6 Nations 2026

[septic 9]

Syeyns just not quick enough at this level is he?

well he is not Bielle-Barrie or Arundell, or McHaffie, but he is quick enough
I used to think he wasn't that quick at Glasgow. I was wrong. I should have remembered he came to prominence in our 7s team
He is a lot quicker than he looks, sort of glides over the ground. I'd back him in a foot race with Graham every day of the week

[septic 9]

I am reasonably confident of a win, probabpy a bonus point one, but I suspect it will be slightly underwhelming. It's a bit of a no win, unless we blow them away it will feel like a bit of a come down.

Wales also aren't terrible ball in hand and will be up for this. If they get into the game early, it could prove quite sticky.

prescient post.
Wales were well up for it, best they have played in years
But we messed up so often - could easily ran away with it
So I am part underwhelmed and part happy to get pts from an away game
And how good was Bayliss? Felt he was lucky to be in the squad but really excelled and justified his inclusion and early off bench

[paddy no 11]

Scotland have underperformed v wales for 24 years and lost. Today they won , they will "over perform" v France, should be a good content. Making 3 enforced changes is going to have an effect

[switchskier]

Syeyns just not quick enough at this level is he?

well he is not Bielle-Barrie or Arundell, or McHaffie, but he is quick enough
I used to think he wasn't that quick at Glasgow. I was wrong. I should have remembered he came to prominence in our 7s team
He is a lot quicker than he looks, sort of glides over the ground. I'd back him in a foot race with Graham every day of the week

He might be quicker than Graham over 100 meters but definitely not the crucial first 10-15. He did fine yesterday, put himself in some good positions. But his ceiling as a player is still dependable and a more explosive player would have done more with some of the openings he had. Which starting 6N wings are slower than him?

Graham was excellent when he came on. Duhan looks lacking in confidence and short of peak physical condition. He should be the one dropping out for France.

[septic 9]

Syeyns just not quick enough at this level is he?

well he is not Bielle-Barrie or Arundell, or McHaffie, but he is quick enough
I used to think he wasn't that quick at Glasgow. I was wrong. I should have remembered he came to prominence in our 7s team
He is a lot quicker than he looks, sort of glides over the ground. I'd back him in a foot race with Graham every day of the week

He might be quicker than Graham over 100 meters but definitely not the crucial first 10-15. He did fine yesterday, put himself in some good positions. But his ceiling as a player is still dependable and a more explosive player would have done more with some of the openings he had. Which starting 6N wings are slower than him?

Graham was excellent when he came on. Duhan looks lacking in confidence and short of peak physical condition. He should be the one dropping out for France.

he would skelp Graham over much shorter distances than 100m. Graham has great footwork and acceleration but after that the slowest of all our wing options. He often gets caught when clear
Thing about Steyn is he makes those breaks in the first 15m, often in the first 5-10m. and does it regularly. Yesterday he made the breaks but was never clear of covering opposition. (there is a very broad hint in The Offside Line - mentions the lack of support runner, "if only there had been a nippy scrum half with an eye for the try line")

As to which 6N wingers are slower - the most obvious is the perennially slow James Slowe. There are a few with serious top end pace (Arundell, LBB, LRZ) and a raft below that with not much in it, personally I'd have Steyn rather than Arundell or LRZ (all pace and nothing else, liabilities at times)

[Mikey Brown]

Firstly - apologies Bayliss. That was an impact and it was very much needed.

A bit of a rough watch, despite being a fairly compelling contest, but I’m actually not unhappy with that. We don’t tend to finish those games off, whether through skill, grit or plain luck. Even though we scraped through, we actually took the action and got the win. That’s not nothing for a team like this.

Wales were much better than I’ve seen since the Ireland game last year. They’ll be gutted with that, but I’m pleased we were able to get the job done ugly. You can argue the lineout where somebody knocked it out of Bayliss’ hands was our last chance and we were lucky to get another, but I’ll take it.

What happened to Williamson? I missed a chunk of the second half.

[switchskier]

well he is not Bielle-Barrie or Arundell, or McHaffie, but he is quick enough
I used to think he wasn't that quick at Glasgow. I was wrong. I should have remembered he came to prominence in our 7s team
He is a lot quicker than he looks, sort of glides over the ground. I'd back him in a foot race with Graham every day of the week

He might be quicker than Graham over 100 meters but definitely not the crucial first 10-15. He did fine yesterday, put himself in some good positions. But his ceiling as a player is still dependable and a more explosive player would have done more with some of the openings he had. Which starting 6N wings are slower than him?

