RugbyRebels

Interesting joke tweet today about how if Scotland could they would pick Zammit, AWJ and someone else

If you could steal 1 - 2 players from each home nation who would it be (all players would be on form)
For me

Wales
Faletau - we just don't have a big 8 although Fagerson is good
JD - on form

England
Itoje on form
A Watson - A bit weird but i want to see another year of Zammit, a bit like Stockdale a couple of years ago, no one really knew how to play him, my gut feel is he will get marshalled much more and become less affective

Ireland
Henshaw
C Murray (on form)

I think those players would improve the team and could fit into the structure really well without totally changing it


Also tried not to just pick the same position

I'd go for:

Wales: tricky actually, I don't think they have many massive standouts apart from where we are strong. I'd take Owens and Faletau just now (given injuries at hooker)

Ireland - Henderson and Henshaw (tempted by Furlong)

England - Itoje and Sinkler if they hit form.

What I really want though is Dupont, Fickou and Vakatawa from France.

kinda depends whether you want to take their best 2 players, or to plug the gaps/weaknesses we have. Different outcomes for me. For example, from Ireland, Furlong is a really top player, but Zander Fagerson is one of our real strengths.

AWJ for his leadership - replaces Gray
Faletau - a league above M Fagerson at the moment

G Davies at 9 - Murray is clearly the best 9 around but I can't bring myself to ask for him

I'll go one from each:

England
Sam Simmonds

Ireland
Henshaw

Wales
Davies

Expanding to take another from each:

England - Cowan Dickie
Wales - LRZ
Ireland - Bierne

If I can cheat and go for two players from the whole 6N, then my top two would be:

DuPont and
Alldrit

Imagine a Hogg, Russell, DuPont, Alldrit, Brown/McInally spine to the team.

Plus Alldrit is a little bit Scottish is he not?

I also have a sneaking admiration for AWJ - comes across as a pretty class bloke.

ARM wrote:If I can cheat and go for two players from the whole 6N, then my top two would be:

DuPont and
Alldrit

Imagine a Hogg, Russell, DuPont, Alldrit, Brown/McInally spine to the team.

Plus Alldrit is a little bit Scottish is he not?

I also have a sneaking admiration for AWJ - comes across as a pretty class bloke.

Alldrit's dad is Scottish.

Interesting article here below. 4 of the new Generation of French players (including both Dupont and Aldritt) started in the same club.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... o-frances/

Actually alldritt isn’t Scottish qualified , his brother I think lives in Scotland and his dad did but isn’t Scottish.

Ok, I'm assuming our first choice is something like

Sutherland
Brown
Fagerson
Cummings
Gray
Ritchie
Watson
Fagerson
Price
Russell
van Der Merwe
Redpath
Harris
Maitland
Hogg

Of those, only Hogg is a likely Lions test starter, so all of them could be replaced. I'm pretty happy with the front row apart from Brown who seems to have taken over the Captain Brainfart cape from Price, so I'd take George at Hooker. Second row is good if slo-mo Jonny plays more games like he did against England, using his eyes and his feet to make a metre in contact, otherwise Itoje or Ryan, probably Itoje as refs just seem not to want to penalise him, don't know why. Faletau is a shoo-in at 8 for me. Much as I have a man-crush on Ritchie, he seems to have gone a bit quiet lately, and I'd be tempted to have Stander or Navidi - sorry, Jamie, it's probably just me.

Keep Price for want of better, and keep Russell and Redpath too though it's early days. I'm tempted by North at 13 and Zammit at 14, and Watson has been good. Not sure why I don't want May as he's always good.

So:
England: George, Itoje
Wales: Faletau, Zammit
Ireland; Stander, umm - dunno, not sure that Henshaw offers much more than Harris; would take North here, but I can't think of another Irish player I'd take.

The final fifteen then is:

Sutherland
George
Fagerson
Cummings
Itoje
Stander
Watson
Faletau
Price
Russell
van der Merwe
Redpath
Harris
Zammit
Hogg

And I guess that's my Lions XV then. Nice to see the Scots so well represented.

Crap. No line-out option in the back row, so Navidi instead of Stander, which means Zammit has to go. So Ryan into the second row. And Earls on the wing. Yuck.

Tough question!

