injury issues off on on but had his best season in terms of try scoring anyway 2 years after Lions tour
Hogg - an odd one. Hogg toured 3 times First as a kid, played well for many years after that. Then toured but injured before a match was played. Again, played well after that. Last one, flashes but TBH I think he lost a yard of pace and probably that was due to his private life catching up with him

Laidlaw and Duhan. Agree, no change. TBF it would be difficult to see of Laidlaw got slower, and Duhan is still an athlete in a rugby shirt

[Mikey Brown]

Ha. I did write something similar for Laidlaw but seemed unsporting.

Fair enough on the rest though. Sounds like you remember it a bit more clearly. I thought Watson was playing fantastically though. Seemed neck and neck with Tom Curry, but once the SA A game became a full test (and that stupid yellow) it kind of set the test team in place.

[Cameo]

Price was an odd one. Played fantastically on tour, but seemed tonslowly fade afterwards.

My memory on Seymour was same as yours. Try scoring continued (was actually top try scorer on tour I think), but seemed to lose a bit of spark/confidence.

None of this is tonsay I don't want players picked.

[septic 9]

Price was an odd one. Played fantastically on tour, but seemed tonslowly fade afterwards.

forgot to mention Price I think. As I did say man plaers have a poor season following a Lions tour; but generally they get back to where they were
In the 18 months before the tour and during it Price was IMHO absolutely the best 9 bar Dupont
Then he fell off his perch. I think initially his form at Glasgow was not as bad as portrayed at the time, but after moving along the M8 to that wonder zone of coaching exertise.....................

He has shown something of his old self at times this season, could be wrong but I think when Edinburgh click he is on the park organising, controlling, cajoling. I really hope he does well in France, he isn't Dupont, he isn't George Horne and that f**K he isn't Ben Vellacott or Greig Laidlaw
Complete 9 at his best

[Donny osmond]

Gavin Hastings and Fin Calder both captained the Lions and were still magnificent afterwards. It's only these youngsters that cannae handle it.

[Mikey Brown]

Apparently will miss most of May but should be back for playoffs. Not sure how that leaves his Lions chances though.

I might just be being paranoid but I fully expect his injury to be used as an excuse not to pick him. Similarly for Tuipolotu, Jones, VDM and quite possibly Fagerson (Z).

I got a bit carried away with the Scottish Lions hoodoo there, but I’m feeling more and more like this is likely. Watched the Squidge roundup thing and they might quite a compelling case why Farrell might not even take Russell on tour.

We have 4 great backrows who could all reasonably go. Ritchie is in the best form but might lose out on physicality with all the competition. Darge didn’t have his most eye catching 6 nations. Ditto Fagerson, and still feel he’s caught between 6 and 8. Dempsey might be tempting as a pure ball carrier but has had his injury issues lately.

To continue on with the pessimism I can just picture a situation where Zander, any of the flankers, White, Russell, Huwipulotu and Kinghorn miss out, leaving only Schoeman, VDM and maybe Dempsey and the most insufferable bleating about mercenaries and “that’s a funny Scottish accent he’s got there” rhetoric throughout the entire tour.

I’d almost rather none of them went. VDM still isn’t fit either though?

[Big D]

Gavin Hastings and Fin Calder both captained the Lions and were still magnificent afterwards. It's only these youngsters that cannae handle it.

I just think it is often a bit of players hitting extended purple patches rather than backing up lions cycles of sustained quality.

- Grant benefitted from a rule change.
- Sutherland has been a sick note for a while.
- Price had a quality 2 years.
- Harris was defensively excellent for a year or two at international level (France away was a masterclass).
Etc.

Our main Lion in this period has been Hogg who was good for a sustained period of time.

[BaldiePete]

It’s getting near the sharp end of the European cups so it’s a short one this week.

Playing in England

Bath
Russell - starts aginst Edinburgh.
Redpath - starts
Bayliss - not in squad

Northampton
Rory Hutchison - starts against Leinster
Elliot Millar-Mills - bench
Charlie Savala - not available

Playing in France

Toulouse
Kinghorn - injured knee

Bordeaux-Begles
Gray - not in squad against Toulouse

[BaldiePete]

Friday Games

Playing in England

Leicester
Henderson - starts against Sale
Hurd - not selected
Whitcombe - not selected
Satala - not selected

Sale
Gus Warr -starts against Leicester
Arron Reed - starts

Saturday Games

Playing in England

Bath
Russell - not in squad against Bristol.
Redpath - not in squad
Bayliss - starts

Saracens
Onyeama-Christie - bench against Newcastle
Burke - starts

Newcastle
McCallum - starts against Saracens
McDonald - not available
Leatherbarrow - not in squad
Gordon - bench

Gloucester
Harris - starts against Harlequins
Charlie Chapman - not selected

Playing in Wales

Cardiff
Litterick - bench against Bulls

Playing in France

Toulon
White - not selected against Toulouse

Toulouse
Kinghorn - injured

Sunday Games

Playing in England

Northampton
Hutchison - not selected against Exeter
Millar-Mills - starts
Calum Hunter-Hill - bench
Rueben Logan - bench (first Premiership selection)
Charlie Savala - not available

Playing in France

Bordeaux-Begles
Gray -

Playing in Wales

Scarlets
Hepburn - starts against Lions
Craig - starts

[Cameo]

I see Sam Johnson is leaving Brive and, more surprisingly, he's only 31.

I presume his body is broken (it began to look like it at the end for Glasgow), but otherwise you can imagine worse signings for Edinburgh to replace Scott. Especially with M Tuipolotu injured long term by the sounds of things.

[BaldiePete]

Chris Harris is leaving Gloucester. There was a time when his defensive skills made him one of the first names on the Scotland team sheet but he never had great attacking skills to go with them. I didn’t realise he was 34, I thought he was 2 or 3 years younger than that.

[Mikey Brown]

Chris Harris is leaving Gloucester. There was a time when his defensive skills made him one of the first names on the Scotland team sheet but he never had great attacking skills to go with them. I didn’t realise he was 34, I thought he was 2 or 3 years younger than that.

I’ve wondered if he’d maybe go in to coaching. He really was an incredible defender around 2020-22.

[Big D]

Wouldn't be massively surprised to see Harris at Edinburgh. Would be a decent defensive mentor to Currie.

[BaldiePete]

Friday Games

Playing in England

Sale
Gus Warr -starts against Bristol
Arron Reed - not selected (injured)

Newcastle
McCallum - starts against Gloucester
McDonald - not available
Leatherbarrow - not in squad
Gordon - starts

Gloucester
Harris - starts against Newcastle
Charlie Chapman - not selected

Playing in Wales

Cardiff
Litterick - bench against Stormers