Scotland vs Australia (and predictions)

[Big D]

47 tackles and none missed the the two tall blonde fellas. Decent effort considering snr was off for a bit.

[Mikey Brown]

For what it's worth, just a had a little look at quarter speed at the very last ruck of the game where the ball comes out, it's Visser ambling in to the ruck to clear out absolutely nobody and simply kicks the ball away.

So frustrating.

I wish I hadn't bothered looking now.

[Edinburgh in Exile]

47 tackles and none missed the the two tall blonde fellas. Decent effort considering snr was off for a bit.

Aye, I think that's the best shift I've seen too tall Richie injured put in for years.

And yeah Mike, I was fairly sure I'd seen that happen in real time, didn't arse going back to confirm it. Just shit ruck clearance. It happens. Especially when you are that many phases into the last play of the game.

[Adder]

47 tackles and none missed the the two tall blonde fellas. Decent effort considering snr was off for a bit.

Respectively 24 for Jonny, 23 for Richie.

[Mikey Brown]

I have to say it again because RG got a lot of stick for scanning around and poor body position all over the field but he has been great for the last year or so.

Jonny is just a machine. I can't wait to see him for the Lions. He has to be there.

[Big D]

Bored at work so ratings (6 being above average):

Dell – 6 - Worked hard all day 'til subbed. Decent shift for his debut and being 3rd choice.
Ford – 6 - By and large did what we expect of him. Important role with the young props either side and collectively did better than we might have expected despite some tough scrums.
Fagerson – 6 - He's young, he'll learn the dark arts. Good in the loose.
JGray - 9 - Carried well, tackled well and played well.
RGray - 9 - See JGray
Barclay – 8 - Was immense in the first half, a bit slower in the second.
Watson – 7 - Good debut. Would like to see him continue in the 7 shirt.
Wilson - N/A - That drop was schoolboy stuff though.
Hardie - 7 - High energy, high work rate. Good performance.
Laidlaw – 6 - Missed kicks and continually offers no sniping threat.
Russell – 7 - Decent game. Defended bravely.
Visser – 4 - Hopefully Seymour or Hoyland come in next week. No more needs to be said.
Dunbar – 8 - Seems to be the defensive lynchpin. A good all round game although I felt he and Jones had a little period of working things out (which is fine) and looked a tad slow early on when receiving the ball in space.
Jones – 8.5 - Scotland's best back. Defensively he and Dunbar looked as if they were working things out at the start (understandably so).
Maitland – 6 - Would like our wingers to go looking for more work. Didn't anything wrong, just he didn't do anything really well.
Hogg – 7 - "Just" a solid game from Hogg. If solid becomes his floor and his ceiling remains exceptional then that would be handy.

Subs (where comment worthy):
Brown Suited to the high energy sub role I think.
Reid - Sigh. That penalty was a shame. He'll learn but shouldn't be hammered for it.
Gilchrist – From once being ahead of RGray to now questionably 3rd choice.
Horne – One mistake does not make him a bad defender. Will come back and probably make that tackle next time.

[Adder]

Bored at work so ratings (6 being above average):

Dell – 6 - Worked hard all day 'til subbed. Decent shift for his debut and being 3rd choice.
Ford – 6 - By and large did what we expect of him. Important role with the young props either side and collectively did better than we might have expected despite some tough scrums.
Fagerson – 6 - He's young, he'll learn the dark arts. Good in the loose.
JGray - 9 - Carried well, tackled well and played well.
RGray - 9 - See JGray
Barclay – 8 - Was immense in the first half, a bit slower in the second.
Watson – 7 - Good debut. Would like to see him continue in the 7 shirt.
Wilson - N/A - That drop was schoolboy stuff though.
Hardie - 7 - High energy, high work rate. Good performance.
Laidlaw – 6 - Missed kicks and continually offers no sniping threat.
Russell – 7 - Decent game. Defended bravely.
Visser – 4 - Hopefully Seymour or Hoyland come in next week. No more needs to be said.
Dunbar – 8 - Seems to be the defensive lynchpin. A good all round game although I felt he and Jones had a little period of working things out (which is fine) and looked a tad slow early on when receiving the ball in space.
Jones – 8.5 - Scotland's best back. Defensively he and Dunbar looked as if they were working things out at the start (understandably so).
Maitland – 6 - Would like our wingers to go looking for more work. Didn't anything wrong, just he didn't do anything really well.
Hogg – 7 - "Just" a solid game from Hogg. If solid becomes his floor and his ceiling remains exceptional then that would be handy.

Subs (where comment worthy):
Brown Suited to the high energy sub role I think.
Reid - Sigh. That penalty was a shame. He'll learn but shouldn't be hammered for it.
Gilchrist – From once being ahead of RGray to now questionably 3rd choice.
Horne – One mistake does not make him a bad defender. Will come back and probably make that tackle next time.

Btw, did he do anything wrong? He seemed to run interesting lines, but I only the watched the game once. He looked better than with Embra.

[Big D]

Btw, did he do anything wrong? He seemed to run interesting lines, but I only the watched the game once. He looked better than with Embra.

