Team vs Wales

[General Zod]

Positives

We won, away, in the 6N not to Italy.

I've felt for so long Scotland has needed to grind out a win against one of the other home nations for them to kick on. Scotland Wales matches have been awful for years so really no surprise there.

We are now going into two games against Italy and France and both games are winnable (if France rotate squad as expected)

That would be a 6 game in a row streak without actually playing that well in attack.

We actually look like the forwards want to keep the ball and have a plan
Gray, Cummings, Brown Sutherland, Richie and Watson are all solid and can provide a platform


Negatives
Backs have went backwards since the RWC. Really feel we need a better plan for our centres. I understand why Harris is their because he is defensively solid but his success rate on 50/50s is in the pan.

Add to that a few players in the back look unwilling to offload, we have moved from high risk to being low risk and not generating enough mismatches to actually break down a defence.

Im ok with the status quo until the end of the Autumn, win some games, win some confidence but come the next 6N we need to reintroduce some attacking flair

I get what you’re saying about the backs regressing, but I disagree (respectfully, if it’s still possible to do that nowadays!). Main reason is that they are actually winning matches now and appear more organised in defence. I guess, yes, they have gone back a wee bit offensively, but even then we’re turning it over less. There’s a balance to be struck somewhere, but yesterday in those conditions was just a case of doing what it takes to win* - we can sort out the rest later.

* so is every match, to be fair, but I’m saying in in the context of reining in the flair when to start flinging it wide would have been mental in the circumstances.

[whatisthejava]

I’m not sure I disagree with your point but the backs have scored very few tries this year. It’s ok we have a solid defense and we can build attack with the confidence gained from winning matches.

I think that’s what your saying

With RWC seedlings gone and 3 games before the end of the year hopefully we can get the players to be a bit more confident

[af73]

Its odd how many slammed Townsend for playing all out attack and now slam him for not doing that. There is a better balance but TBF the conditions were not there for it yesterday.

That's what it comes down to doesn't it and we've seen this before. Why does it have to be all one philosophy or the other?

Hadden was all about moving the ball until Italy '07 happened. Any remaining intestinal fortitude disappeared and Henderson/Dewey/Morrison were our "centres". Evans brothers (Thom in particular), Paterson at 10 etc viewed as a luxuries we couldn't afford by the selectors. There followed several years of hoping for bad conditions/opposition on an off day/and CP or Parks to kick penalties. Hardly a formula for long term growth or anything more than the occasional underdog win.

It must be easier to teach gifted attackers to defend than it is to teach plodders to attack?

The replay of the maul try showed, just as it did against Georgia, 12 & 13 moving to join the maul as soon as the ref called linout over. No thought that the ball might be released. Pre-planned fair enough but it was also the sum total of their effective contribution in attack. Might as well put Haining & Skinner in the centres

I really hope this is some kind of reset phase with the attacking bolt on to come. If Saturday is seen as validation and we are stuck with Lang & Harris we risk ruining the best years of VDM, Hogg, Graham, Jones and Russell. We've scarcely had such an array of talent in the backs before that we should now be happy to constrain them?

[Cameo]

I'm one who thinks we bottled it a bit pre-world cup by abandoning our all out attack philosophy (I know that's a bit simplistic) but we really need to factor in the weather. In the England and Wales games, you just weren't gonna see much good back play. If Harris had held on to Hogg's pass on the weekend, that would have been a nice clinical try from sharp passing and lines.

Add to that that the Ireland game was with a new 10 and was really about showing we could stand up to them after the World Cup. The Italy game was very nervy and then the France game was decent.

Now we have no attacking 10s but I'll be more worried if we still look stilted come the next 6N.

[Big D]

I think we all need to chill a bit. We only scored 24 points of so less than the previous 2 years.

The week before the start of the 6N one of our star men walked out of camp.

The first 6N game was an away game against a team that owned us a few months prior in Japan. If Hogg hadn't dropped the ball over the line we could have had a lot more than a lbp.

The game against England was in some of the worst conditions an international will be played in.

We scored 3 tries away in Italy in a reasonably comfortable win.

We scored 28 against 14man France, but as we have seen they are a different proposition these days.

The game at the weekend was a bit of a lottery with the wind.

[septic 9]

Its odd how many slammed Townsend for playing all out attack and now slam him for not doing that. There is a better balance but TBF the conditions were not there for it yesterday.

