Autumn Series 2021: Scotland

[switchskier]

I can't wait for the next round of "how good is Finn Russell"?

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That kick off his wrong foot though...

[Donny osmond]

I can't wait for the next round of "how good is Finn Russell"?

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That kick off his wrong foot though...

It was a peach, and absolutely means we can ignore all the crap that has come with it

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[General Zod]

Turner has to be furious not to have been given 1 more minute

Especially if he had a fiver on himself to get 2 tries!

Ok, I know we scored twice from it today so far, but I feel our line-out offence has regressed this autumn.

[no sleep]

Why did we not take the scrum in the 22??

[Donny osmond]

Well, that was crap

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[Big D]

Well we won 3 and lost 1 over the NI's.

We'd have taken that at the start but the performances have been very flat. Probably best summed up by Chris Harris getting MOTM v a team we should have gubbed.

[Donny osmond]

Was Harris really motm? As in, do we agree? Can't say as I noticed him that much, thought Bayliss was v good today, just what need in the back row to complement Watson and Ritchie

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[Big D]

Was Harris really motm? As in, do we agree? Can't say as I noticed him that much, thought Bayliss was v good today, just what need in the back row to complement Watson and Ritchie

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Had a couple of big defensive hits. Was tidy enough. No Scot really stood out imo.

Scraped past a bang average side who shipped 60 v Ireland.

[Donny osmond]

Was Harris really motm? As in, do we agree? Can't say as I noticed him that much, thought Bayliss was v good today, just what need in the back row to complement Watson and Ritchie

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Had a couple of big defensive hits. Was tidy enough. No Scot really stood out imo.

Scraped past a bang average side who shipped 60 v Ireland.

The comparison with Ireland could not be more stark.

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[switchskier]

I'm feeling more optimistic. Rory Lawson summed it up well, we're now a side that can win AIs despite it not quite clicking. There's also more depth than there has been before, front row aside. That's not been the case for most of my lifetime. If we got a run of form at the right time then there is the chance for this side to actually win something.

[Cameo]

Frustrating game. All autumn we don't seem to have clicked in the backs. It has just been up to Russell or Hogg to create a spark. Russell has mainly been good in only trying risky stuff when we have advantage, but it has been a lot easier to defend our phases than it should be. Russell is a lot better with coherent patterns around him. I still feel the centres are wrong - and don't see how Harris was MOTM.

It wasn't helped today by the approach of the ref. A lot of his calls weren't wrong, but his approach just made it very difficult to win turnovers which is crucial to our defence with Ritchie and Watson. Their didnt seem to be any warning before penalties for hands, and not rolling away calls came very quick. It meant we looked like we consciously decided not to compete. For a team like Japan against a relatively passive defence like Scotland, that meant they could just go through phase after phase.

There is something pleasing about a game where all three of the back three score though.

[Donny osmond]

If I was an England fan, I'd be fuming at this performance

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[Cameo]

A couple of additional thoughts.

Graham wasn't great today apart from a great finish for his try and the one turnover the ref allowed. I would still start him though.

The maul attack hasn't been that consistent but has led to three tries. South Africa and Australia are very good at defending them though.

[whatisthejava]

Review of the 6N
6-7 out of 10
Positives
Blooded several new players, very few looked lost
Scored 18 tries
Kept injury’s to a minimum
In 3 of our games our scrum was good
In 3 of our games our line out went well
Skinner/Gilchrist are good alternatives to Cummings grey
Kebble isn’t a disaster at 3
Shoeman/Bhatti are ok alternatives to Sutherland
Hooker - found another in Ashman
Our defense was superb - let in 5 and 2 were caused by a newbie (no blame)
Harris is prob best defensive 13 in the world
Hogg got the record

Nagatives
8 still an issue
12 outside Johnson and Redpath looks an issue
Missed a chance to see vellacott
Fagerson Z needs to control himself
Our line out and scrum collapsed against SA
Still not willing to stack the rucks when required
Our attack looked disjointed quite a lot, difficult to really try and see what they were trying to do at times
Finns cross field kick is a bit interesting (but we will see it again)
Darcy G looked a bit unsure

[Tobylerone]

Harris is prob best defensive 13 in the world

I`m sure the Scottish defence coach is delighted.
Opposition defence coaches will be happy to see him as well.

[Mikey Brown]

Yup. He’s capable of more in attack but that must have been 7 or 8 carries for about a metre yesterday. It’s tough when he is the defensive fulcrum of this team, though I suppose we don’t actually know much of how Jones would function in this system.

Redpath briefly looked like he might be the missing link that could offer enough variety to get a bit more out of him. He’s got that bit more acceleration to challenge the line and time on the ball/distribution to pick out an option. I don’t think Johnson is bad at any of this but it doesn’t seem to be clicking. Harris can hit a hard line on occasion but the pairing with Johnson just looks a bit too one-paced.

