RugbyRebels

Mikey Brown wrote:Is being an irritating gangly bastard in mauls literally the only thing Charteris offers?

In attack he offers nothing, hes actually defensively pretty good and has a good work rate and tackle rate.

Ball offers more of a carrying threat - Im happy hes been picked to start as cant see you going for too many mauls against us and I think we are going to play as we always do, one pass ..contact, one pass..contact, one pass...contact. Ball is more suited to that.

Big D wrote:Reid has been used at the interviews/press conf. Sign that he will be starting?

Look like it.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39044284.

He also says that the Welsh cheat like fck at scrum time.

Would be very happy with Reid starting. Although it is a bit late... if he's being drafted in because VC has realised Dell struggles a bit at scrum time, well we could have told you that after the AIs...

Mikey Brown wrote:Is being an irritating gangly bastard in mauls literally the only thing Charteris offers?

Not at all. He is excellent at Sudoku, can make a decent omelette and is very good at remembering birthdays and anniversaries.

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:Only way we're going to win this is by playing fast and loose. Biggar is immaculate with the tee so we will need tries.

He is good with the tee, but I'm sure Halfpenny will be taking the kicks. He's good too.
Agree with those who think Scotland have a good chance here if they can avoid a slugfest up front and run the ball at every opportunity.

Shades of grey in all this but I don't fully agree with playing loose and running the ball at every opportunity.

We need to hold on to th ball better and play at tempo, sure, but if we play in the wrong parts of the pitch, that's a recipe for making mistakes and/or presenting them with turnover opportunities.

Glasgow actually play a pretty structured game - they look to get into a shape, create quick ball and that creates gaps.

ARM wrote: Glasgow actually play a pretty structured game - they look to get into a shape, create quick ball and that creates gaps.

They do that. Just need a bit of pragmatism from Price and Russell if that's the starting pair. Also, the weather looks like it could be unsettled.

Mikey Brown wrote:Is being an irritating gangly bastard in mauls literally the only thing Charteris offers?

Yep....he also tackles well ...but please dont give him the ball to run or we will the second coming of the much missed Bill Mclarens "runaway giraffe".

In these days where commentators cant shut up...he reminds me how much we have changed ..and how much we have lost ..he was the best of commentators .

How prized we were in that era to have Bill and also Cliff Morgan describing the rugby .

But otherwise .. it will be family feuds this weekend with me for Wales and my son for Scotland ...but normal service will be resumed when the food is served.

Prediction for line-up while I am avoiding work...

Price starts at SH
Barclay, Wilson, Watson back row.
Rest stays the same, but Scott on bench instead of Bennett.

Reid to start.

Mikey Brown wrote:Is being an irritating gangly bastard in mauls literally the only thing Charteris offers?

Is this intended as a rhetorical question? I will take it at face value. Charteris is second only to AWJ in terms of class for Wales IMO. His maul defence is one of his strongest attributes but he's obviously excellent in the lineout, scrummages powerfully and is effectively in slowing bal at the breakdown. It's not his stand out attribute, but he's no mean carrier either. He's one of my favourite players and has had some outstanding games for Wales. He's only not playing because he's coming back to full fitness.

Decent write up about Jonny Gray: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39057852

He, Watson and big bro are in the top 5 tacklers after 2 weeks. Probably a sign we are defending too much and not keeping a hold of the ball enough.

Big D wrote:Decent write up about Jonny Gray: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39057852

He, Watson and big bro are in the top 5 tacklers after 2 weeks. Probably a sign we are defending too much and not keeping a hold of the ball enough.

You have to imagine Watson would be top if he wasn't bizarrely subbed early against Ireland.

Great to see and I imagine Wilson & Barclay would be right up there if they'd been able to play longer parts.

There are murmurs that Watson will be dropped.

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:

Big D wrote:Decent write up about Jonny Gray: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/39057852

He, Watson and big bro are in the top 5 tacklers after 2 weeks. Probably a sign we are defending too much and not keeping a hold of the ball enough.

You have to imagine Watson would be top if he wasn't bizarrely subbed early against Ireland.

Great to see and I imagine Wilson & Barclay would be right up there if they'd been able to play longer parts.

It is good to see them working hard but nearly 110 tackles from only 3 players shows we are not keeping the ball enough.

hugh_woatmeigh wrote:There are murmurs that Watson will be dropped.

That would be a fantastic display of fuckwittery by the coaching staff.

Five changes
Barclay captain

Reid
Hardie for Watson
Wilson for Strauss
Price for Laidlaw
Visser for Maitland (injured).

So only two non-injury related. Only real surprise is Hardie for Watson.

Cannot wait to see the back of Cotter. There's always one absolute clanger isn't there? You've got to feel for Watson.

