Scotland vs England - Sat 4.40pm

[FKAS]

Stealing this from another forum but it’s a damn shame for us that Ashman is out as he makes their lineout a LOT weaker.

Slightly concerned about the prospect of Schoeman packing down against Davison later in the game.

Pretty meaningless now but Ashman had really kicked on in that area in the last season or so. He’s always been a handful in the loose but he seemed to really start hitting his man in the lineout too. I hope this was just a blip for him. Gilchrist getting the boot suggests there was a bit more going on there.

From an England perspective I wouldn’t worry too much about the George Turner of 2/3 years ago suddenly reemerging.

Iirc the Turner impact off the bench last weekend was a miss thrown lineout followed by a dumb yellow card. I'm hoping for similar from the off tomorrow.

[pjm1]

I don’t expect us to win the 6N - the blues away year makes it harder given Ireland and Wales are below their long term pars.

On that basis I don’t see a bad outcome tomorrow. If we win (regardless of how well) we will have a monkey off our back.

If we don’t, it will give our team and coaches a real lesson on getting ahead of ourselves and not focusing sufficiently.

[pompey-zebra]

Dont know if this has been mentioned before, but there cant have been many times when England and Scotland have played internationals against each other in both rugby and cricket on the same day.

[SixAndAHalf]

Scotland: Jordan, Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu (capt), Dobie, Russell, White; McBeth, Turner, Z Fagerson, Brown, Cummings, Ritchie, Darge, Dempsey.

Replacements: Cherry, Schoeman, Millar Mills, Williamson, M Fagerson, Horne, Hastings, Graham.

Ritchie returning is a ball ache he's a great kick chase option and generally a pest.

Glad to see Kinghorn missing out again. Also Townsend stubbornly refuses to use a 6-2 despite them perhaps having the best suited backs in world rugby to do it with the ability to include Dobie, Jordan and Kinghorn in the 23. Hastings didn't even come on last week.

[FKAS]

Scotland: Jordan, Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu (capt), Dobie, Russell, White; McBeth, Turner, Z Fagerson, Brown, Cummings, Ritchie, Darge, Dempsey.

Replacements: Cherry, Schoeman, Millar Mills, Williamson, M Fagerson, Horne, Hastings, Graham.

Ritchie returning is a ball ache he's a great kick chase option and generally a pest.

Glad to see Kinghorn missing out again. Also Townsend stubbornly refuses to use a 6-2 despite them perhaps having the best suited backs in world rugby to do it with the ability to include Dobie, Jordan and Kinghorn in the 23. Hastings didn't even come on last week.

Didn't they go 6-2 last week? Odd to go 5-3 against this England side as you say. Given Jordan is starting at 15 they could have used Hutchinson on the bench to cover most the backline.

Don't feel it's likely Hastings will come on whilst the game is in the balance bar an injury to Russell.

[Mikey Brown]

Scotland: Jordan, Steyn, Jones, Tuipulotu (capt), Dobie, Russell, White; McBeth, Turner, Z Fagerson, Brown, Cummings, Ritchie, Darge, Dempsey.

Replacements: Cherry, Schoeman, Millar Mills, Williamson, M Fagerson, Horne, Hastings, Graham.

Ritchie returning is a ball ache he's a great kick chase option and generally a pest.

Glad to see Kinghorn missing out again. Also Townsend stubbornly refuses to use a 6-2 despite them perhaps having the best suited backs in world rugby to do it with the ability to include Dobie, Jordan and Kinghorn in the 23. Hastings didn't even come on last week.

Didn't they go 6-2 last week? Odd to go 5-3 against this England side as you say. Given Jordan is starting at 15 they could have used Hutchinson on the bench to cover most the backline.

Don't feel it's likely Hastings will come on whilst the game is in the balance bar an injury to Russell.

Nope. Hastings sat on the bench for 80. As mentioned Dobie, Jordan, Hutchinson, Kinghorn is about as versatile a group of backs as you could hope to have to enable a 6-2, but GT knows better.

I think we got a couple of injuries last time trying 6-2 and it’s permanently gone out the window.

[FKAS]

Glad to see Kinghorn missing out again. Also Townsend stubbornly refuses to use a 6-2 despite them perhaps having the best suited backs in world rugby to do it with the ability to include Dobie, Jordan and Kinghorn in the 23. Hastings didn't even come on last week.

Didn't they go 6-2 last week? Odd to go 5-3 against this England side as you say. Given Jordan is starting at 15 they could have used Hutchinson on the bench to cover most the backline.

Don't feel it's likely Hastings will come on whilst the game is in the balance bar an injury to Russell.

Nope. Hastings sat on the bench for 80. As mentioned Dobie, Jordan, Hutchinson, Kinghorn is about as versatile a group of backs as you could hope to have to enable a 6-2, but GT knows better.

I think we got a couple of injuries last time trying 6-2 and it’s permanently gone out the window.

