Autumn Series 2021: Scotland

[Scottish Caley Fan]

I posted this on 606v2 last night so ignore the bit about my last preview thread being popular with them, I hope this first one here is as well received and praised as it was on there (this one has no comments yet, understandably as it's a few months away).


I know it's probably too early for this but seeing as my Summer Tour thread was well received, I thought I'd start another one for the Autumn Series with my thoughts on the teams etc, I've got to stay on the right side of the members hahaha.

It's certainly far too early to even predict a squad as no club matches have taken place yet, both Scottish sides are in the rebuild phase (I'll be watching closely) but that's for a later date.

I would like to echo what I said on Facebook a few weeks ago which is that I hope we get to see Ashman, Auterac, Sebastian, Henderson, Tuipolotu in the autumn, in other words, hopefully they ain't poached from us haha.

Anyway, here goes with our opposition:

First up is Tonga on October 30th, KO tbc: I do not really know much about them but I would imagine we would see a youngish team in this test, seeing as a lot of them missed out on the summer tour and, supposedly this is outside the test window which means clubs aren't forced to release players if they wish. I did notice that Tonga got hammered by New Zealand who humiliated them by over 100pts, however, I see them put up a better fight against us but do fully expect us to win this one.

Then we move on to November, when clubs are obliged to release players.

7th November: Australia, KO: 1415hrs: This will be a tough test because Australia are a very good team that recently managed a test series win over France. They have very good wingers that will be tough to stop so I'm predicting a very close test which we will lose narrowly.

13th November: South Africa, KO 1300hrs: This will be our toughest test of the series imho. I've watched a lot of them over the past month and tbh they are an excellent team with quality all over the park. Even in the first test, they were creating numerous chances, Lions just got lucky with some of the ref or tmo decisions imho. What I took out of the first test was that, if you keep Kolbe quiet then you have a chance no pressure there then DVDM, Darcy etc. I'm predicting a loss here too, probably by about 15pts,though I hope I'm wrong.

20th November: Japan, KO 1300hrs: This test has the makings of being entertaining and high scoring if previous affairs are anything to go by. Against the Lions and Ireland, they put up brave fights but ultimately lost due to errors and individual brilliance of their opponents but they will believe that they can win because they have done so before. I think this will be very high scoring with us getting the win by a margin of 5.

October and November can't come quickly enough imho lol, I just can't get excited by Edinburgh and Glasgow, both will struggle in the upcoming pro 14, especially as they are rebuilding..

Not sure how likely it is that he'll be in the squad but I see Mak Wilson is getting good reviews on his Southern Knights performances, he'll be another poach from Eddie

[Puja]

First up is Tonga on October 30th, KO tbc: I do not really know much about them but I would imagine we would see a youngish team in this test, seeing as a lot of them missed out on the summer tour and, supposedly this is outside the test window which means clubs aren't forced to release players if they wish. I did notice that Tonga got hammered by New Zealand who humiliated them by over 100pts, however, I see them put up a better fight against us but do fully expect us to win this one.

On Tonga, it's worth noting that it depends what team shows up. Their summer was screwed by COVID - impossible for them to select players in Europe and very difficult to select domestic-based players as they had to pay to self-isolate in NZ for 2 weeks and Tonga is not a rich country where 2 weeks of hotels can be written off. Add to that a bunch of injuries and "injuries" from players deciding they'd rather not and they were lucky to put a side out.

Their side will depend on what release deals they can get from European clubs. They've recently repatriated Timani and Fekitoa through the 7s loophole, but they play for La Rochelle and Wasps respectively - will they strike a deal like the one the USA had to have their players a week early and return them a week early? If they can get all their NH-based players, they'll be formidable opponents and have a chance of shocking you if you put the A-side out. If they're forced to play just with their SH-based players, then they'll be less of a problem for you.

Puja

[Chunks Baws]

I posted this on 606v2 last night so ignore the bit about my last preview thread being popular with them, I hope this first one here is as well received and praised as it was on there (this one has no comments yet, understandably as it's a few months away).


I know it's probably too early for this but seeing as my Summer Tour thread was well received, I thought I'd start another one for the Autumn Series with my thoughts on the teams etc, I've got to stay on the right side of the members hahaha.

It's certainly far too early to even predict a squad as no club matches have taken place yet, both Scottish sides are in the rebuild phase (I'll be watching closely) but that's for a later date.

I would like to echo what I said on Facebook a few weeks ago which is that I hope we get to see Ashman, Auterac, Sebastian, Henderson, Tuipolotu in the autumn, in other words, hopefully they ain't poached from us haha.