Pleased for Barclay.

Hardie over Watson is a fucking nonsense. Hardie will be off injured at somepoint anyway.

Big D wrote:Pleased for Barclay.

Hardie over Watson is a fucking nonsense. Hardie will be off injured at somepoint anyway.

He's an absolute sick note. More to the point he isn't in form, he doesn't even start for Edinburgh and if Watson was ever going to be dropped it should have been for a ball carrier - that I could at least understand although I wouldn't agree with it.

Rank rotten stuff.

Even neutral pundits are touting Watson as a Lions bolter - he has been nothing short of phenomenal. Not only does he get subbed early he gets dropped.

On an unrelated note 13 of the starting XV are either attached, soon to be attached or developed to some extent by Glasgow. And that's also taken into consideration the Visser for Maitland swap which would otherwise bump it up to 14. Mental stuff.

Trying to rationalise the Watson/Hardie thing.

Could be that they want Hardie to play as a stopper to combat the Gatlandball/one out play around the rucks. Watson is a good tackler but Hardie - when on form at least - is probably a little more destructive. So despite the numbers on their backs, Hardie will be more of a six, allowing Barclay to get over the ball at the breakdown aided by the likes of Brown.

The problem is when we have the ball. Strauss is a better carrier than Wilson. Watson carries better than Hardie and Dell > Reid.

Mind you Watson will make more impact off the bench than Hardie would so if we keep the score tight and tire out their fatties, he might be the catalyst to run them hard in the last 20

Not entirely convinced by this analysis myself, but might be the coaching view.

You can fuck off with that arm. We want hysterical screeching here not analysis. At least you never actually backed it up with evidence I suppose.

ARM wrote:Trying to rationalise the Watson/Hardie thing.

Could be that they want Hardie to play as a stopper to combat the Gatlandball/one out play around the rucks. Watson is a good tackler but Hardie - when on form at least - is probably a little more destructive. So despite the numbers on their backs, Hardie will be more of a six, allowing Barclay to get over the ball at the breakdown aided by the likes of Brown.

The problem is when we have the ball. Strauss is a better carrier than Wilson. Watson carries better than Hardie and Dell > Reid.

Mind you Watson will make more impact off the bench than Hardie would so if we keep the score tight and tire out their fatties, he might be the catalyst to run them hard in the last 20

Not entirely convinced by this analysis myself, but might be the coaching view.

This is what I'm having to go with for the sake of sanity. Hardie when he was playing well before tackled very hard and carried very hard. If he can do that great but it doesn't sound like he's been playing well. At least we have someone exciting to bring off the bench with Bennett.

That's as far as I can spin that. To be honest I was expecting Pyrgos brought straight in. Barclay is the correct call as captain I think.

ARM wrote:Trying to rationalise the Watson/Hardie thing.

Could be that they want Hardie to play as a stopper to combat the Gatlandball/one out play around the rucks. Watson is a good tackler but Hardie - when on form at least - is probably a little more destructive. So despite the numbers on their backs, Hardie will be more of a six, allowing Barclay to get over the ball at the breakdown aided by the likes of Brown.

The problem is when we have the ball. Strauss is a better carrier than Wilson. Watson carries better than Hardie and Dell > Reid.

Mind you Watson will make more impact off the bench than Hardie would so if we keep the score tight and tire out their fatties, he might be the catalyst to run them hard in the last 20

Not entirely convinced by this analysis myself, but might be the coaching view.

Being analytical about it makes it worse IMO.

On current form: Watson has been in better form. At club level he has been better for a long time.
Ball in hand: As you say Watson carries better than Hardie.
Tackling: Hardie may be more aggressive in the tackle but he is more inefficient. He misses more tackles and has the tendency to put his heid in the wrong place. Watsons defensive work rate arguably negates Hardies increased aggressiveness.
Over the ball: Watson was treading a fine line in the French game, slowing the ball down and the odd turnover. When our back row were on top v Ireland Watson was heavily involved.

Really strange one, but hey ho on to Saturday we go.

OptimisticJock wrote:You can fuck off with that arm. We want hysterical screeching here not analysis. At least you never actually backed it up with evidence I suppose.

Haha, good lads.

Seems an odd one to me n' aw, but it's really not worth throwing shit all over your walls Greg.

Hardies form isn't an issue, the guy has been injured for most of the season. That's the issue. He is a superb player, and he's never let us down at international level. Attempting to be mildly rational, currently if you are a coach and you want Hardie in a team, it's smarter to start him, that way, when the cat inevitably goes off after tackling someone using his entire face and what's left of his ear, you are slightly less likely to get the problem we ran into last week where we ran out of players.