Wales v Scotland

[Sandydragon]

Ok. Need some more of thay

[Sandydragon]

This is better. Long way to come back but at last some positives

[Sandydragon]

What a difference a functioning lineout makes

[Sandydragon]

Cmon keep this going!!!

[JonnyScuba]

Well well well!

[pompey-zebra]

Bloody hell! This is mental!

[Sandydragon]

Think we might have lost but what a bloody effort

[Sandydragon]

Oh well. Some bugs calls by the ref at the end but our shyte first half cost us that.

[pompey-zebra]

I am actually disappointed we didnt win that in the end. At half time I never thought I'd say that.

[UKHamlet]

Quite honestly, Scotland got out of jail there

[Sourdust]

I'm reminded of Graham Henry's first match v SA at Wembley. Leaving the stadium, it honestly felt like Wales had won.

If you were looking at the pictures now without sound, you'd think Wales won that match. Scotland look shell-shocked.

What might have been if Tomos & Ioan had started? Oh well, two points, not bottom of the table, let's be honest we'd have taken that this morning.

[Donny osmond]

You deserved to win that.

[Sourdust]

You deserved to win that.

I'm not sure about that.

But Scotland deserved to lose it.

[Donny osmond]

You deserved to win that.

I'm not sure about that.

But Scotland deserved to lose it.

fair

[Buggaluggs]

'kin hell. That was a game!

When Van de Camp scored to go up 27-0 I thought we'd be getting a tartan dildo up the arse so far we could taste haggis in our mouths, but what a come back. If Shane Williams had been on we'd have won.

Great to see the team not lose heart and stick with it. They should have confidence going forward.

[Ross. S]

If only we'd made that first conversion or, you know, PLAYED FOR 80 MINUTES RATHER THAN 35

[Sandydragon]

Three major elements from the first half:

A lack of composure. Not surprising given the raft of newer players and new combinations. That will develop over time.

Lineout. Just dire. Much better on the second half and whilst it’s more than just the hooker to blame, bringing on Dee was a huge turning point.

Kicking game was awful. How much space did we give to Finn Russell?

Two big work ins for next week and I’d be tempted to start with Tomos and Dee next week. I’d also start Ioan Lloyd as Costelow didn’t look comfortable.


Positives. We got a four try bonus point which is a start.
I saw Beard make a couple of positive carries.
Superb spirit to fight back from 27 nil down.
Some good handling and decision making when we got into our stride.

Some of our newer players didn’t look out of place. Teddy Williams, Mann, Ioan Lloyd looked good mostly. Front row was energetic and not at all stuffed at the scrum (bigger challenges to come).

I still think we will be at the bottom of the table but I’m far more positive now than I was at half time.

[UKHamlet]

We needed a Lee Byrne incident to cap that one off. I'd have choked on my M&S cheesy sticks.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Wow. This is about as good as you can feel after losing a game. And Scotland must be feeling the opposite. We didn't deserve the win overall - because we were so dogshite in the first half, Scotland didn't need to get out of 3rd gear to annihilate us - but at the same time we were unlucky not to win with 5 minutes to go.

What happened to the lineout??? We need to find out. That was literally match-losing. (Although being second rate in a number of other areas didn't help). Strangely the scrum wasn't as bad as expected.

Please, god, let's pass the ball a little more next time. It actually worked for us.

And please start Tomos, Lloyd, Grady, Dee (unless it can be conclusively shown that our lineout disaster wasn't Elias's fault).

At least Winnett was okay. On a day like today I'll take that.

Did not expect to have 2 points this weekend so that's something. Who knows, it might actually matter in the end. England looked poor . . . but Italy looked dangerous. Anything could happen from here (other than beating France or Ireland).

[Son of Mathonwy]

I don't know what's happening with cards and head impacts since we got soft on them in the World Cup.

So as long as you're in tackling position and you bind, you can aim your shoulder directly at the head of a stationary player in a ruck? That will really discourage head injuries.

[Sandydragon]

I don't know what's happening with cards and head impacts since we got soft on them in the World Cup.

So as long as you're in tackling position and you bind, you can aim your shoulder directly at the head of a stationary player in a ruck? That will really discourage head injuries.

On the one hand, there is no way to avoid a collision to the head given the body angles of the players. On the other I agree that if you want to demonstrate that dementia threats are being taken seriously then these situations need to be removed.

The issue for me is the modern game element of contesting the ball on the floor. Returning to the original laws of the game with no hands in the ruck once formed and driving over the ball would reduce these collisions

[normanski]

I don't know what's happening with cards and head impacts since we got soft on them in the World Cup.

So as long as you're in tackling position and you bind, you can aim your shoulder directly at the head of a stationary player in a ruck? That will really discourage head injuries.

On the one hand, there is no way to avoid a collision to the head given the body angles of the players. On the other I agree that if you want to demonstrate that dementia threats are being taken seriously then these situations need to be removed.

The issue for me is the modern game element of contesting the ball on the floor. Returning to the original laws of the game with no hands in the ruck once formed and driving over the ball would reduce these collisions

The hit on Costelow deserved a yellow because it was dangerous and our fly half failed a HIA as a result and didn’t come back on. That was probably a blessing in disguise because Lloyd and Williams really changed the tempo of the game.

I wonder if the Scotland forward will be cited?

Lots of pluses from that second half giving Gatland the foundations to build a really good and exciting squad.

After England's game in Rome there are more than a few grounds for optimism for next week. We just need to start as we finished yesterday.

Isn’t ironic that the two teams who are forecast to be bottom of the table both scored four tries apiece yet still ended up losing by a point or three.

[Son of Mathonwy]

I don't know what's happening with cards and head impacts since we got soft on them in the World Cup.

So as long as you're in tackling position and you bind, you can aim your shoulder directly at the head of a stationary player in a ruck? That will really discourage head injuries.

On the one hand, there is no way to avoid a collision to the head given the body angles of the players. On the other I agree that if you want to demonstrate that dementia threats are being taken seriously then these situations need to be removed.

The issue for me is the modern game element of contesting the ball on the floor. Returning to the original laws of the game with no hands in the ruck once formed and driving over the ball would reduce these collisions

Sometimes the only way to avoid a collision is not to attempt a dangerous clear-out. Sometimes you're just not going to be able to clear out that ruck. That's rugby. Better that than causing brain damage (and massive payouts).

My take is that before the World Cup I don't remember ever seeing players flying in, shoulders hitting heads, and being let off completely because 'there's no foul play'. I would always expect to see a card for that. If this is the new normal, how long before players are being trained to target heads with their shoulders? As long as they get the wrap and bend their bodies then it's a free hit on a defenceless target.

This can always be penalised as reckless play if the ref chooses to, and should be IMO.

[Tuco Ramirez]

Pen try ?? if this was awarded when Botha, scored it would have been 7 points and a win..... not sure wat the law is on this?

[Mikey Brown]

Well that was strange.

Luckily I didn't watch it live so didn't have to deal with the anxiety of that second half, but fantastic for your young players to get that kind of experience. From a Scotland POV it was a real shame not to get that bonus point try at the end, but 2 BPs for you seems much more fair.

Very even overall, both teams largely just chaotic and awful, but turning around a poor first half is certainly much more impressive than imploding after a dominant one.