Anyway, here goes with our opposition:

First up is Tonga on October 30th, KO tbc: I do not really know much about them but I would imagine we would see a youngish team in this test, seeing as a lot of them missed out on the summer tour and, supposedly this is outside the test window which means clubs aren't forced to release players if they wish. I did notice that Tonga got hammered by New Zealand who humiliated them by over 100pts, however, I see them put up a better fight against us but do fully expect us to win this one.

Then we move on to November, when clubs are obliged to release players.

7th November: Australia, KO: 1415hrs: This will be a tough test because Australia are a very good team that recently managed a test series win over France. They have very good wingers that will be tough to stop so I'm predicting a very close test which we will lose narrowly.

13th November: South Africa, KO 1300hrs: This will be our toughest test of the series imho. I've watched a lot of them over the past month and tbh they are an excellent team with quality all over the park. Even in the first test, they were creating numerous chances, Lions just got lucky with some of the ref or tmo decisions imho. What I took out of the first test was that, if you keep Kolbe quiet then you have a chance no pressure there then DVDM, Darcy etc. I'm predicting a loss here too, probably by about 15pts,though I hope I'm wrong.

20th November: Japan, KO 1300hrs: This test has the makings of being entertaining and high scoring if previous affairs are anything to go by. Against the Lions and Ireland, they put up brave fights but ultimately lost due to errors and individual brilliance of their opponents but they will believe that they can win because they have done so before. I think this will be very high scoring with us getting the win by a margin of 5.

October and November can't come quickly enough imho lol, I just can't get excited by Edinburgh and Glasgow, both will struggle in the upcoming pro 14, especially as they are rebuilding..

Not sure how likely it is that he'll be in the squad but I see Mak Wilson is getting good reviews on his Southern Knights performances, he'll be another poach from Eddie :P

How would he be a poach? He's from the borders.

[septic 9]

Tonga - extra test outside international release window. So only players based in Scotland will be available by right. And there is a full card of the new United Rigby Championship that weekend, so Edin and Glasgow will important fixtures. So it will be weaker than top team (no Hogg, Gray, Sutherland ,DVDM, Russell - or Ashman for that matter), and weaker still of the pro teams are supposed to be taken seriously by the SRU. TBF Tonga will also be restricted on who they can select for the same reasons. Hard to call and really does depend on who Ting can scrape together

Australia. Scraped by a French 2nd/3rd XV. Yes the French were that "weak", and were very very unlucky to lose out to the Aussies. I think this could be very tight and if we have all fit and firing can win it

South Africa. Might take us lightly and rest a few against us. We will have a fight on out hands, but back for a farewell Maitland on the wing, DVDM and a fired up Hogg with a point to prove - we have as much if not more chance of beating them as the Lions. Just because we will play some rugby. OTOH, we could get mauled to death, quite a lot

Japan. we will win, handsomely

[whatisthejava]

Anyone know if it’s included in the season ticket?

(Tonga)

[Croft_No.5]

It is not part of the Season Pass, need to buy separately.

[Big D]

Tonga - extra test outside international release window. So only players based in Scotland will be available by right. And there is a full card of the new United Rigby Championship that weekend, so Edin and Glasgow will important fixtures. So it will be weaker than top team (no Hogg, Gray, Sutherland ,DVDM, Russell - or Ashman for that matter), and weaker still of the pro teams are supposed to be taken seriously by the SRU. TBF Tonga will also be restricted on who they can select for the same reasons. Hard to call and really does depend on who Ting can scrape together

Australia. Scraped by a French 2nd/3rd XV. Yes the French were that "weak", and were very very unlucky to lose out to the Aussies. I think this could be very tight and if we have all fit and firing can win it

South Africa. Might take us lightly and rest a few against us. We will have a fight on out hands, but back for a farewell Maitland on the wing, DVDM and a fired up Hogg with a point to prove - we have as much if not more chance of beating them as the Lions. Just because we will play some rugby. OTOH, we could get mauled to death, quite a lot

Japan. we will win, handsomely

Yeah I would expect a few new caps against Tonga although it should still be a strong enough line up to see Tonga off. I don't particularly like the concept of the UNC and to put an international weekend (would guess without looking Wales and Ireland have too) on the same weekend as a tournament designed to fit out with international weekends is stupid.

Australia seem to be a side we do well against and it should be competitive. Plus any Taylor lead defence can be gotten at.

SA could be an absolute doing. Their defence is pretty impenetrable and their style is the style of rugby we do poorly against more often than not.

Japan will be an entertaining game. Would expect us to beat them at home though (as they would us in Japan).