Graham was excellent when he came on. Duhan looks lacking in confidence and short of peak physical condition. He should be the one dropping out for France.

he would skelp Graham over much shorter distances than 100m. Graham has great footwork and acceleration but after that the slowest of all our wing options. He often gets caught when clear
Thing about Steyn is he makes those breaks in the first 15m, often in the first 5-10m. and does it regularly. Yesterday he made the breaks but was never clear of covering opposition. (there is a very broad hint in The Offside Line - mentions the lack of support runner, "if only there had been a nippy scrum half with an eye for the try line")

As to which 6N wingers are slower - the most obvious is the perennially slow James Slowe. There are a few with serious top end pace (Arundell, LBB, LRZ) and a raft below that with not much in it, personally I'd have Steyn rather than Arundell or LRZ (all pace and nothing else, liabilities at times)

Agree to disagree. Graham is significantly more explosive and imo clearly our best wing overall. I'm very happy with Steyn as a third or fourth choice and to start when Dugan is out of sorts (Kinghorns a better overall player but it's a push between Jordan/Smith versus Steyn and depends on opposition) but would always be looking to upgrade. That's not a knock on him,bjust a recognition that he's maxed out his physical limitations.

Forgot about Lowe, who I don't rate, but think LRZ is an excellent player who is take above any of ours to pair with Darcy.

[Donny osmond]

Agree with Septic, unusually, about the wingers, I think Graham and DVDM are not our best two. Switch is right about DVDM he looks out of place at the minute and maybe needs a rest.

I actually thought White, although full of energy and hustle, didn't have a great game yesterday and should've been subbed earlier. He was almost too up for it and seemed caught in indecision quite a lot. Horne has been great coming on recently and was so again yesterday, I'd liked to have seen him on earlier.

Also thought Williamson and Brown had mostly ordinary games. I get the concerns about Gilchrist, but whoever we have to replace him, Williamson isn't there yet. That's probably harsh because most of the forwards had very ordinary games. Hooker is our most desperate position but there was no leadership from anyone in the forwards. At one point in the first half we had possession in the Welsh half and the whole pack was just standing waiting for someone else to do something, it was awful. Could've thrown a towel over them and they wouldn't even have shaken it off.

[septic 9]

Agree with Septic, unusually, about the wingers, I think Graham and DVDM are not our best two. Switch is right about DVDM he looks out of place at the minute and maybe needs a rest.

I actually thought White, although full of energy and hustle, didn't have a great game yesterday and should've been subbed earlier. He was almost too up for it and seemed caught in indecision quite a lot. Horne has been great coming on recently and was so again yesterday, I'd liked to have seen him on earlier.

Also thought Williamson and Brown had mostly ordinary games. I get the concerns about Gilchrist, but whoever we have to replace him, Williamson isn't there yet. That's probably harsh because most of the forwards had very ordinary games. Hooker is our most desperate position but there was no leadership from anyone in the forwards. At one point in the first half we had possession in the Welsh half and the whole pack was just standing waiting for someone else to do something, it was awful. Could've thrown a towel over them and they wouldn't even have shaken it off.

I get where you are coming from re forwards. I think we missed Dempsey, he gives the others such a lift, but Darge is a leader, not loud pr obvious as some but he does lead*.
Williamson and Brown, agree and disagree. Neither were great yesterday. Brown had a poor day with dropping balls - the stadium with roof close dis notoriously humid but it affected him more than others; or maybe it was the head hit which should have been a red card for Wales. Williamson wasn't poor as such, he was hooked for a tactical switch. Still think Toonie is past his sell by but that switch was genius.
We were not getting quick enough ball, and Wales getting too many easy goes at stealing or slowing it. So he moved Brown to lock and brought on another quick back row. Brown to hit rucks quicker and still carry loads, Bayliss to get to rucks quicker and attack wider where Brown is often used. It worked, Bayliss was ace

* edited to add this from Townsend

"“When I left the changing room at half-time after I'd spoken to the players, it was Rory that got stuck into them as well. Obviously, Sione would have the last word. But it's great when you're seeing those leaders, the vice-captains, finding a different way today of finding solutions on the field.

“And Rory really motivated the pack to be better in that second half. So it's not just actions, it's words that he delivered today.”