It was wee Graham coming on in the second half for Dobbie, forgot all about that one.

GT seems to be skating on ever thinning ice. Seems a lot of Scotland fans don't trust that he knows best.

[pjm1]

From an England perspective, I'm delighted he hasn't picked Kinghorn - not even on the bench. Or gone 6-2 (or even 7-1) as has been said. Seems daft, unless he is genuinely concerned about the injury risk for the backs (is one carrying a knock?) or simply doesn't have enough top tier forwards.

I think some of the selections make tactical sense: Schoeman coming on to add more impetus in the second half, swapping out Ashman (injury... aye, right), stability in the backs, no VdM, Ritchie (bane of England) coming in...

But I'm still comfortable that there is nothing new that sets alarm bells ringing, for England. It is about "as expected" as was realistic, so the imperative is clear - England need to focus on what they can do, largely around mental attitude and putting into practice the training moves. Not wilting when the inevitable pressure comes, and being able to stick with a coherent strategy - as they did against Wales.

Scotland are not as bad as they looked against Monsoon+Italy. England didn't look like world-beaters against Wales, because they aren't, yet. The logic dictates how this game should go, but the inevitable reality is Scotland will race out of the blocks, hit us with everything and if we're not strict with ourselves and/or get distracted, trouble lies that way. I hope Scotland don't play like they don't care (and there was a hint of that against Italy), as we all watch these games for the thrill of the competition, and the prospect of an upset will actually be far more fun (and possibly benefit England more, long-term) than a humping.

[FKAS]

Agreed, Scotland aren't going to suddenly be a poor side. There's no chance they'll roll over and make it easy for us. A lot of the Scottish fans are annoyed their golden generation is coming to the end of their careers and there's no silverware to show for it. I'm fully expecting a raucous crowd and a fired up Scotland team. This won't be like the Wales match where they threw a couple of punches after half time but mainly played the role of punch bag. Scotland will come out swinging and we're going to have to be on our toes.

[Oakboy]

As ever, in this fixture, discipline will be key. Reducing penalties to a minimum, hard though it may be under pressure, will remove a fair chunk of Scotland's motivation. They are always feisty and competitive but there can be few surprises other than Russell's invention. We need to be quicker than them on the edge of set-piece and ruck and avoid provocation. If our preparation is up to par we should win but probably not by much.

[fivepointer]

This seasons form points to a convincing England win.

And yet.....Murrayfield, Scotland under pressure and recent history favouring the home side you could see England faltering.

I always saw this as our key game of the 6Ns. We need to win a tricky away game and doing so would set us up nicely for a showdown in Paris.

Think we'll get home by 7-12 points.

[Captainhaircut]

I have woken up feeling very nervous about this game. Not confident at all.

[Oakboy]

I have woken up feeling very nervous about this game. Not confident at all.

Do you have faith in SB? I understand your sentiment but I regard this game as a must-win for him. If he has got the squad to the developmental stage required for an acceptable RWC effort, this competition matters and this game is key. Scotland away, taking into account the last visit and both teams' progress, is a perfect yardstick. I am gradually losing my reservations about SB. Unless I am wrong to do that, we will win.

[Captainhaircut]

I have woken up feeling very nervous about this game. Not confident at all.

Do you have faith in SB? I understand your sentiment but I regard this game as a must-win for him. If he has got the squad to the developmental stage required for an acceptable RWC effort, this competition matters and this game is key. Scotland away, taking into account the last visit and both teams' progress, is a perfect yardstick. I am gradually losing my reservations about SB. Unless I am wrong to do that, we will win.

I have loads of faith in him. Even before this winning run, I was generally defending him and thinking he was in the right track.

It just feels like a huge game doesn’t it. We need to get this Calcutta cup monkey off our back and we need a good away win.

I just think they’ll come absolutely fired up and always save their best for us. Wish Baxter and Stuart were fit…

[Galfon]

Sharp start Sco. after good Eng. drive.
Sco 3 - 0 Eng, 4 min.

[Galfon]

Arundell yellaed after 8, interfering.

[Adam_P]

Ridiculous card

[Galfon]

Try Jones left wing, smart Russell.
10 - 0, 11 mins.
Good test now for Eng, getting pinged a bit already.

[Stom]

Steward absolutely abysmal so far

[Galfon]

Point a minute + !
17 - 0, 15 min.

[Oakboy]

Were we ready for this match? Shambolic.

[Stom]

Were we ready for this match? Shambolic.

Steward has missed 2 important tackles and dropped two catches. Take that out and who knows what score it would be

[Galfon]

Don't fwk this up...duty calls..
17 - 7 , 22 mins.

[Stom]

Missed tackle missed tackle missed tackle… then that’s atrocious from Genge.

[Stom]

That is an atrocious decision. Two stupid non yellow cards. How the hell can that be given