That's what it comes down to doesn't it and we've seen this before. Why does it have to be all one philosophy or the other?

it doesn't and it isn't.

For starters I doubt we will stick with that centre combination - Harris is nailed currently, Lang isn't. Thing we also need to remember is that having the maul as such a potent weapon is more than a weapon, its a distraction. If a team with a renowned maul maul from the 22 they temptation for opposition backs is to drift in to help stop it. Gaps wide. It also means teams know they have to be better disciplined, can't give away pens that we can kick to touch in the 22 - which means we should get more quick ball in open play, key to using the backs effectively.
And finally, while both Russell and Hastings have improved tactical kicking (Russell especially) neither are really kick and control type 10s who can or should be asked to do that and nothing else. If we start picking (when all fit) VDW then I'll worry, because he can't do much else. And he doesn't do that very well.

As to Hadden, nothing should be compared to his tenure. Nothing. Nice man but over promoted to Edinburgh head coach, and had the SRU not signed and sent Blackadder there probably would have been sacked. Then on the back of some decent Blackadder inspired Edinburgh performances over promoted to Scotland head coach because he was available, cheap and not called Matt Williams.

[switchskier]

That's what it comes down to doesn't it and we've seen this before. Why does it have to be all one philosophy or the other?

it doesn't and it isn't.

For starters I doubt we will stick with that centre combination - Harris is nailed currently, Lang isn't. Thing we also need to remember is that having the maul as such a potent weapon is more than a weapon, its a distraction. If a team with a renowned maul maul from the 22 they temptation for opposition backs is to drift in to help stop it. Gaps wide. It also means teams know they have to be better disciplined, can't give away pens that we can kick to touch in the 22 - which means we should get more quick ball in open play, key to using the backs effectively.
And finally, while both Russell and Hastings have improved tactical kicking (Russell especially) neither are really kick and control type 10s who can or should be asked to do that and nothing else. If we start picking (when all fit) VDW then I'll worry, because he can't do much else. And he doesn't do that very well.

As to Hadden, nothing should be compared to his tenure. Nothing. Nice man but over promoted to Edinburgh head coach, and had the SRU not signed and sent Blackadder there probably would have been sacked. Then on the back of some decent Blackadder inspired Edinburgh performances over promoted to Scotland head coach because he was available, cheap and not called Matt Williams.

To be fair to Hadden, not being Matt Williams was a pretty good qualification at the time. Easy to forget how desperate his tenure was.

Harris has been pretty good imo this year. He's a good tackler and at least reaches the mainline off some pretty ropey ball. One solid centre is fine as long as others are working hard around them. I'd like to see our wings looking for chances a bit more and providing the lines that he doesn't, but maybe that will come with some slightly better conditions.

[Cameo]

That's what it comes down to doesn't it and we've seen this before. Why does it have to be all one philosophy or the other?

it doesn't and it isn't.

For starters I doubt we will stick with that centre combination - Harris is nailed currently, Lang isn't. Thing we also need to remember is that having the maul as such a potent weapon is more than a weapon, its a distraction. If a team with a renowned maul maul from the 22 they temptation for opposition backs is to drift in to help stop it. Gaps wide. It also means teams know they have to be better disciplined, can't give away pens that we can kick to touch in the 22 - which means we should get more quick ball in open play, key to using the backs effectively.
And finally, while both Russell and Hastings have improved tactical kicking (Russell especially) neither are really kick and control type 10s who can or should be asked to do that and nothing else. If we start picking (when all fit) VDW then I'll worry, because he can't do much else. And he doesn't do that very well.

As to Hadden, nothing should be compared to his tenure. Nothing. Nice man but over promoted to Edinburgh head coach, and had the SRU not signed and sent Blackadder there probably would have been sacked. Then on the back of some decent Blackadder inspired Edinburgh performances over promoted to Scotland head coach because he was available, cheap and not called Matt Williams.

To be fair to Hadden, not being Matt Williams was a pretty good qualification at the time. Easy to forget how desperate his tenure was.

Harris has been pretty good imo this year. He's a good tackler and at least reaches the mainline off some pretty ropey ball. One solid centre is fine as long as others are working hard around them. I'd like to see our wings looking for chances a bit more and providing the lines that he doesn't, but maybe that will come with some slightly better conditions.

DVDM's one carry down the middle was promising in that sense. Kinghorn made one break too I think