[stevedog1980]

I'm optimistic about SA. I'm pretty sure this Lions tour will have left a mark on Gregor Townsend and I don't expect to see him repeating the same mistakes. A gameplan around quick ball, with players who know each other well, why not? It nearly worked after being thrown together 10 minutes into the 3rd test

[Cameo]

I'm optimistic about SA. I'm pretty sure this Lions tour will have left a mark on Gregor Townsend and I don't expect to see him repeating the same mistakes. A gameplan around quick ball, with players who know each other well, why not? It nearly worked after being thrown together 10 minutes into the 3rd test

It's still a bit step to actually do it well enough over 80 mins. You can find yourself going backwards and conceding penalties pretty quickly.

I think everyone will be interested to see how various countries take on SA over the rest of this year. Argentina had a good go but just not accurate enough to make half breaks stick.

[stevedog1980]

It's still a bit step to actually do it well enough over 80 mins. You can find yourself going backwards and conceding penalties pretty quickly.

I think everyone will be interested to see how various countries take on SA over the rest of this year. Argentina had a good go but just not accurate enough to make half breaks stick.

Sorry, I'm optimistic about seeing some rugby played but not necessarily about us getting a result. As you say, the level of execution has to remain incredibly high or very quickly you're in trouble. A knock on, turns to a scrum penalty, turns to a lineout, turns to 3 / 7 points very easily against SA

[Scottish Caley Fan]

Anyone fancy taking a stab at predicting the squad for these matches (I asked this on 606v2) and only got one reply)?

I would expect Josh Bayliss, Ewan Ashman, Cameron Henderson, Sione Tuipolotu and possibly Ben Vellacott or Callum Hunter-Hill to be included.

I know it's far too early to predict a potential squad due to the season not starting for another month and a bit, hopefully the Scots keep performing well for their clubs, especially the ones in the Gallagher Premiership.

[Cameo]

Anyone fancy taking a stab at predicting the squad for these matches (I asked this on 606v2) and only got one reply)?

I would expect Josh Bayliss, Ewan Ashman, Cameron Henderson, Sione Tuipolotu and possibly Ben Vellacott or Callum Hunter-Hill to be included.

I know it's far too early to predict a potential squad due to the season not starting for another month and a bit, hopefully the Scots keep performing well for their clubs, especially the ones in the Gallagher Premiership.

I'd say it's just too early to say. Of the names you mentioned, at the moment I wouldn't expect any apart from maybe Bayliss to feature in full strength squads, but possibly against Tonga they might draw a bit wider.

Basically, unless someone does something good or bad over the next few months, the squad will be mainly the 6N squad plus a few back from injury and a few fr the summer squad. There's been no rugby to change that.

[Mikey Brown]

Yep, really unfortunate for some of those guys who missed the best opportunity they’ll ever have to get a foot in the door. It would be great if we can blood some new guys but I doubt it’s going to be prioritised.

[Scottish Caley Fan]

I'm fairly certain that we may see Cameron Henderson in the squad too, is there a reason you guys are leaving him out, issues with player release perhaps? I'm not being cheeky by the way, I'm just curious .

I believe he is ready to step up to the International scene, especially if he continues his excellent form at the Tigers.

Not long to wait now until the Premiership and URC are back, then we'll get a good idea of who's on form etc,ahead of October/November.

[Big D]

Anyone fancy taking a stab at predicting the squad for these matches (I asked this on 606v2) and only got one reply)?

I would expect Josh Bayliss, Ewan Ashman, Cameron Henderson, Sione Tuipolotu and possibly Ben Vellacott or Callum Hunter-Hill to be included.

I know it's far too early to predict a potential squad due to the season not starting for another month and a bit, hopefully the Scots keep performing well for their clubs, especially the ones in the Gallagher Premiership.

Depends how Townsend wants to view this set of AI's. Two years to the RWC and this is the start of the long run in to the build up.

For the younger guys the summer was really their big shot due to the amount of guys missing and the opponents. They are going to need to earn call ups now.

Bayliss might be in with a shout as he was involved in the 6N squads.

Ashman and Henderson really need to establish themselves this coming season. Will be hard for Ashman and the Tonga game is outside the release window so there may need to be deals cut.

Tuipolotu has to earn a club jersey first. We aren't short of quality in his position.

Vellacott has everything to prove after Edinburgh picked him up off the scrap heap really. He hasn't shown he is any better than Price, Dobie or mini Horne, or even Pyrgos.

CHH couldn't get ahead of Swinson in the English Championship. Would expect even less game time this year for him.

Davidson if he continues his progress from last year could be a bolter for the squad. He was Edinburghs best second row for long spells last year.

I would guess it will be a decent size of squad, something like this with a couple of other younger guys in about it:
Shoeman, Sutherland Kebble
Rambo, Brown, Turner, Ashman
Grandad Nel, Fagerson and Berhan
Gray, Skinner, Cummings, Gilchrist/Craig/Davidson/Henderson
Watson, Fagerson, Ritchie, Darge, Crosbie, Bayliss,
Price, Horne, Dobie
Thomson, Russell, Hastings
Johnson, Scott, Harris, Jones, Lang
Steyn
Graham, Maitland on a farewell tour, Hogg, Duhan, Forbes,

[Croft_No.5]

Autumn games to be shown on Amazon Prime.