I thought he still looked off the pace still in general play. Definitely a step below Gray squared. I was watching whilst dealing with the weeanes though.

[Adder]

Btw, did he do anything wrong? He seemed to run interesting lines, but I only the watched the game once. He looked better than with Embra.

I thought he still looked off the pace still in general play. Definitely a step below Gray squared. I was watching whilst dealing with the weeanes though.

It's a high bar they have raised. I think he can and will do better. I quite like him as a sub and would like to see him this weekend.

My daughter got to witness my theatrics for our first try which she then decided to imitate (without the cursing thankfully). She also obliged for the second.

[Big D]

Btw, did he do anything wrong? He seemed to run interesting lines, but I only the watched the game once. He looked better than with Embra.

I thought he still looked off the pace still in general play. Definitely a step below Gray squared. I was watching whilst dealing with the weeanes though.

It's a high bar they have raised. I think he can and will do better. I quite like him as a sub and would like to see him this weekend.

My daughter got to witness my theatrics for our first try which she then decided to imitate (without the cursing thankfully). She also obliged for the second.

Nice

[Tobylerone]

Always been bemused by the winger "looking for work..".
Given the heavily scripted nature of the game these days I would be surprised if a wing would risk the ire of the coaches by turning up out of position on a glory hunting jolly..

"Oh, they`ve found acres of space in the Scottish half.." (Welsh accent..)

[Mikey Brown]

A glory hunting jolly? Trying to score points you mean? I sort of know what you mean but have no idea what prompted that post. Are you talking about someone specific?

[Big D]

Always been bemused by the winger "looking for work..".
Given the heavily scripted nature of the game these days I would be surprised if a wing would risk the ire of the coaches by turning up out of position on a glory hunting jolly..

"Oh, they`ve found acres of space in the Scottish half.." (Welsh accent..)

Hughes and Hoyland are both effective at popping up in the middle of the park and getting their hands on the ball.

Other nations wingers come in occasionally looking for mismatches too. I'm not talking about them coming in every play to the centres, I just want our supposedly quick and elusive wingers to get their hands on the ball more. The game has moved on from simply passing the ball along the line. They touched it 11 times between then on Saturday. Speight alone touched it 12 times and they don't all come from standing on the wing.

[Tobylerone]

No-one in particular.. Had visions of jobseeker wings roaming around out of position.. "What`s he doing there..?"
Possibly incur a benefit sanction from Cotter..

[Matt Ha]

Four Scots in the home-nations team of the weekend.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/ ... es-our-xv/

[whatisthejava]

Dont thinkm i have ever seen more than that it years

Considering its 3 backs shows how far we have come in the last 5 years

Richie over Jonny is a bit surprising, and AWJ over J Gray is just to get another welshman in

[Mikey Brown]

WTF. I assumed it would be JG, RG, Barclay and Jones. Gray was absolutely immense. Didn't give a single penalty away either to Richie's 3, even though he was great too.

[Big D]

Four Scots in the home-nations team of the weekend.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/ ... es-our-xv/

Not seen much of the Ireland or England games but how bad were the other wingers if Maitland, who did nothing really wrong but nothing really well made that team? SOB must have been excellent against a bang average Canada team to beat out Barclay too.

From what I saw of the Wales game and little of the English game AWJ ahead of Gray Jnr and Launchbury is just to get another Welshman in. I thought AWJ was good but not as good as the others.

[Big D]

WTF. I assumed it would be JG, RG, Barclay and Jones. Gray was absolutely immense. Didn't give a single penalty away either to Richie's 3, even though he was great too.

Penalties conceded can be misleading to be fair. One of RGrays pens was trying to tidy up shite ball (pass off a back that hit the deck IIRC), getting tackled and Pocock jackling quicker than the support players could ruck. Absolutely not his fault.

[Big D]

Interesting that the view on Hoggs performance has been positive compared to Brown and 1/2P in the media teams of the week. He had a pretty solid game and on second viewing appeared to be playing to a game plan not to kick to Australia when returning their kicks.

[Mikey Brown]

Yep, it was very welcome and on another day (and ideally with Seymour who is great at tracking back and providing an option) he'll make more of those runs. I think Hogg is just an easy pick for people who don't really follow Scotland because we've all seen him light up a game. Similarly Richie Gray, who I didn't mean to slag off there, more just that Jnr's involvement and carrying without conceding 1 penalty was incredible.

[switchskier]

Four Scots in the home-nations team of the weekend.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union/ ... es-our-xv/

Not seen much of the Ireland or England games but how bad were the other wingers if Maitland, who did nothing really wrong but nothing really well made that team? SOB must have been excellent against a bang average Canada team to beat out Barclay too.

From what I saw of the Wales game and little of the English game AWJ ahead of Gray Jnr and Launchbury is just to get another Welshman in. I thought AWJ was good but not as good as the others.

AWJ is a bit of a media favourite as far as I'm concerned. He's good but there are far too many comments along the lines of Davies' "AWJ has lifted the entire team just by his presence."