I’d take

England - Curry and Launchbury
Wales - LRZ and Owens
Ireland - Stander and Murray

1. Sutherland
2. Owens
3. Fagerson
4. Cummings / Launchbury
5. Launchbury / Gray
6. Curry
7. Watson
8. Stander
9. Murray
10. Russell
11. Duhan
12. Redpath
13. Jones
14. Graham
15. Hogg

Got to say I’m puzzled by a lot of these choices.

Mikey Brown wrote:Got to say I’m puzzled by a lot of these choices.

I’ve just picked players I rate to be honest rather than necessarily looking at where I think we are a bit weak. The competition this year has shown that there really isn’t much to choose between the countries at the moment

whatisthejava wrote:Actually alldritt isn’t Scottish qualified , his brother I think lives in Scotland and his dad did but isn’t Scottish.

Hmmm...
I saw an interview of him where he said that his father is Scottish and that he has a lot of family around Edinburgh.
He did however state that he felt more French.

Big D wrote:I'll go one from each:

England
Sam Simmonds

Ireland
Henshaw

Wales
Davies

Expanding to take another from each:

England - Cowan Dickie - I like him, there are better hookers elsewhere but the 2 per country rule brings him in.
Wales - LRZ
Ireland - Bierne

Would make my team:
Sutherland
LCD
Fagerson
Bierne
Cummings
Ritchie
Watson
Simmonds

Davies
Finn
LRZ
Redpath
Henshaw
Duhan (I would pick Maitland too but want full carnage).
Hogg

Brown/Rambo, Kebble, Nel, Gray, Fagerson, Price, Hastings, Maitland

Adder wrote:

whatisthejava wrote:Actually alldritt isn’t Scottish qualified , his brother I think lives in Scotland and his dad did but isn’t Scottish.

Hmmm...
I saw an interview of him where he said that his father is Scottish and that he has a lot of family around Edinburgh.
He did however state that he felt more French.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%A9gory_Alldritt

According to this, neither his dad, mum or grandparents were born in Scotland but live here

Mikey Brown wrote:Got to say I’m puzzled by a lot of these choices.

me too. A bit of fun I suppose and each to his own. I can't really believe anyone would pick Gareth Davies though. He is quick, but an utterly shit scrum half. its a classic case of remembering a couple of interceptions and not paying attention or forgetting the rest of his games

Please don't let anyone who mentioned him ever accuse any scottish 9 of brain farts ever again

whatisthejava wrote:

Adder wrote:

whatisthejava wrote:Actually alldritt isn’t Scottish qualified , his brother I think lives in Scotland and his dad did but isn’t Scottish.

Hmmm...
I saw an interview of him where he said that his father is Scottish and that he has a lot of family around Edinburgh.
He did however state that he felt more French.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gr%C3%A9gory_Alldritt

According to this, neither his dad, mum or grandparents were born in Scotland but live here

So much for that interview with the Braveheart soundtrack

septic 9 wrote:

Mikey Brown wrote:Got to say I’m puzzled by a lot of these choices.

me too. A bit of fun I suppose and each to his own. I can't really believe anyone would pick Gareth Davies though. He is quick, but an utterly shit scrum half. its a classic case of remembering a couple of interceptions and not paying attention or forgetting the rest of his games

Please don't let anyone who mentioned him ever accuse any scottish 9 of brain farts ever again

We are going to disagree on Price for eternity I think. Even on Saturday against Italy he was making poor decisions such as going blindside into defenders when they we down a man.

Picking any other 9 isn't necessarily an endorsement of that 9 but more disagreement on how we view Price.

Would I swap them in real life? On balance probably not, but then that isn't really the point of the "game".

For the Scotland team if borrowing off the other home nations I'd take

England, Itoje and Watson
Ireland, Furlong and Henshaw
Wales, Navidi and Jones (the prop)

Yes Sutherland and Fagerson are good, but whichever way around you stack the bench 4 quality props is better than 2, and it's more where Scotland struggle. Slightly similar thinking with taking Navidi over Faletau and Tipuric, the other two I probably think better players than Navidi, but that's freaky power that Navidi has allied to his mobility and decision making is something I'd be keen to add.

Henshaw is very good, playing very well, and a get out of jail free card for Russell when he suddenly realises maybe this isn't on.

Big D wrote: We are going to disagree on Price for eternity I think. Even on Saturday against Italy he was making poor decisions such as going blindside into defenders when they we down a man.

Oh god i forgot that, i was screaming at him,

It made no damn sense