[Cameo]

Just saw an article from A B Zondagh. Can we maybe put some of the clunky coach this autumn down to having a new attack coach?

Hopefully it can look a bit more fluent by the 6N.

[Mikey Brown]

That’s fair. I keep forgetting there’s anyone other than Townsend actually shaping the attack.

I would certainly hope it improves over the 6 nations. Things were generally working better vs Japan but I have no idea how to judge them as an opponent now and it still looks needlessly wild/inaccurate at times.

I just don’t get how we manage to so consistently look under-resourced in support play. So much work goes in to then appearing like we only have about 10 players on the pitch.

[Big D]

Just saw an article from A B Zondagh. Can we maybe put some of the clunky coach this autumn down to having a new attack coach?

Hopefully it can look a bit more fluent by the 6N.

I think there are potentially a few reasons:
- Having 7 Lions tourists. They have had to back up a long season last year into a Lions tour then for some have very little rugby into international fixtures.
- Finn and Watson have had injuries over the summer into the start of the season and had little game time.
- New attack coach.
- Poorly executed plans.
- We have quite a stodgy centre partnership. I like both players in isolation but SJ and CH aren't creative, or all that quick so it puts a lot of pressure on Finn to come up with something.

[septic 9]

tempted to quote and rubbish a few posts, but I'm in a good mood so...............

Disappointing series TBH.
Tonga 2nds were as expected nowhere near good enough to play Scotland 2nds/Scotland development
A narrow (if welcome) win against a poor Aussie side who make the same errors as Glasgow did too often under Rennie. Poor discipline, they win when everything comes off and they get the breaks. Rarely do either all of the time.
SA the most encouraging game TBH. A few late pens flattered the scoreboard - reality is we were in the game all the way, not too bad when facing the world champs missing only Faf who mattered, while we were fielding 2nd rank locks, what looked to me like a not really fit Watson plus the attack stopper at 13 (both attacks that is)

There were errors across all the backs in the series, but the main issue was not getting repeat quick phase ball. The Japanese were a millenium ahead of us on that respect. Passing one out to a full defensive line time after time after time leaves Finn trying kicks that are not always on. Put it out the line and if defender is not hard in the face of the receiver to stop the attack then Harris will drift sideways and make the drift defence easy or die with the ball and turn it over.
Forwards need to be better and a change at centre essential - can't see us scoring enough tries against decent teams as things stand

[Mikey Brown]

tempted to quote and rubbish a few posts, but I'm in a good mood so...............

Ah go on.

I think we've all grown to quite enjoy it.

[Cameo]

Seems we are actually all roughly on the same page for once. We are not terrible, but there are some things we need to improve including the centres.

I am not clever enough to do a poll, but what do people think the solution is:

1. 12 Johnson 13 Harris - but with more time together and therefore cohesion

2. 12 Johnson 13 Jones - assuming Jones gets some gametime

3. 12 Redpath 13 Harris - assuming Redpath is back in January as Townsend suggested

4. 12 Redpath 13 Jones

5. 12 Redpath 13 Johnson

6. One of the above 12s plus Steyn at 13 - good defender but a bit more about him in attack.

7. A combo with either Hutchison, Laing or Bennet in there.

8. Something left field like Russell at 12.

[septic 9]

tempted to quote and rubbish a few posts, but I'm in a good mood so...............

Ah go on.

I think we've all grown to quite enjoy it.

I clearly need to up my game

[septic 9]

Seems we are actually all roughly on the same page for once. We are not terrible, but there are some things we need to improve including the centres.

I am not clever enough to do a poll, but what do people think the solution is:

1. 12 Johnson 13 Harris - but with more time together and therefore cohesion

2. 12 Johnson 13 Jones - assuming Jones gets some gametime

3. 12 Redpath 13 Harris - assuming Redpath is back in January as Townsend suggested

4. 12 Redpath 13 Jones

5. 12 Redpath 13 Johnson

6. One of the above 12s plus Steyn at 13 - good defender but a bit more about him in attack.

7. A combo with either Hutchison, Laing or Bennet in there.

8. Something left field like Russell at 12.

Townsend wants Harris at 13. The backs won't be anything like as potent a threat as they should as long as that is the case. That and better all from the pack

Good ball and a team with Russell, Hogg, Duhan, Graham, McLean, Price, Horne, Redpath - before we mention Jones or Scott should be a scary prospect. It will never be with Harris at 13. It will concede fewer tries

[Big D]

I see we are playing Argentina on a 3 match summer tour and once in the AIs. Should get to know them well!