"All four of Scotland’s matches in the 2021 Autumn Nations Series will be broadcast live in the UK on Amazon Prime Video, following an agreement between Amazon and Six Nations Rugby."

[Scottish Caley Fan]

Anyone fancy taking a stab at predicting the squad for these matches (I asked this on 606v2) and only got one reply)?

I would expect Josh Bayliss, Ewan Ashman, Cameron Henderson, Sione Tuipolotu and possibly Ben Vellacott or Callum Hunter-Hill to be included.

I know it's far too early to predict a potential squad due to the season not starting for another month and a bit, hopefully the Scots keep performing well for their clubs, especially the ones in the Gallagher Premiership.

Depends how Townsend wants to view this set of AI's. Two years to the RWC and this is the start of the long run in to the build up.

For the younger guys the summer was really their big shot due to the amount of guys missing and the opponents. They are going to need to earn call ups now.

Bayliss might be in with a shout as he was involved in the 6N squads.

Ashman and Henderson really need to establish themselves this coming season. Will be hard for Ashman and the Tonga game is outside the release window so there may need to be deals cut.

Tuipolotu has to earn a club jersey first. We aren't short of quality in his position.

Vellacott has everything to prove after Edinburgh picked him up off the scrap heap really. He hasn't shown he is any better than Price, Dobie or mini Horne, or even Pyrgos.

CHH couldn't get ahead of Swinson in the English Championship. Would expect even less game time this year for him.

Davidson if he continues his progress from last year could be a bolter for the squad. He was Edinburghs best second row for long spells last year.

I would guess it will be a decent size of squad, something like this with a couple of other younger guys in about it:
Shoeman, Sutherland Kebble
Rambo, Brown, Turner, Ashman
Grandad Nel, Fagerson and Berhan
Gray, Skinner, Cummings, Gilchrist/Craig/Davidson/Henderson
Watson, Fagerson, Ritchie, Darge, Crosbie, Bayliss,
Price, Horne, Dobie
Thomson, Russell, Hastings
Johnson, Scott, Harris, Jones, Lang
Steyn
Graham, Maitland on a farewell tour, Hogg, Duhan, Forbes,

I'd be hoping that GT will be looking towards the next world cup tbh, thats why it was a pit y the Summer tour was called off, perhaps the Tonga match will be used to blood nthe youngsters, especially if there is an issue with player release.

So bearing th at in mind, I reckon we may see Ross Thompson, Nathan Chamberlain, Davidson (you mentioned him), Blain, Dobie, McLean against Tonga, if they are not playing for their clubs th at weekend.

[whatisthejava]

I reckon kids and a few old heads vs Tonga
Full strength for Oz and SA
Mix of full strength and new caps Japan

[Scottish Caley Fan]

Hard to argue with that whatisthejava .

[Cameo]

I'd be surprised if there are new caps Vs Japan (other than someone who has burst through and is seen as first choice). I'd expect a bit of rotation for freshness etc. but I think they'll see Japan as a tier one opponent now.

[stevedog1980]

What's the latest with Cameron Redpath? ACL injury in mid-May is he likely to be available at all? Keen to see him back involved with the squad ASAP to be honest with you, he brought a lot to the table and don't want to see him miss out

[Tobylerone]

What's the latest with Cameron Redpath? ACL injury in mid-May is he likely to be available at all? Keen to see him back involved with the squad ASAP to be honest with you, he brought a lot to the table and don't want to see him miss out

I understand (?) that this is his second ACL reconstruction, potentially career limiting/ending.

No hurry.

[Mikey Brown]

Yep. Definitely no need to rush him back in, as great as it would be to see him continue from what he did on his first cap.

[stevedog1980]

Just curious, as you say there's no rush in terms of an injury rehab point of view. I'm keen to see him back involved with Scotland at a pace that fits with his recovery, I want to see him back in our squad so that we don't lose sight of him is all

[septic 9]

I'd be surprised if there are new caps Vs Japan (other than someone who has burst through and is seen as first choice). I'd expect a bit of rotation for freshness etc. but I think they'll see Japan as a tier one opponent now.

this is correct I think.

Any real experimenting would have been in the summer games, had they happened. They didn't, so bar the out of window Tonga game, I don't see any more than the normal evolution rather than many new faces.

Must never lose sight of our World ranking either, which impacts on RWC seedings. Next RWC may well already be set but the rankings continue and it can be difficult to climb back up if you slide down too far - need to win some games, factor in some losses, and not throw games away by mucking about too much with selections